Au 79 Magazine

We created a magazine to combine all our research and ideas about this project development of the 'Google Hippie' and how this could inspire the idea of 'mash-up' in fashion. We have uploaded our magazine for viewing below and it can also been seen at http://issuu.com/lauraathey/docs/au79magazine

Front Page

Pages 1-2

Contents:

SHOW ME, TELL ME

3 - Introducing  the Google Hippie
5 - Mash-Up Guide - A to I
12 - Mash-up Guide - J to N
21 - Lead a Mash-Up Life
25 - Mash-up guide - O to Z
THE FASHION 7 BEAUTY
9 - Make-up Clash
13 - Fortune Favours the Bold
29 - Creating Colour from Gray
34 - Accessory Explosion
V.I.P.S
7 - Mash-Up Queen
27 - One to Watch: Chloe Glews
33 - Lucas Nascimento


Hello!

If, like us, your getting ready for summer, you’ve come to the right place. In this first ever issue of Au 79, we will give you all the information for a fashion forward summer. Au 79 was a magazine created to portray the mash-up of the fashionable lives we live. It all started when one of us typed ‘hippie’ into Google. From there we decided to look into how the Google version of the word ‘hippie’ is a stereotypical ‘mash-up’ of references, which have been manipulated in a Chinese whispers kind of way their origin. Google itself is a combination of fact and fiction information and we got inspired by this ‘mash-up’ idea. We wanted to provide a magazine for you which celebrates this mash-up idea and lets you know (the truth) about what you need this summer to get in on this up and coming trend.

Peace and Love!

YWestveerdeMul

Yasmin Westveer de Mul, Editor
editor@au79.co.uk

Pages 3-4

AU has researched into our own self
devised sub-culture of the ‘Google Hippie’. This sub-culture represents a stereotypical mash up of references which have been manipulated from their origin. Google its self is a combination of fact and fiction information which is often taken from unreliable sources. This is then expanded on time and time again, resulting in brand new false, yet believable ideas of the truth. The ‘Google Hippie’ has grown in exactly the same way to now become a mixture of fiction and reality. This is what AU explores, the mash up concept which brings together every aspect of the ‘Google Hippie’ term. Throughout this issue we are going to celebrate explosions of colour and texture, whilst revealing all of the key elements which build this subculture and show you how you can become a part of it, whether it is through your makeup, clothing or even music.

Let the mash up begin...

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Mash Up Queen - Louise Gray

Louise Gray has recently burst onto the fashion scene with her visually entoxicating collections which capture the imagination of every audience. She is particularly recognised for her mash up of colour, print and textures which is what makes her so unique.


Scottish born designer Louise Gray is one of fashion’s newest arrivals and definitely one to watch. Currently making her name in London, Gray is not one to forget her Scottish roots where her journey began. Gray said "Art school was kind of the cliché, but so fun; it felt very free. It definitely influenced my design style – you had to learn the four disciplines: knit; weave; print and embroidery. I didn't like weaving – I thought it was so boring. I felt like a Victorian child at the back of all these looms.”
From the start of Gray’s studies she was drawn to the techniques of embroidery and print where she was free to be experimental and innovative. Her work comprises of vast combinations of texture as she likes to allow her pieces to grow and change as she develops her ideas. By following the fashion advice given by her mother ‘Everything matches if you like it’ Gray has created collections that are cleverly thought out celebrations of colour, texture and print; on paper they shouldn’t work, but in front of your eyes it is mesmerising. Now Gray has staged her work at LFW for the past 8 seasons, along with  her receiving  NEWGEN sponsorship her career is exploding. As well as selling her collections internationally, she has collaborated with various designers such as; Pollini on a shoe collection, Cotton USA, Judy Blame, Nicholas Kirkwood and most recently ASOS creating a clothing and jewellery collection which has now sold out online.
Gray is a genius when it comes to producing a show that is both visually intoxicating and at the same time wearable. Her collections contain riots of colour, and explosions of bright pigments and clashing textures. She often combines primary-coloured chiffons layered with graphic silk prints, swatches of beading, and naive little scraps of appliqué and embroidery.
Gray’s resolution to keep her collections "honest"; to portray the essence of herself in the clothes has been apparent through every collection. She has stated that she believes everyone has an individual way of dressing, not everybody wants to have the same conventional coat in winter. Fashion is the thing you can be yourself in, you can dress how you want without caring about other people’s opinions. This is what Gray works towards, giving free expression and no limitations within her clothing.

