There's always been a significant overlap between science
fiction/fantasy readers, and reenactors. There are also a fair number
of ex-hippies in the older reenactor generation.
I think "dressing up" is a very significant factor here. In much of the
US in the 1960s and early 1970s, things like miniskirts (which were not
hippie clothing, but high-fashion "Mod"), scruffy jeans, and long hair
for men, let alone offbeat real vintage or historically inpsired
clothes--they were all shocking. Startling. Attention-getting on the
street. Getting disapproving columns in the newspapers, which referred
to immorality and dangers to society. Wearing anything really unusual
was a social statement and a threat to the established order.
Now, whenever an extreme fad comes around, all most people who dislike
it do, is to say, "Gee, I don't really care for
artificial-scarlet-colored hair, belly button piercings, whatever."
We've all gotten used to diversity. It used to be that everyone knew
what THE skirt length was, and being a half-inch too high or low was,
not radical, but visible and dowdy. These days, whenever I hem up a
ready-to-wear skirt, I have trouble figuring out what the proper skirt
length is, or even if there is one, which there doesn't seem to be right
now. (Which suits me, it saves me a fair amount of hemming. I often
just wear the skirt longer.)
So what I'm getting to is that historic reenactment was a very offbeat
activity in the mid1960s, and partly because it required wearing
seriously offbeat clothes. Furthermore, that it appealed to people who
already liked wearing seriously offbeat clothes.
Fran
Lavolta Press
http://www.lavoltapress.com
Something happened in the 1960s, and all these things, and Hippies,
came out of it. They are only related by the fact that they were
"invented" at about the same time. (And the fact that they all show
up at Science Fiction conventions...)
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