I just have to laugh when you place Berkeley in the sixties with historic
dress. I was one of those Berkeley hippies of the '60s and I didn't
realize I was considered historic!
Well, a friend of mine (same age) was speechless when her son was studying
the Hippie period in school in history class. One of my daughters asked me
what it was like "back then". I told her I got up in the morning, ate
breakfast, etc. She was not amused, but I got her a modern book about the
period (nicely written and illustrated) so she could read about all the
things I missed (nobody could have gone to all the concerts, met all the
people, etc.)
So by now anything you and I wore in the 1960s is at least 'vintage'. My
other daughter discovered plaid polyester double-knit trousers at a thrift
store and pronounced them the coolest thing she'd ever bought. I did not
share her enthusiasm...
Hippies were more varied than the media ever gave them credit for -
everything from Timothy Leary to Charles Manson. There were Christian
Hippies, alternate religion Hippies, Eastern religion Hippies, Jewish
Hippies, and atheist Hippies. There were political activist Hippies and
back to nature Hippies who pretty much dropped out of the world of politics
to live on agricultural communes out in the country. There were drug-using
Hippies and drug-free Hippies. There were gun-toting, bomb-building
Hippies and anti-violence, Peace-and-Love Hippies.
And, of course, there were fiber craft Hippies and ethnic garment
Hippies. I was those two kinds of Hippie. I still collect ethnic garments
and needlework pieces, which, if they are made in traditional ways, are
part of a living historical tradition. And I learned, or at least dabbled
in, every fiber technique that I could get my hands on. I took up
historical costuming in 1971 while I still dressed like a Hippie the rest
of the time.
CarolynKayta Barrows
dollmaker, fibre artist, textillian
www.FunStuft.com
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