Pages 9-10

Make-up Clash
The best products to get the look

One of the best ways to explore the concept of ‘clash’ can be through experimenting with makeup. Here we have selected some of the best products that are currently available on the market to help you achieve this.

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Pages 13-14

Fortune Favours the Bold
Embrace the Hour of the Mash Up

Creative Director and Photographer - Yasmin Lane
Assistant Photographer - Frazer Donald

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Pages 21-22

Forget Spice, You Need to Mash Up Your Life
Frazer Donald Talks the Hottest Lifestyle Choices Right Now


Callooh Callay
65 Rivington Street,
London, EC2A 3AY


Shoreditch’s finest. Callooh Callay, a hard to find ‘Alice in Wonderland’ such place, with fantastic food and complex cocktails to tickle your taste buds. On entering this bar it seems like your average, ‘I’m a cool kid hipster bar’ but after having a few cocktails and some potato wedges you realize it’s more, there's the Lewis Carroll inspired carnival like back room bar for the Jubjub Members, hidden behind the mirror on a wardrobe door, it’s no looking glass, nice try though. The crowds in Callooh Callay are the type of social twenty somethings wanting to re-live their childhoods in an East London bar, through week nights the feel of the bar is  relaxed and easy going and your more likely going to get a seat. The friendly staff will chat to you, they really do makes the best effort they can with customers, some areas get booked up well in advance so if your heading there on the weekend you might not always be guaranteed a seat. All in all I give the bar a very high rating, everytime you'll visit you will notice different and more exciting quirky things, such as new crazy drinks, gramophones or the odd tea cups dotted around the place, which makes this venue an exciting and inquisitive bar.


The Old Blue Last
38 Great Eastern St, EC2A 3ES


The Old Blue Last is one of my favourite bars in london, it has the young fun part of a bar as well as the rough, worn away feeling of an old english pub. Also known as ‘The Vice Pub’ The Old Blue Last is placed on a corner of Curtain Road and Great Eastern Street, in the heart of the Shoreditch, with it's Vintage looking Victorian exterior . Refurbished in 2010, the interior of the pub was changed from filthy lavatories and vile grimy walls, they bought new comfortable leather sofas and built a more accessible bar. The upstairs has a small stage and bar area, on weekends filled with crowds hyped up for both signed and unsigned bands playing. The drinks average in price with a wide selection of draughts available such as Stella, Guinness, Staropramen and Leffe and bottled beers. G&T and V&L about £3.50. I'd say if you are new in town and like a bit of people watching, head to The Old Blue Last and see sights of future trends and new musical experiences.


XOYO
32-37 Cowper Street, London, EC2A 4AP

XOYO is in an old dis-used print works close to Old Street roundabout, it is a 800-capacity club, with a wide range of music for party people who like to spend most weekends in Shoreditch. Still looking like an industrial building, the combination of white columns and cold hard concrete floors gives it a feeling of an old school rave in a car park in London. There are no sofas or seats to get comfortable to save space for dancing, so if your up for a more cosy night in a bar head over to Callooh Callay, but if your looking for a place to get completely wasted and party all night till the break of dawn, XOYO is the place to be. Drinks are at average club prices, with bottles of Magners and Sagres putting you back£3.80 - no more expensive than any clubs in the area. Though there are only a limited choice of beers, it is much better for spirits and cocktails. Shoreditch has become the place to be with new bars and clubs in recent years, XOYO should stand the test of time with it's exciting but clued-up booking policy.

Beyond Retro
Brick Lane 110-112 Cheshire St London, E2 6EJ

Beyond retro is one of London's vintage originators, and a leader in the vintage second hand retailing business. It buys truckloads of second hand clothing and gives it to the third world, but first chooses the best pieces for their many vintage stores. In the new store in Dalston, which is now the biggest vintage store in the world, you'll find all types of clothing in a more hectic (in a fun way) environment, inside sits a cafe and a small stage for occasional performances. The original store on Cheshire Street was a dairy and has a deep set, hollow feel to it. Prices are fairly cheap, you have to be careful with what you buy, but guaranteed you will always find a bargain inside, with all the products to choose from. Beyond Retro's interior is very exciting and interesting to look at everywhere, this is the place for vintage.

