Psychedelic Fashion and Art: A Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, Assignments of Fashion Business Basics

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History of Costume

KALPANA NAIK

FD - VI

Psychedelia

From the second half of the 1950s, Beat Generation writers like William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg wrote about and took drugs, including cannabis and Benzedrine, raising awareness and helping to popularise their use. In the same period Lysergic acid diethylamide, better known as LSD, or "acid" (at the time a legal drug), began to be used in the US and UK as an experimental treatment, initially promoted as a potential cure for mental illness. In the early 1960s the use of LSD and other hallucinogens was advocated by proponents of the new "consciousness expansion", such as Timothy Leary, Alan Watts, Aldous Huxley and Arthur Koestler, their writings profoundly influenced the thinking of the new generation of youth. There had long been a culture of drug use among jazz and blues musicians, and use of drugs (including cannabis, peyote, mescaline and LSD) had begun to grow among folk and rock musicians, who also began to include drug references in their songs.

By the mid-1960s, the psychedelic life-style had already developed in California, and an entire subculture developed. This was particularly true in San Francisco, due in part to the first major underground LSD factory, established there by Owsley Stanley. There was also an emerging music scene of folk clubs, coffee houses and independent radio stations catering to a population of students at nearby Berkeley, and to free thinkers that had gravitated to the city. From 1964, the Merry Pranksters, a loose group that developed around novelist Ken Kesey, sponsored the Acid Tests, a series of events based around the taking of LSD (supplied by Stanley), accompanied by light shows, film projection and discordant, improvised music known as the psychedelic symphony. The Pranksters helped popularize LSD use through their road trips across America in a psychedelically-decorated school bus, which involved distributing the drug and meeting with major figures of the beat movement, and through publications about their activities such as Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (1968).

Leary was a well-known proponent of the use of psychedelics, as was Aldous Huxley. However, both advanced widely different opinions on the broad use of psychedelics by state and civil society. Leary promulgated the idea of such substances as a panacea, while Huxley suggested that only the cultural and intellectual elite should partake of entheogens systematically.

History

Advances in printing and photographic technology in the 1960s saw the traditional lithography printing techniques rapidly superseded by the offset printing system. This and other technical and industrial innovations gave young artists access to exciting new graphic techniques and media, including photographic and mixed media collage, metallic foils, and vivid new fluorescent "DayGlo" inks. This enabled them to explore innovative new illustrative styles including highly distorted visuals, cartoons, and lurid colors and full spectrums to evoke a sense of altered consciousness; many works also featured idiosyncratic and complex new fonts and lettering styles (most notably in the work of San Francisco-based poster artist Rick Griffin).

Many artists in the late 1960s and early 1970s attempted to illustrate the psychedelic experience in paintings, drawings, illustrations, and other forms of graphic design. In the modern era, computer graphics may be used to produce psychedelic effects for artwork.

The counterculture music scene frequently used psychedelic designs on posters during the Summer of Love, leading to a popularization of the style. Peter Max's psychedelic poster designs helped popularize brightly colored spectrums widely, especially among college students.

Joplin's Porsche 356C in "Summer of Love – Art of the Psychedelic Era" at the Whitney Museum in New York City Blues rock singer Janis Joplin had psychedelic car Porsche 356. The trend also extended to motor vehicles. The earliest, and perhaps most famous of all psychedelic vehicles was the famous "Further" bus, driven by Ken Kesey and The Merry Pranksters, which was painted inside and out in 1964 with bold psychedelic designs (although these were executed in primary colours, since the DayGlo colours that soon became de rigueur were then not widely available).

Visual Art

The consumption of LSD and similar psychedelic drugs in New York City led to a great deal of cultural innovations that formed a unique psychedelic subculture from the early 1960s onwards. Historians and other commentators have offered conflicting views on this phenomenon by using either an epidemiological approach or by giving drug users more agency.

The present study sides with the latter category to offer a new social history of LSD, but problematizes this topic in a sophisticated way by understanding psychedelic drug use as a social fact that in turn produces meaning for its consumers. It analyses the multiple cultural features of psychedelia through the lenses of politics, science, religion, and art, but also looks at the utopian and radical off-shoots of that subculture.

To balance this thematic approach, it historicises the subculture by analysing its early days and discussing its origins, and then by pointing to the factors that led to its metamorphosis towards the end of the 1960s. In order to give LSD consumers a clearer voice, this dissertation is based on memoirs, correspondence and interviews that are used to balance press coverage gleaned from archival collections.

With this wide array of primary sources supplemented by up-to-date secondary literature, it argues that the use of LSD and psychedelics led to a rich subculture that can be explained by the inherent complexity of the psychedelic experience. In turn, the plurality of opinions regarding the meaning and purposes of the experience led to tensions and polarisations within the large subculture, as well as with other drug subcultures and outsiders leery of illicit drug use.

