60s Photos

A Word Or Two About Hippie Fashions
Whatever turns you on - Do your thing - Do what you want to do

After turning on to The Beatles in 1964 I started wearing long hair and was into Mod fashions. Guys wore long hair then as a symbol of rebellion. The fashion for boys long hair was brought to America by The Beatles and other British bands that followed them. British fashions were called Mod fashions and came from places such as Carnegie Street in London. British bands dressed in Mod fashions. You'll such find typical examples on Hendrix's album covers, The Beatles' S. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover, Cream's Disraely Wheels and many other early British bands. Recently, there were also a lot of Mod fashions in Austin Powers' movies, which I love to watch on DVD. Below is a photo from 1967 of my Cousin Stanley from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was the drummer with The London Beats, a band that played mostly in clubs and at the first Milwaukee Rolling Stones Concert in the 1960s. On the photo below, Stan's dressed in Mod clothes that he got on Carnegie Street on his trip to London.

My Cousin Stanley from The London Beats, 1967.

My fist nickname in grade school was Adam Mod. That's because I was really into the British beat and Mod fashions. Then after dating with a British chick friends used to call me Adam Stone. Guess that was probably because it sounded more British then my Slavic name. By that time friends started identifying me with Britain and also with getting stoned. Though I don't know why? Finally around 1966, a schoolmate from Belgian started calling me The Polish Hippy, and that nickname had stayed with me at least until the end of the Vietman War. I guess it took a long time for friends to figure me out before they could come up with the right name for me. I was European and they knew little about Europe and in the days before The Beatles and the hippies few Americans were into European culture, Bohemian lifestyles or open-minded and cosmopolitan worldviews. But as I grew older and became more confident with myself I stopped following British fashions and started creating my own and so did many other young Americans. So, I suppose that's how hippie fashions eventually came about.

Besides boy's long hair, tight jeans (there were also shrinkable jeans), beads from India (and American Indian beads) and colorful shirts hippies didn't really have any defined fashion. The so called "Hippie Fashion" was to be who we are, to do what we wanted to do and to wear what we want to wear. In the '60s, there were no set rules as to what hippies were to wear except for long hair and beads; barefoot or naked was like the last word in fashion. Many hippies wore long hair, faded jeans, army surplus combat jackets and anything that turned them on. It was not until about 1968 that the so called Hippy Look came about, also called The Peasant Look by some Europeans. It was an American fashion invented by some designers for the first Summer of Love Festival in San Francisco. Today, it's remembered best for the introduction of overalls and bellbottom trousers, which took on after a few years and still are associated with hippies and the 1970s fashions. Besides the introduction of the bellbottom trousers hippie styles did not change much. Also, you'll find that in most photos from the 1960s hippies are not wearing bellbottoms.

Hippies did whatever turned them on and did not follow dictates of fashion gurus, and hippies did not find clothes to be the most important thing to go after in life. I think hippies were most interested in people and social issues. They took people for what they were and not for what they had on. So due to the low budgets that many hippies had to live on, hippies looked for clothes in secondhand shops, Army surplus stores or The Salvation Army where some also found shelter in places such as San Francisco, for example. Popular stores I remember visiting in the Midwest were The Secondhand Rose and The Man At Ease in Chicago's Old Town where I was surprised to get with my purchase a groovy Love sign button for a gift from the owner. There were many groovy things to be found in places such as those that most mainstream Americans have probably never visited or haven't even known about.

My Hairstylist

As some hippies found employment and started earning a living they started functioning in society or the rat race. Then some of us became more fashion conscious. But getting that groovy hippie look was not that easy. As a rule, we did not follow any fashions rules and become our own fashion designers. So, many hippies created their own designs on what they could manage. But, it was not until after starting my first job that I was able to buy the more expensive things and to do the things I wasn't able to do before. One of the things I wasn't able to do was to visit a good Hairstylist to get that “haven’t had a haircut" cut look like many music stars had. I guess that was the thing to do since the 1960s and especially the 1970s when men's long hair fashions became fashionable around the world.

So in the early 1970s, I found an excellent hairstylist on Oak Street in Chicago. It was Collin of Collin of London. Collin was a famous 1960s British man’s Hairstylist. He followed the Beatles to America, settled in Chicago and was known in the hairstyling professional circles as the inventor of the Collin cut. The Collin Cut is still taught in fine hair styling schools in America such as Pivot Point. I haven't met any other Hairstylist in Europe or America that cut my hair that well. Collin's shop was on Rush Street. I'm not sure if it is still there. Perhaps his Son runs it now. Collin's everyday clients consisted mostly of local and international celebrities and young people like myself. Liberace even sent his private plane to fetch him to his estate. So, I was very proud to have him as my hairstylist. Collin and I missed Europe and perhaps that was the only thing we had in common. I haven’t met any other Hairstylist like him anywhere else in the world. He was really the best.