Let's Talk Daggers http://www.facebook.com/letstalkdaggers

Absolutely funking mental lads from the south coast tear down the walls of every venue they play with the hardcore riffs and their freaking fast drummer. So many elements are thrown into their tracks, and so perfect in technical quality is the sound. If you enjoy getting... (continued on next page)

Pages 23-24

(continued from previous page) ...that adrenalin rush that sends your body thrashing around the place go and see ‘Let's Talk Daggers’, if you don't enjoy hectic gigs, give them a go anyway, I'm pretty sure you'll love it, to me there is no better band to see live. The new EP, 'Winter' is filled with extreme excitement in an instant, personally the third track, 'Have a Gabble' is my favourite, it's filled with intense shouts and screams. ‘Let's Talk Daggers’ aren't just some awful hardcore wannabe band created by nerdy, sweaty, overly skinny teenagers, these guys have so much talent, After having a listened to their demos tracks for the album I'm very excited to go out and get it, you can buy all the tracks from itunes. Give them a listen, check their tour dates and merch at http://www.facebook.com/letstalkdaggers


Gold Panda  http://www.facebook.com/iamgoldpanda

Gold Panda, also known as Derwin is an amazing musician, intriguing sounds that sink deep into your soul, with tracks making you feel as calm as the Dalai Lama and tracks that make you feel as powerful as Obama. The album ‘Lucky Shiner’ has such a wide range of sounds all creating amazing songs, that work well together on the album and sound very different too. It starts with his former single ‘You’, and ends with a similar version of the song, Making a loop with ‘Marriage’, as warm as a black road on a hot summers day, ‘Same Dream China’ is enhanced with the echoing of marimbas and xylophones creating an altogether masterpiece. ‘I’m With You But I’m Lonely’ has finger pianos treated and distorted until they sound like Fish Bones snapping under great pressure. The album is one of the few albums i would put in my top ten but everything about it is great. Check out Gold Panda at http://www.facebook.com/iamgoldpanda

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One to WATCH - Chloe Gews
Up and coming textile designer Chloe Glews has given AU magazine an exclusive insight into the thoughts and aspirations behind one of London’s young design students and how she hopes to make it in the future.


What made you decide to do a BA Hons Degree in Textile Design?

I have always enjoyed experimenting with colour and pattern, and found that textiles encouraged this more than any other area of art and design. I also have a great passion for illustration and textiles enables me to incorporate my individual, conceptual style of drawing. The idea of designing and creating fabrics has just always appealed to me.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

I’m really lucky to live so central in London, and Shoreditch (where I live) has so many amazing shops, boutiques, galleries and exhibitions. It’s impossible not to find inspiration! There is so many cool people around, everyone is so into fashion and interiors, and there are so many unique and differing individual styles. I just love being here and wondering around London, surrounded by interesting people and places.

How do you translate this inspiration through to your work?

I always start any project by drawing, I tend not to do secondary research until I’ve got a concept or an idea in mind. It’s very easy to copy others and come up with unoriginal designs if you start with secondary research. I just go with what I find interesting, take photos and draw. I often take colour schemes from photos that I’ve taken, rather than colours that are on trend. From my drawings I create pattern and come up with my initial concept.


What are your favourite textiles techniques to use?

I adore printing as it directly incorporates both colour and pattern. Heat transfer printing is always a favourite of mine! It’s so unpredictable you can come out with some amazing pieces, it keeps it fun and interesting. Currently I am learning new screen printing techniques such as foils and flocking, which is really exciting.

As a young designer how do you plan to distinguish yourself from competition in the industry?

Most of the time I tend to fall into the right concept, I don’t force it, which can be difficult when working towards a deadline. But letting things progress can often lead to the most original and inspiring work, and I never try to adhere to current trends in fashion or textiles. When you create original work in this way, you can create unique pieces that stand out from the many other designers who design towards trends. I feel that my work is always very illustrative, this doesn’t always appeal to everyone but it is unique and different. It stands out.

What valuable information has CSM taught you on your course so far?