In doing so, this dissertation contributes to the social history of illicit substance consumption and adds to the fields of urban history and the history of subcultures, and makes a case for understanding LSD and psychedelics as a unique category of forbidden drugs that differ vastly in their cultural meaning from other drugs.

The Birth of a

Psychedelic Subculture

Psychedelic fashion was a quintessential 1960s movement. Although it was eventually, and to some degree opportunistically, embraced by virtually every mainstream design and sector of the fashion industry, it would be hard to isolated a single designer or even a cluster of designers who could be credited for its invention or promotion. Nevertheless, the psychedelic preoccupation with light and the total environment reached a paradigm at the Manhattan boutique Paraphernalia in 1966, when electrical engineer Diana Dew devised a vinyl dress that turned-on at the command of the wearer. A miniaturized potentiometer fit on the belt of the dress and regulated the frequency of the blinking hearts or stars, which could be coordinated to the throbbing beat of the disco soundtrack. That same year, Yves Saint Laurent brought psychedelic light and color to pop art's disembodied trademarks with a bridal gown that flashed an incandescent flower, which enlivened the runway show's traditional finale.

Psychedelic fashion became a way for external reality to seemingly be transformed by the visions projected on the mind's internal screen. Psychedelic fashions existed within a cultural context that encompassed the radical lifestyles of the hippies, the transcendent "acid" experience as well as constructed environments that sought to simulate the acid experience. These encompassed communal affirmations such as the "be-in," and performance art "happenings." Psychedelic fashion became an indispensable component of the total environment created in discotheques or rock palaces; it allowed an integration of the reformed environment and the remade self. The dereglement de tous les sens that Artur Rimbaud had once propounded, was heightened orally by the fuzz box and "wah-wah" pedal distortions. Light shows at the rock concerts and at the discotheque hurled pulsating apparitions at the spectator. The blinking strobe light atomized the continuity, the gestalt of visual perception. It might be said that under the strobe light, all fashion became psychedelic.

Psychedelic

Fashion

Bleeding colours forming geometric shapes then melting into vibrant swirls, amoeba patterns and Indian floral – psychedelic fashion was the end-product of the great hippie movement (Flower Power ideology), passive resistance and innate fascination in the culture of Far East, particularly Buddhism. Combining both music and visual art, this new breed of style exhibited escalated appreciation for texture and line and symmetry, all in sync with 1960s hippie trend.

Psychedelic Style

This sense of style was mostly popularized by music icons, such as Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix and quite obviously, the young generation of the 1960s joined the bandwagon. Vibrant colours and quirky tie-dye patterns started plaguing the market spreading the psychedelic craze like a wildfire. However, with time, the psychedelic culture lost its relevance due to over-saturation – but Bohemian fashion made frequent comebacks influencing today’s fashion industry.

Gypsy scarves, Indian motifs and African fabrics became the order of the day. A strong resentment towards commercialism, consumerism and mass production was in the air. The eccentric independence of hippie culture threatened traditional fashion establishments. Needless to say, an offbeat fashion sense prevailed, which was both exotic as well as frivolous at that time. With vibrant pops of colours, ragged silhouettes and oodles of beads and jewellery, the hippies created a one-of-a-kind look based on creativity, individuality and fantasy.

Kaleidoscopic Florals: Traditional 60’s inspired floral prints are twisted into kaleidoscopic patterns combining bold colours and abstract shapes.

Tie-Dye: The popularity of these artistic, kaleidoscopic designs spread rapidly, and tie-dyed fashion was born. The well-dressed hippie took care to accessorise the look, with both genders adding headbands, beads, fringed shawls and ethnic jewellery.

Hypnotic: This look has a hypnotic effect with optical patterns in bright pops of color or monochromatic schemes that trick the eye.

Fluidic lines: This classic 1960s Californian hippy look uses long fluid lines and soft lightweight fabrics to add softness.

Styles & Patterns

In the 1960s, there were enormous social and political transformations in the fashion industry. The utilization of synthetic stimulants was the standard, and fashion was comfortably playing to the tune. The fact is it was unavoidable that both would connect. The main impact of the “LSD trip” involved an uplifted appreciation for line, texture, and color. Psychedelic Fashion improved the entire stimulating experience with its bold patterns and bright colors. In the middle of the decade, small pockets fashions of youngsters in various urban settings got a lot of media attention. It vigorously impacted the mass-market manufacturers and elite designer’s haute couture. Examples involve go-go boots, culottes, and mini skirts. Also, increasingly experimental fashions. These fashions are not commonly found on the streets, for instance, PVC clothes and box-shaped dresses.

