What does it mean to be a hippie ?

The hippie movement was born in the United States in the 1960s. It is a tendency which is defined initially by its pacifism, its refusal to bend with the rules established by the society such as to work and to be slave of the consumer society and its fight against the war in Viet-Nam.

The Hippie

To be a hippie, it is initially a philosophy, a state of mind inspired by the oriental countries To be free, such was their motto! The freedom to dispose of their body as they like, long hair, adopting outfits with bohemian style.

At the time, hippies resorted to cannabis and artificial paradises to escape to a world they thought was better and synonymous with happiness.

Although they failed to achieve their goals of changing the world, the hippies did end the war in Vietnam. Many of the young men called up for military service refused to participate in what they called the commitments of a self-righteous America.

The hippie movement left its mark on society, such as the iberation of morals, the protests of inequality between men and women, the injustices against minorities.

Woodstock : Birth of a musical genre and a unique festival

A whole new musical current emerges from this hippie movement, a pop/rock sound with lyrics with a protest flavor.

Some festivals a little bit everywhere is set up and allows to gather an important crowd which camps there to spend the night in order to be in the first row. The festival-goers see it as a place to meet like a pilgrimage.

Rejected by society for the simple fact that they are inactive, that they live in a community, they are considered as outcasts and these concerts allow them to find themselves among themselves, thus, they will not have any judgement from others.

The most famous festival was undoubtedly the Woodstock festival which took place in 1969 in Bethel, New York, outside the city in the Catskill Mountains. The location was planned to accommodate 50,000 spectators from August 15 to 17, 1969, the festival will finally host 500,000 people.

They attended the performances of great artists who have become legends such as Jimmy Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Janis Joplin or Joan Baz.

It will last one more day against all odds. The weather conditions did not cause any victims by electrocution. Nevertheless, we will count 3 deaths, by overdose or by accident due to a tractor which passed on a tent in full night.

One could think that the festival was organized every year. But it is not. Indeed, the numerous problems of logistics led the organizers to have debts. The reason? Many people got in without paying. At the time, admission was $6. There was a considerable loss and they could not pay the rental of the equipment and the artists. The intervention of the emergency services on numerous occasions for people completely stoned to drugs put an end to this event which became historic.

The organizers had no other choice than to sell the rights to Warner to clear their debts. If you want to know more about this legendary hippie festival, check out our article dedicated to the Woodstock festival.

The Hippie style of dress

It's obvious that when you observe the hippies in the 70s, that their dress was often sketchy or very country for the girls. Deprived of shoes for some, it was chaussé of sandals when they deigned to put some. For the men it was the large pants and a bare-chested jacket and the women sported a long or very short flowered dress.

The hair was worn very long for both girls and boys, which was a response in their own way to the soldiers who had their heads shaved once they were enlisted in the army. The girls were, of course, very little cared for as far as hair was concerned. Often vagabond, the hippie does not carry much on him. The women, they had a shoulder bag with fringe and often in suede or brown suede.

This allure testified well of their contestation to accept the society of consumption such as one hammered to the population. For them, capitalism only served to finance wars whereas they advocated peace.

It is necessary to say that at that time, the population was distinguished between the marginalized and the well-born people. If the hippies wore very colorful and bohemian clothes, for another part, it was turtleneck sweater and miniskirt with tights for the girls, a sweater and jeans for the boys. The only common point between the two categories of people is perhaps the pants pat' d' eph' which survived in the following decades.

The hippie dress became, with the arrival of the disco, appropriate, but in more chic.  It became a city dress, the psychedelic attitude in less. From there was born the bohemian fashion, outfits with hippie essences but much more chic and refined that can be worn in any circumstance. If you like this style, we recommend our collection of bohemian maxi dresses.