That if you want to try something new, you do it on your own initiative. Uni is all about independent learning, and CSM really expects your passion to drive you as a student. If I want to try something I have to experiment and not wait to be shown. There are always technicians around, but they are always in such high demand from all the other students that if you wait you will just waste your own time. Doing things yourself can help you learn more effectively, and you may even stumble across a new technique or effect that is original and unique to your own work. And Central St Martins is such an inspiring and competitive environment to be in, it teaches you to learn and compete with your peers and to take inspiration from all areas of art and design.

Who would you love to collaborate with in the future?

My ambition is to work with Erdem or Givenchy. There’s so many other design houses that I would feel privileged to work with. From seeing the work of other students at CSM, I would feel equally as privileged to collaborate with many of them.

Where do you see yourself once you have finished your degree?

I’m currently working on finding internships and voluntary work to progress my knowledge of the industry. I’m also working on my own project outside of university work, which I think I will really benefit from. By gaining this experience, I hope that once I graduate I will be working for a fashion or interiors company designing printed fabrics for them. I understand that the demand for such jobs is extremely high and competition is outstanding. You have to work from the bottom up and I intend to do so. I think that’s the way I will progress, learn and get to the position in my working life that I hope to be in.

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Creating Colour From Gray

Here at AU Magazine we can’t hide our love for the Queen of Mash-Up, Louise Gray! So who better to use as the inspiration for our issue illustrations than the lady herself. Creative director Laura Athey has developed a capsule collection from trying to take forward many of Louise Gray’s mannerisms and ideas. The collection is based on hypnotic prints and tries to convey the idea of Mash-Up to the max!

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Lucas Nascimento
Hot Street Graffiti of Brazil Explodes over London Fashion


São Paulo's Lucas Nascimento is one of the hottest new talents on the London Fashion scene. His inovative use of new techniques pushes the boundaries of modern knitwear creating amazing results. Au Magazine interviewed Lucas’ creative director Nora Wong to find out more about the processes this exciting fashion label.

Where do you and Lucas get inspiration for your designs from?

Inspiration can come from anywhere on a daily basis when you live in a city as diverse as London! We travel a lot so the different landscapes, textures, people all feed into the designs in some way.


How to you translate this inspiration to artworks?

The Autumn/Winter 2012 has some reference to skateboarding culture which is a big thing in Brazil, where Lucas grew up. We were looking at a lot of graffiti and this subculture of tagging which ended up being translated into 3-colour jacquards, using combinations of all the yarns from the collection to create something beautifully textural and not too literal.

What processes do you use to create your artworks?

The knitting technique is called jacquard. It's a lot of trialling yarn combinations, colour combinations and tensions until you are happy with the final fabric. The graffiti dresses in the AW12 collection were also all very engineered - ie the artwork matches across the seams of the panels of the dress. It is a time consuming thing because you have to calculate and program, stitch for stitch, the artwork to match each pattern piece. Very mathematical!

How important are your artworks to your collections?

I think they are very important and often pull the different directions of the collection together.
For instance in the AW12 collection, the graffiti jacquards combined all yarns from the collection in one piece so they were visually very important to hold the collection together.

How do you usually decide on your colour ways?

Lucas loves colour! He loves to experiment with colour combinations and it is never something he is afraid to use. He is also very intuitive so he generally knows what he wants from the beginning.

Back Page

Google Hippie Designers

Previously we researched into our own self devised sub-culture of the ‘Google Hippie’. This sub-culture represents a stereotypical mash up of references which have been manipulated from their origin. Google its self is a combination of fact and fiction information which is often taken from unreliable sources. This is then expanded on time and time again, resulting in brand new false, yet believable ideas of the truth. The ‘Google Hippie’ has grown in exactly the same way to now become a mixture of fiction and reality.

Developing from this we are now going to explore a range of designers who we feel share a link to this sub-culture, who are; Kenzo, Noki and Louise Gray.

Kenzo

Takada Kenzo, founder of ‘Kenzo’, is known for his designs blending together ethnicity and exoticism. Many of his designs incorporate a number of different layers of fabrics and prints along with experimenting with volume and tailoring. The prints are often brightly coloured tribal or florals and are mixed with plainer fabrics such as grey flannel or white cotton. He is inspired by remnants, old finds and ethnicity. His designs started as a ‘mis-match’ in this way due to him only being able to afford to buy fabric scraps from flea sales. Therefore, Kenzo created bold combinations of fabrics to make singular garments. In 1978 he was quoted as saying, “it pleases me when people say I have influence, but I am influenced by the world that says I influence it. The world I live in is my influence.” It is clear to see just how much the world has influenced Kenzo’s designs by looking at many of his collections to date. They have included Scandinavian knits, Romanian peasant skirts, Native American styling of beads, feathers and ziggurats, and East Asian batiks.