In the 1950s, there was an increase in Pop art. The art exhibited a challenge to beautiful art traditions by obscuring the boundaries between low and high cultures. Bizarre iconography, rubber-like distortions, collage elements, firmly symmetrical composition, and bright ornate lettering are the art style of San Francisco (they are art styles of San Francisco Psychedelic Poster). Wes Wilson, Alton Kelley, Stanley Mouse, Bonnie Maclean, Victor Moscoso, and Rick Griffin are poster artists in San Francisco involved in arts. They were the foremost advocates of the Psychedelic Movement of the 1960s. The rock concerts that they conducted got motivation from Dada, Victoriana, Pop, and Nouveau arts

How Psychedelic

Fashion Began?

The psychedelic print is one of the biggest print trends of 2020, recalling the style of the 1960s and 70s, a wraparound we’ve noticed through a variety of trends recently. While the print has endless variations, the most defining are its sinuous lines, organic shapes, and bold colors. The psychedelic print has notable similarities to tie dye, another major print trend at the moment, with abstract, curving shapes and bursts of melting colors.

During the Spring/Summer 2021 season, psychedelic prints were featured in the collections of Raf Simons, Paloma Wool, Lecavalier, Collina Strada, Dries Van Noten, and more, with all of these designers rejoicing in a similar funky aesthetic. This versatile print is donned by all genders, on any garment, for any season, with a universal appeal that explains why we have been seeing this trending print everywhere.

Zooming in on two designers in particular, Raf Simons and Dries Van Noten, we can note the room for experimentation within the print. Raf Simons opted for colorblocked, well-defined swirls that gave dimension to the garments’ long, flowing sleeves. The collection was dubbed Teenage Dreams as an homage to films centered on youth revolt — nothing says youth revolt more than the 1970s, when psychedelic prints first became fixed in fashion. Simons’ prints for the SS21 collection were inspired by the 1979 film Hair, not a far cry from the current Gen Z sentiment of uncertainty.

Psychedelic fashion

in 2021

The explosion of psychedelic prints in the resort 2021 lookbooks was mostly nostalgic. What defined the devil-may-care fashions of the ’70s was this exact print that sought to mimic the hallucinatory visuals one would encounter in a trance or hypnotic state. Unsurprisingly, this indulgence in hedonism is also what you can attribute the invention—and recent rebirth—of tie-dye to. One of the key purveyors of this euphoric print was Valentino. Opting for a digital lookbook this season, Pierpaolo Piccioli featured the island life as a backdrop to his psychedelic offering. Taking the form of slouchy tunics and flowy caftans, the print featured alongside crocheted swimwear—a foolproof way to set our hearts aflutter for an imaginary beach getaway. And in true bohemian fashion, Piccioli drew inspiration from the fine arts, borrowing from the likes of Rothko and 18th-century tapestries.

Staging a physical show—albeit with only a few invited guests and local onlookers—was Christian Dior. The Puglia-inspired collection was an ode to home and family roots for Maria Grazia Chiuri, as she worked with Tessitura Calabrese and Le Constantine Foundation, two local organisations that are preserving ancient weaving techniques. Notably rustic, the print took a more muted route, with optical and symmetrical patterns that mirrored the luminous set that occupied the Piazza del Duomo.

Elsewhere, psychedelia manifested more as a sartorial punctuation than a statement. Bottega Veneta took a less obvious route with the print with an acid green and yellow tessellation that, up close, was a chemical scaffold of interlinking bodies. MSGM, on the other hand, put tie-dye on acid instead, offering a strong line-up of neck-to-ankle ensembles for the sartorially liberated and brave.

The ultra-saturation of the print and its history with reckless abandon is no coincidence. As fashion continues to crave for instances of respite along with the world—ones that come in extremes, and not smatterings—psychedelia seems to be our momentary gateway dose, at least for now.

Conept Note

The word “psychedelic” is a combination of the Greek words

psyche and delos, and means “mind manifesting” or “soul

manifesting.” Indeed, this is the function of art today. Modern art

is not just there to be looked at. It’s a 360-degree experience that

you’re meant to feel as much as think about.

Color exploded, with the use of opposing colors to create vibrating

images. Typography was twisted, oozed and melted into shapes.

And it was all done by hand. No Photoshop, just painstaking

illustration.

Psychedelia is the root of digital art. Computer art has allowed for

a new expression of psychedelic vision. Fractal generating

software creates an accurate depiction of psychedelic

hallucinatory patterns, but even more importantly 2D and 3D

graphics software allow for unparalleled freedom of image

manipulation.