Clothes For Hippies

• Hip-hugger bellbottom jeans or pants
• Wide belts
• Halter tops
• Leather vests
• Mini, midi, or maxi skirts
• Peasant blouses
• Leather or hemp sandals
• Tie-dye
• Patchwork
• Headbands
• Fringe on anything
• Beads
• Peace signs

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Hippies, though seen as disruptive and subversive at the time, set in motion many social and environmental reforms. While many think that the hippie culture died out in the 1970s, their ideals permeate our modern everyday life. Hippie principles of peace, love, and personal freedom led to the tolerance and acceptance of personal and cultural differences that we take for granted today. Their back-to-nature lifestyle gave birth to today's "Green Movement."

Clothing styles change, as do cultures, over the years. New ideas and new styles must often hit the scene in a dramatic and radical way in order to make an impression. As these things become accepted and assimilated into a culture, they may become toned down, but their influences are lasting. Just as hippy ideals have become mainstream, so have hippy outfits. Clothes for hippies may not be as bright and colorful as they used to be, but the idea of personal expression is still there.

In illustration of their rejection of middle-class establishment, clothes for hippies often took on an eclectic look borrowed from cultures considered to be more primitive or deviant. Hippie outfits sometimes reflected a bohemian or gypsy lifestyle, with simple, unstructured clothing. Bare feet and sandals were common, and some women refused to wear bras.

Besides faded jeans, wide belts, and peasant tops, hippie clothes for women included flowing skirts and dresses. Homemade clothing was the norm, with patchwork, crochet, and tie-dye becoming quite popular. Clothes for hippies really were a personal expression, and it is impossible to identify a single style as hippie attire.

This skirt is the quintessential patchwork hippie skirt. Panels of cotton calico fabrics are pieced together to create a full-length skirt to brush across your bare toes. The drawstring waist adjusts for a perfect fit, and the embroidered peace sign on the pocket adds an authentic touch. Evoking the peaceful spirit of hippydom, this hippie skirt is a must-have for flower children of any age.

Since clothes for hippies are an expression of personal freedom and an anything-goes attitude, hippy dresses for women could be just about anything -- as long as it wasn't Mother's clothing style. Gone were the tailored shirtdresses of the fifties. Hippie women wore brash and bold mini-skirts or laid-back and flowing gypsy outfits.

Hippy dresses for women came in all colors and patterns, from bright solids and geometrics to muted earth tones and ethnic designs. Styles ranged from loose peasant gathers to bare-backed halter tops. Natural fabrics were preferred. Various printed fabrics were pieced together to create one-of-a-kind patchwork clothing. And, of course, the tie-dye method of decoration went beyond just t-shirts, spilling over to dresses, too. Find your perfect hippie dress to express the real you.

The hippy movement freed men from the constraints of suit and tie which had held most men captive for decades. In their place, hippy clothes for men included jeans or comfortable natural-fiber pants; t-shirts, from a music festival or tie-dyed; suede leather vests, with or without fringe; gypsy or poet shirts; and dashikis.

Bare feet or sandals were part of the hippy outfit. And clothes for hippies just weren't complete without certain accessories. Belts were either wide with a buckle or a fringed tie belt. Beads or a peace symbol pendant were ubiquitous. The outfit was often topped off by a leather or hemp hat or a headband.

These men's hippie pants fit right in with the hippie lifestyle -- everything about them says laid-back and comfortable. Earthtones and all-natural hemp fabric connect you to Mother Earth. The relaxed fit is enhanced by the drawstring/elastic waist, and the front pockets keep your guitar pick or bottle opener handy. They're about as far as you can get from the old suit and tie!

The outward expression of the hippy philosophy was their manner of dress and grooming. If socially acceptable styles included suit and tie, tidily trimmed hair, and a clean-shaven face, you can be sure that clothes for hippies would be free-style and unstructured. Hippie men grew long hair, beard, and mustache, and wore clothes that were anything but tailored. Hippy women, in answer to the demure and modest fashion of the fifties, either wore bright clothing that showed a lot of leg or earthy, flowing dresses in muted colors. They let their hair grow long and unstyled, and often went braless.

Iconic hippy pants of the era were blue jeans. Old and worn, relaxed and casual, jeans were everywhere. The preferred style was low-slung with wide bell-bottom hems dragging the ground. If the jeans in the closet had "square-style" short and straight legs, a handy hippy seamstress simply opened up the lower part of the outseam and stitched in a triangle of bright fabric to create a bell bottom, and then added a strip of the same fabric around the hem for length.

But hippies didn't limit themselves to jeans. Anything that was comfortable, out of the ordinary, and preferably of a natural fabric was fair game. Cotton and hemp were popular fabrics for hippy pants. And, of course, pants did not have to be of a neutral color. Sometimes bright was better. These striped pants would have fit right into the 1960s. Made of fair-trade cotton and richly colored, these lightweight pants are perfect for summer wear.

In the days of free love, it's not surprising that there were hippie kids. Naturally, hippies dressed their kids in hippie kids clothes...when they were dressed at all. The same styles that were worn by adults were put on the kids, too. Today's old hippies are probably past their child-rearing years, but neo-hippies still appreciate natural fabrics and the free and easy style.

What's cuter than these tie-dyed pants for little hippie girls? Cool and comfortable cotton in your choice of two color combinations lets your little flower child run carefree all day long.