Antonio Marras took over as creative director of Kenzo in 2008 and continued the use of bold colours, clashing prints and textures, drawing inspiration from his native Sardinia. His Spring/Summer 2011 collection could be said to be one of Kenzo’s most famous. He managed to marry together many cultures successfully, for instance, applying the volume of kimonos to more traditional Parisian dresses. Recently, designers of New York fashion label ‘Opening Ceremony’, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, have taken over the brand in an attempt to ‘liven it up’. Their first collection for Kenzo Spring/Summer 2012 was inspired by their own archives and the bright, clashing paintings of artist Ellsworth Kelly. The duo ‘took the spirit of the house’ by revolving the collection around colour, print and proportion but added their own touch by designing new prints and creating modern looking clothing which still retained the chic Parisian ideal.

Stocked in Kenzo stores, exclusive boutiques and Harrods, Kenzo fashion is obviously not accessible for much of the public. However, in 2010, Kenzo collaborated with Dubai based fashion brand ‘House of Glamo’ to create limited edition T-shirts that were given to people going to the Dubai Film Festival that year. The label also designs furniture coverings, household items and perfume. Like their fashion style, Kenzo perfumes mix together different aromas from many parts of the worlds. Signature fragrances include ‘Flower by Kenzo’ and ‘Kenzo Amour’ which aim to merge together East and West and express ideas of travelling the world. Starting at about £45.00 for 100ml these perfumes are one way that the public can buy into this high fashion label.

Takada Kenzo himself had to fight to establish himself within the fashion industry. After school he went to the University of Kobe but withdrew to go to Tokyo’s Bunka Fashion College against his family’s will. In 1964 he moved to Paris and managed to make a living by selling his runway illustrations. Seeing as these were days before the internet allowed easy distribution of fashion, Kenzo managed to create many contacts within the industry for himself by issuing copies of his hand-drawn sketches of the important fashion concepts. These drawings allowed other designers to reinterpret popular trends for their own clients. It was this networking that helped Kenzo in succeeding to form his own successful fashion label.

Noki

The creative genius behind Noki is one of the most mysterious figures in the fashion industry at the moment. Designer Jonathan ‘JJ’ Hudson from Aberdeen never shows his face to an audience and always wears a surgical mask to hide from photographers. He rarely speaks to the press and has never done an interview.

Noki began when Jonathan JJ Hudson (for Noki is he) was working for MTV as a presenter and music industry stylist before he discovered a passion for customised vintage clothing in the 90’s; it began as a way to reject the homogenous commercialism around him, and to subvert it. 15 years later Noki is lauded, loved and respected. He often does commissioned work from people like lady gaga to Neneh Cherry; he has most recently collaborated with Hannah McGibbon and her team at Ch...loe for their recent collection.

Hudson is a deep thinking and eccentric character who described his inspiration for his last collection as a need to see extreme modernist design to counter balance the corporate retro overload. He also describes his occupation as slaughterhouse, and says the New York slasher is his hero. His odd outlook on fashion and the mystery around his identity only adds to the impact of his creations.
This September we can expect to see more great use of recycled vintage pieces but hopefully Hudson will also give us some innovative cuts and structures that will give the label the extra push to make the step away from fashion east and the strength to stand alone. The art brand of Noki customisation is a statement against mass produced fashion branding where the mere taking, DIY style of a second hand garment and re working it into an ethical ‘one off’ piece of clothing, creates the Noki art. This alone is paralleling the original essence of fashion being couture. Noki is all about identity and the concept behind the garment and very is very anti consumerism this I feel is what I admire about his work. Although the garments he produces may not reflect my personality, his garments draw me in by thinking about the concept behind his work. The mood of his garments you could say is quite dark and mysterious; in the sense not often you cannot see the models face, yet his work I would also say is very creative and innovative in which draws his unique audience in.