Nudity

I've spent several years at nudist beaches in Europe and I've grown to like the naturist lifestyle. Nudists have no problems with fashions or clothes like most people do. I've also got many fine memories from those days spent at beaches, campfires, Volleyball games and the wonderful folks I've met. After the first day or two in such an environment one stops judging others by what they are wearing because they aren't wearing anything. That's where I also realized that the hippy movement and also the Rainbow movement were/ are efforts to bring about such a peaceful, free and open spirit to textilers - those folks that wear clothes everyday. So, having lived without clothes and many false social limitations for a while, I can honestly say that I've experienced a bit of the Garden Of Eden for a while and believe the world would be a better place if everyone would have free access to such an environment that is free from false values and beliefs.

Clothes As A Form of Art

I've spent lots of time at naturist beaches esp. during the '80s and wouldn't mind living in a clothes free world if not for the problems with the ozone layer. I used to laugh at the sight of textile people paying for striptease shows, Playboys, Playgirls and porn. I thought they were crazy to long for something as natural as that. But that was years ago. Now I look at porn as exciting works of art that make me wish I could return to those days and that paradise. As to dressing like the textiles do, I've got suits and dress shoes but I don't like wearing them, and can't remember when was the last time I wore them. Perhaps last year to an interview. My favorite type of clothes are short pants, Hawaiian shirts, sandals and sneakers (Vans Authentic and Converse All Star). But the climate I'm in now requires warm clothes because it's cold most of the year. As to earrings and tattoos. I've got both ears pierced but no tattoos because I've never been able to find any design or symbol that would be universal enough for me to advertise on my body for the rest of my days. A tattoo is a serious decision I haven't been able to commit to. But I like tattoos and couldn't imagine for example Axl Rose without the cross on his arm. I suppose when it becomes popular for conservatives and rednecks to dress like liberals then liberals will start dressing like conservatives and rednecks. That's probably because dressing for many folks is a way of expressing their worldviews and how they feel. So, that's why I see it as a form of art.

A few additional words about footwear. My favorites from the 60s to this day are Vans Authentic and Converse All Star. The Converse All Star sneakers were required in schools for gym practice so students wouldn't damage parquet basketball floors. So I started wearing old pairs during the vacation for everyday use early in elementary school. I guess many other kids did the same. That's probably how the fashion for those started. Vans came out in about 1966. They were a lot more comfortable to put on. They didn't have the shoe strings to mess around with and held on to skateboards, surfboards and wooden floors really well. The Converse All Star sneakers became very fashionable outside the USA in Germany and lately in Poland, for example among some artists.

June 2008

Snobby Hippie Consumer Goods

Hippies also have certain snobby consumer goods that they like to own such as Birkenstock sandals, for example. The truth is I'm also a bit snobby that way and wear Birks whenever I can. I also have a couple pair of Birkenstock shoes that I bought cheaply at auctions. The shoes and sandals look like crap but they're the only ones I can walk miles in without feeling that I've actually walked the miles. And to give the competition equal credit, around the house, pool or a beach I like Dr. Scholl's Monterey, Aquajets or Callawee, which have the same sanitized inner sole. Lets not forget the tie-died shirts, beads, rings, earrings, pendants and all the other hippie paraphernalia. Unfortunately, those are not things to wear when going to Holland or other more conservative places because the folks there like to be a bit more toned down; unless if one's gay and wants the whole world to know about it or how proud one is; other signs of minority group inferiority complexes.

I've been interested in how to repair the damaged hippie image, and I think that if hippies lived in trendy neighborhoods, drove Corvettes, Cadillacs or Benzes painted in psychedelic flower designs, wore Rolexes or Cartier tank watches in addition to the second hand store stuff then others may change their opinions about them. That's because most people aren't as intuitive as hippies and judge others by the way they look. The only problem with that idea is that one would have to be able to find a well paying post that would tolerate those that dresse in such a fashion and live such a flamboyant lifestyle. So, that's where it ends. But at least in European fashions things seem to be heading that way. Instead of for example buying a pair of jeans, a coat or a shirt in a second hand shop for just a couple Euros, it's becoming extremely fashionable to pay lots of bread for stuff that looks like it's been worn by one's Parents and been washed a few thousands times. No self-respecting modern British guy would for example wear a brand new suit without sleeping in it first for a week or two. So, things are evolving to higher states of consciousness in the fashion world. Members of sub-cultures such as the hippies are like art. The difference between an ordinary object and a great work of art is that the art brings about a revolution of perception of reality. Therefore all I can say is, let's hope for a revolution.

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by Adam Wojtanek