60s Photos

A Word Or Two About Hippie Fashions
and a plug for Collin of London
The hippie fashion is/was to do and to wear whatever turns one on.

I wore long hair and was into Mod fashions since elementary school. In the 1960s guys wore long hair and jeans as a symbol of rejection of the establishment and the established order of things. The fashion for boys long hair was brought to America by The Beatles and other British bands that followed. Mod fashions came also from England, mostly from Carnegie Street in London. You could see British bands dressed in Mod fashions 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. And recently, there were also a lot of Mod fashions in Austin Powers' movies. Below is a photo from 1967 of my Cousin Stanley. He was the drummer with The London Beats. He is dressed here in Mod clothes that he bought on Carnegie Street in London.

My Cousin Stanley from The London Beats, 1967.

In about seventh grade I was called "Adam Mod". That's probably because I was really into the British beat and Mod fashions then. And after I went on a date with a British girl I was called "Adam Stone". Guess that was probably because it sounded more British then my hard to pronounce Slavic name. By that time they started identifying me more with Britain and with getting stoned (I don't know why). Finally around 1966, a schoolmate from Belgian gave me the Nickname "The Polish Hippy" that has stayed with me all through High School and later until the end of the Vietman War. It probably too so long for my friends to figure me out before they could coin the right Nickname for me because I was European. They had little knowledge about European culture, Bohemian lifestyles and open-minded worldviews before The Beatles and the hippies came along. But as I matured and became more confident with myself I stopped following British fashions and started creating my own.

Besides the boy's long hair or denim jeans, hippies didn't really have any defined fashions. The so called "Hippie Fashion" was/is to be who we really are, to do what we like to do and to wear whatever we want to wear. In the '60s, hippies had no rules as to what they were supposed to wear. Many hippies wore long hair, faded denim jeans, army surplus combat jackets and anything else that they came across and liked. In about 1968 came the so called The Hippy Look, also called The Peasant Look by some Europeans. It was an American fashion initiated at about the time of the Summer of Love Festival in San Francisco. It is best remembered today for the introduction of overalls and bellbottom trousers, which took on immediately and are identified with the '60-'70s. But besides the bellbottoms it did not change much. Hippies still did whatever turned them on and did not follow dictates of fashion gurus. Hippies did not find clothes to be the most important things in their lives. Hippies took people for what they were and not for what they wore. Some hippies dressed in such places as Army surplus stores or The Salvation Army where some hippies also found shelter. One popular hippie shopping place that many Midwest hippies used to visit in Chicago's Old Town was "The Secondhand Rose". There was a lot of cool stuff to be found there.

I was into The Beatles & Mod Fashions from London.
Photo machine @ Museum Of Science and Industry
Chicago, 23 November 1965.

Later, as some of us started earning a living and functioning in the society or the rat race, some of us became more fashion conscious. But getting that groovy hippy look was not that easy. As a rule, we did not followed any definite fashions or rules so it required some of us to become original and creative in creating our own look. So, many of us actually created our own fashions on what we could manage. But, it was not until after starting my first job that I was able to buy more expensive things and to do the things I wasn't able to before. And I guess it was like that with many other hippies. One of the things I wasn't able to do before was to go to a Hairstylist to get a “haven’t had a haircut" look like many British Rock Stars had. I guess that was the thing to do since the early 1970s when men's long hair fashions swept the Planet in a flash like a wild fire.

So, for about a decade since the beginning of the early 1970s and in the 1980s I used to have my long hair styled by Collin himself of Collin of London, whom I was fortunate to have in my Near Noth Side neighborhood around Ruch and Oak Streets. 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, for example. Too bad I haven't met any other Hairstylist in Europe or America who knows it or who is good at it. Collin's shop was on Rush Street ("was" because I am not sure if it is still there. Perhaps his Son still runs it). Collin’s everyday clients consisted mostly of famous Stars, Artists, DJs, businessmen and simple people like myself. Some of Collin's clients like Liberace even sent their private planes to fetch him to their private estates. Collin and I missed Europe a bit and often talked about it. I haven’t met any other Hairstylist like him anywhere else in the world. He was really the best.

The basic rules hippies trie to follow are pacifism (nonviolence) and truthfulness (honesty). As to how one lives, one's sex life, what one wears or eats is one's own personal choice. Different folks have different tastes and also different needs also at different times or stages in life. As to taking on this or that diet, I recommend consulting a competent Dietitian about it rather then going along with popular trends. How about what a hippie should wear? I can't really say because I have problems with that every morning when I get up and have to get dressed. Personally, I'd be happy if someone designed some kind of hippie uniform for me so I wouldn't have to think about it every time I have to get dressed. There was a time when I used to spend a lot of time in nudist centers and beaches in Europe. I've grown to like that type of Naturist lifestyle and had no problems with fashions or clothes there. I have many fine memories from those beaches, the campfires, Volleyball games and wonderful folks I met there. After the first day or two in such an environment one stops judging others by what they have or what they are wearing. That's where I realized that the hippy movement and also the Rainbow movement were/ are an effort 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 admit that I have experienced liberation and enjoyed here on Earth the Garden Of Eden for a while. I believe the world would be a better place if everyone would have free access to such an environment that is free from phony social trends, values and preconceptions (beliefs).

Photo from a typical riverbank naturist beach in Poland, 1987.

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by Adam Wojtanek