The full Noki silhouette involves the Noki rock frock and the ‘SOB’ Suffocation of branding mask. This has become known as the uniform of the nokiette- the all-new couture jammer grand slammer.
Noki’s customers are mostly celebrities, cool arty hipsters and skate kids who spend around £400 and £1500 on an outfit created by Noki.

Louise Gray

Scottish born designer Louise Gray is one of fashion’s newest arrivals. Independent from a young age, Gray left the family home at 17 to study textiles in Glasgow, before moving onto the prestigious Glasgow School of Art to complete her BA in textile design. Gray said "Art school was kind of the cliché, but so fun; it felt very free. It definitely influenced my design style – you had to learn the four disciplines: knit; weave; print and embroidery. I didn't like weaving – I thought it was so boring. I felt like a Victorian child at the back of all these looms.” Following this Gray complete her MA at Central Saint Martins, and she has now launched her clever mixes of pattern and colour onto the fashion scene.

From the start of Gray’s studies she was drawn to the techniques of e...mbroidery and print where she was free to be experimental and innovative. Her work comprises of vast combinations of texture as she likes to allow her pieces to grow and change as she develops her ideas. By following the fashion advice given by her mother ‘Everything matches if you like it’ Gray has created collections that are cleverly thought out celebrations of colour, texture and print; on paper they shouldn’t work, but in front of your eyes it is mesmerising.

After Gray staging her work at LFW for the past 8 seasons, along with receiving NEWGEN sponsorship her career is exploding. As well as selling her collections internationally, she has collaborated with various designers such as; Pollini on a shoe collection, Cotton USA, Judy Blame, Nicholas Kirkwood and most recently Asos creating a clothing and jewellery collection which has now sold out online. 

By gaining so much coverage from her rapid growth Gray is instantly recognisable on the catwalk for collections that contain riots of colour, and explosions of bright pigments and clashing textures. She often combines primary-coloured chiffons layered with graphic silk prints, swatches of beading, and naive little scraps of appliqué and embroidery.

Gray’s resolution to keep her collections "honest"; to portray the essence of herself in the clothes has been apparent through every collection. She has stated that she believes everyone has an individual way of dressing, not everybody wants to have the same conventional coat in winter. Fashion is the thing you can be yourself in, you can dress how you want without caring about other people’s opinions. This is what Gray works towards, giving free expression and no limitations within her clothing.

Summary

After researching into how the idea of what Hippies are has become a mash up of different stereotypes, ideas that are not necessarily accurate and generic images on the internet due to the global impact Google has had on research. Nowadays any information can be uploaded to Google, correct or incorrect and people can read and regenerate until information becomes distorted and confused. Hippies are a prime example of this as most people straight away think of them as having the fashion stereotype of bright colours, flower power, loose fitting garments and lots of accessories. Although this was not necessarily the case of the original hippies. We looked into fashion designers that linked to this idea of ‘Google Hippies’ and initially thought some that linked include Kenzo, Louise G...ray, Noki, Anna Sui and Erdem. We then looked further into Kenzo, Louise Gray and Noki.

We looked at Kenzo relating to hippies in that there is a lot of floral prints used, the silhouettes are quite loose and the fabrics have been sourced from many differing cultures. Kenzo could be thought of the original source of information before Google as he provided illustrations to designers before the internet existed. We felt Noki and Louise Gray were relevant to our project in that they both link to the idea of the Google mash-up, although they are at opposing ends of the scale. They could be classed as similar in that they both are quirky creative designers. They enjoy mashing up different techniques and colours, to create unique one off designs. They do however differ in the sense of where they collect their mash up of ideas. Louise Gray embraces the idea of clashing prints and colours and overall ‘randomness’ and almost celebrates the idea of ‘Google mash-up’ in her designs, whereas Noki, being very anti consumerism, would rebel against this concept and concentrate on individual identity as inspirtation. His precious collections link well to the ideas of the stereotype of hippies because he’s used details such as tassels beads and plaits. Their customers are very different in the sense Louise Gray’s customer is fun, wears what she wants where she wants and would embrace the idea of mixing together clashing colours and prints, whereas Noki’s customer is edgy, pushes the boundaries and makes meaningful clothing.

