All We Are Saying is Give Peace Your Pants

Born from the beatnik era and fermented in the fervor of the Vietnam War, hippie culture was anti-establishment, pro-peace, groundbreaking, and a sweeping tie-dyed movement for change.

In San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, dressing hippie-style was the uniform for the protesting counter-culture individualists -- or at least oxymoronically, for the group that defined themselves as individuals. Flowers, headbands, peace symbols, and loads of fringe were "unisex," while mini and macro skirts mixed with halter-tops, saris and sarongs, blew the girdle off the Donna Reed set. Natural, handmade, embellished and braless, hippie couture wounded the department store while the thrift store and, ironically, the army surplus boomed.

Americans who had known the reason for WWII called for conservative patriotism, conformity, and haircuts as even greater numbers of young Americans and Vietnamese were being slaughtered in our senseless Southeast Asian war. Dead bodies were strewn across the nightly news because freedom of the press was not squashed by executive order. Peter Arnett's famous editorial quote, "It was necessary to destroy the village in order to save it," helped drive home a need for an end to the folly of death.

Thirty-eight years ago this month, the Kent State slaughter killed four students wounding nine others. Hundreds of campuses closed due to angry student strikes and protests. The youthful innocence that had been drafted to kill overseas was at war with the American establishment. Every college and high school campus resonated with student strikes, dissent, and chants for peace now. Young America flexed its muscle with fortitude in a single-minded cause even as thousands and thousands of their numbers were being drafted to kill the enemy. It was no more tumultuous than today's Iraq war, but since there is no draft, today only a few are hitting the streets.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono's week-long honeymoon bed-in produced the infamous plea to "give peace a chance." The world has yet to follow that sensible call, although at Christmastime we hypocritically wish it upon civilization. The free spirited rebels abhorred mendacity. Sixties' youth practiced a sexual, societal, and cultural openness that celebrated their free spirit honestly instead of constraining them with a life lived with lies and half-truths.

The hippie culture was beset with problems, I'm not denying that, but one can't help but believe that the movement's heart is beating it's energized blood into the millions of Americans who are looking for hope in Barack Obama.

With longing to find our hippie remnants, I went on an archaeological dig through vintage stores, fashion magazines, and the internet. Romulus, whose shop recreates the bohemian fashion the counter-culture wore while they demanded change. His small workshop is buzzing with optimism for tomorrow as he handcrafts his leather and denim designs. In America's run to cheaper and less expensive goods, it's refreshing to see that made in America is still stamped on our most rebellious and expressive clothing.

Watch my video here.

Comments

[peggio]

I liked the post and as a former L.A. Sunset Stripling who religiously went to Griffith Park on Sundays and let my freak flag fly even agree with most of it. Left out are our innumerable screw ups and our responsibility in spawning a less than engaged generation or two. I saw the best of what I most loved about the sixties in a huge Obama rally in Louisville last night. I saw the return of idealism. I saw the most diverse crowd (blocks long) with one goal in mind. Those of us lucky enough to have lived to tell of our time in the sixties (as much as we remember) have renewed hope and see a chance to for generations to come to stay involved. It's their world as it should be and we are hopefully a bit wiser. We're certainly alot older. Last night I stood with my niece in her early thirties and two of her children, one 14 and one 4. I shared history with those who will make it.
Obama 08 It's change I DO believe in.

[FW]

War is peace,
Freedom is slavery
Ignorance is strength

1984 G. Orwell

[jah2008]

That's a nice sentiment, and I give a lot of credit to the hippie generation for many good things that happened. I'm sorry, but I'm rather sick and tired of the boomers trying to take credit for everything. Let the younger generation feel good about Barack Obama and their movement. Don't try to take that away from them.

[xcastelo]

Wow! Fun and happy clothes. I only have a couple of things in my closet that make me feel good. I think it is time for me to go shopping.

[TazeMe65]

Yeah, the hippie movement really accomplished a lot.

"We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf." (George Orwell)

[zerostress]

There is no evidence that Orwell ever said that. He wrote an essay in which he quoted a Rudyard Kipling's poem :

"Yes, making mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep" - Tommy

Furthermore, it is definitely not his style. His style is more like :

"If you want to imagine the future, imagine a boot, stamping on a human face forever"

[Sciguy]

Actually, we sleep peacefully in our beds because we're not dying in Nam...

[Bozwellian]

...and ONLY A SEGMENTED FEW ARE DYING IN IRAQ>>>MOST OF US ARE NOT "TOUCHED" so WE sleep ,spend,tramp about rather obliviously ...Semi ironic and quite fitting...The ERROR of the egregious instigation of assault in Iraq--which was indeed to SECURE OIL SOURCES for OUR BENEFIT has resulted in SHORTAGES AND COSTS that WILL EFFECT/ AFFECT US ALL forever more as WE yodeled it was OUR RIGHT to buy those GUZZLERS and mortgage our financials souls to spend at the malls and wherever as we INDULGED ourselves--Hey, the CIC yodeled that WE needed to keep on shopping to do OUR part and we did roll right along , figuring someone was truly minding the "store" of the nations sould/etc....WE have been perfectly complacent to LEAVE THE DETAILS and GRUNT WORK TO OTHERS...WE had our OWN lifes to concentrate upon/etc....Tomorrow was when THE consequences WOULD COME DUE and TOMORROW was ALWAYS to be a day away and NOT today for sure !!!

[PierreLeClerke]

We sleep peacefully in our beds. I do not sleep in peace, nor should anyone that lays claim to having made a difference in this world in the Quest for Peace. If you sleep peacefully, you are always asleep. WAKE UP ! All that we and generations before us is at stake. The future of our Nation and our Planet is at stake. The task was never completed. The Oil/weapons barons feared the will of the People when we stood firm, resolute, and together. The barons learned that they must control the media if they are to control the masses. "Mission Accomplished"!

[RRonin]

Drugs ruined the hippy movement. If they'd sticked to marijuana alone they'd be bigger than ever. Most of the people who profitted from the illicit drug trade were polar opposites to hippies.

[Sciguy]

Great post, thanks! But I admit it, I've changed over the years. I used to be a young hippie. Now I'm an OLD hippie. Such is life.

[glitzqueen]

Oh, good frickin' grief. Kent State was the end of the real hippie scene. We hard-core freaks had a collective nervous breakdown, rock went to hell and then bubblegummers threw a costume party.

[vietveter]

You have found us out.

Peace, Brother.