going back to the 60's with tie dye

Walking around the streets of San Francisco and its shops I found a certain hippie vibe to some people and places, which brings my mind to tie dye; whenever I hear the word tie dye or think about it; it brings my mind to thoughts of the 60’s meaning drugs such as weed and LSD, love, peace and brown headbands with flowers around them. During this times fashion is all about taking trends from other decades and molding them into our modern times, we are starting to look mostly like we are re-living and dressing like in the 80’s but with a twist to it, which consists in adding even more stuff from other times, like denim jackets from the 90’s that are being worn all over the place now, high waisted bottoms, several kinds of headbands and vintage clothing, a look that a huge mass is going for nowadays.Tie dye against popular belief wasn’t created during the ‘60’s by long haired hippies, it has a history through out the years; it was used in countries such as China, Japan, India and Egypt thousands of years ago and since they had no artificial colorants they would use different colored berries and plants to color them. To some people’s surprise it was in fashion during the Depression, back then girls would tie dye cotton flour sacks, then cut them out and sow them into not only their clothing , but also curtains and pillows, the bright colors and fun patterns made those dark and stressing times seem a little bit happier.

It wasn’t until the ’60’s that tie dye came back in style, when great movements going for freedom and peace against the Vietnam War; promoted by the young people of that decade were on the happening, the idea of monotony and authority was dreadful for this hippie, free spirited generation; and tie dye was a form of artistic expression which was all about being yourself by tie dying a t-shirt, a sweatshirt and even a curtain; with your personal combination; later on not only was it a symbol of self expression and individuality; but a trend all over the United States.

Back in the day tie dye was self made so the colors would fade away after a few washes and you’d have to do another one, or stay with the colorless one; nowadays tie dye doesn’t have to be home made, you can buy already tie dyed skirts, t-shirts, pants, sweatshirts, dresses and other pieces of clothing, there are huge varieties of colors and patterns for any taste, if a person isn’t into the rainbow like colors that the typical tie dye shirt or dress has, other combinations of colors can be found in the stores, like brownish and grayish tones, also if someone likes a color a lot they can go with the all blue, all pink or the color of choice tie dye, there are also many different unique designs for different tastes.

Now tie dye is mostly seen as the shirt that you wear with your pijamas, or the sweatshirt that you’d wear to the gym, but it might as well become a trend, because as we all know fashion has gone on a time machine and it’s taking the best that it can find; and why not bring back the colorful fun, originality and meaningful symbol of tie dye.