Inspiration

After looking into Louise Gray, we decided we really like the idea of being inspired and embracing the idea of the ‘Google mash-up’ and designed a range of garments as if they were for her next collection. We especially took forward the idea of layering many different bright colours and prints together and interpreted garment types and silhouettes that Louise Gray favours. We also thought about who her customer might be. We decided her customer base was likely to be young, ‘artsy’, female adults. These women would have an natural, individual fashion sense where they ‘threw together’ many layers of clothing, not necessarily thinking about whether they go together but embracing the idea of clashing different colours and prints to create a sense of personality. They perhaps wouldn’t necessarily follow fashion trends but would tend to enjoy their own creativity with clothing instead.

Our Collection

History of Hippies

The Hippie subculture is one that is now filled with false information and stereotype. We would like to explore what a 'Hippie' really was, comparing that to how it has been translated today, and finding out how it got to that point; what happened inbetween? 

The movement began in the 1960's at San Francisco,in the corner of Haight street and Ashbury street (now known as Haight Ashbury District). Hippie subculture had many symbols (such as Flower Power or the Peace and love) for the meanings of freedom, love, peace and unity.

It was based about trying to make the world a better environment where violence would be non-existent, and the concepts of lifestyle amazed the whole world.

The Hippies were fighting for civil rights such as racism, poverty, and wanted the war in Vietnam to end. Young activists protested and organised huge anti-war demonstrations at any public places and university/college campuses.

A minority of people aren't informed nowadays that Hippie counter-culture  was inspired first from the 50's movement called Beat Generation. The word 'Hippie' first started from the sentence "I'm Hip", often used by the Beatniks, some of them were called "Hipsters". This is how the Hippies started by then.  The Jewish poet Allen Ginsberg was one of the greatest examples in this subculture. He was probably the father of Beat generation and he then became a fixture of the Hippie culture. Jack Kerouac was a big inspiration figure too and he was known for his famous book 'On the road'.

 

Most of the Beat figures were sliding into the Hippie psychedelic generation, and Kerouac found the concept of Hippies totally ridiculous.

In August 1969, Woodstock was the festival that stayed forever in memory of the Hippy movement; about half a million hippies joined at Woodstock for 3 days altogether in peace and harmony.

Hippies in the 60s

Examples of the 1960's hippie.

Hippie Fashion Today

How a hippie can be thought of today, mainly taking reference from their choice of clothing and style, loosing all sight of the original believes.

Stereotype of a Hippie Interview

Interview of a female 20 year old London Fashion student, giving their responses to what they believe to be a 'Hippie'.

Q. When someone say's the word 'Hippie' what are you instant thoughts?


A. "They were around in the 60's, it was all about flower power and bright rainbow colours. Would always have long hair and baggy clothing, took drugs. I think they beleieved in love, peace and were anti war and anti society. They would go to festivals and be part of huge protests."


Q. Do you think 'Hippie's' are still around today, and in what context?


A. "Yes, I don't think they would live such a free lifestyle as they would be quite restricted by the law and the majority of society. I think most people have just followed the fashion side of the movement, but there may still be some real ones out there that choose to live in the authentic way from the 60's."

Q. Do you think you can get a good idea of what a 'Hippie' is from Google?

A. "You can get a vague idea, its all a bit mixed up. Its probably closer to costume and stereotypes. I'm not sure if that's completely what they were but you get an idea of fashion influences."

Typical Google Hippie Images

Tie-Dye

Tie-dye was a very fun technique used in the Hippie style subculture, and it became very trendy in Fashion nowadays.

For centuries, the craft of tie-and-dye was widespread in all parts of the world. It was especially well developed in the great silk regions of India, China and Japan, as well as in West Africa and some parts of Central America.

Before the discover of synthetic dyes, the colours were extracted from natural sources such as flowers,indigo,walnuts,linchen,etc. The preparation was much more laborious than of course the use of easy applied dyed of our generation.

The basic principal of tie-and-dye, is the method 'tritik'. The dye is prevented from reaching parts of the fabric by either knotting, stitching or folding and tying with thread,string or raffia. The more tighteneted and reduced , the better result will be. There are different types of tritiks : knotting,marbling,pegging, pleating,binding-in,etc...

The material has to be wet in cold water before dampening it into dye. Remember, the light colors comes first and the darker colours comes afterwards. Once the dye is completed, the fabric has to been rinced thoroughly in cold water again, squeezed out and left to partly dry.

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