How did the hippies live?
Symbol of peace and love, thestate of mind of the hippie movement born in the 1960s-1970s in the United States. Driven by very popular artists, the movement is built around a love for music, around informal meetings between individuals, and through the absorption of narcotics. Thus, it is at the same time as the creation of the Rolling Stones, the peak of Frank Zappa, the inspiring speeches of Martin Luther King, the Vietnam War, and the assassination of Kennedy that this movement becomes democratized.
Originally, the hippies designate a group of individuals in revolt against the consumer society of the American lifestyle. Exemplification of the degeneration of conquering America for its detractors, or true peaceful society, but who were the hippies and how did they live?
THE HISTORY OF THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT
THE ROOTS AND FORERUNNERS OF THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT
Initially, the hippie years is characterized by the theory of Civil Disobedience. Established by Henry David Thoreau in his essay of the same name published in 1846. Civil disobedience is also taken up by John Rawls in 1971. He defends the thesis that the individual has a moral duty and an obligation to protest when a political measure does not seem legitimate to it.
To civil disobedience is added the pacifism of the hippie movement. If it is in a logic of protests against the mode of consumption, capitalism, and the bourgeois society of the “American Way of Life,” the watchword is non-violence.
Finally, it is a movement that has no hierarchy, no structure. Thus, it is anarchy that reigns within the hippie movement, but always an anarchy placed under the slogan of “Peace and Love”.
The hippie movement is therefore the counterculture par excellence of the 1960s-1970s. But what is a counter-culture ? This refers to a countercultural movement that manifests in various cultural aspects. In this decade, we thus find protests through music, primarily, but also through photography and cinematography.
The hippie of the the 60s and the 70s also advocate forfree love and sexual freedom, in a form of unrestrained sexuality that seeks to de-taboo the puritanical morals of their parents. A true way of life and not just a teenage crisis, this movement aims to critique Western society and its values, which it deems full of conformity and hypocrisy.
FORMATION OF THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT
The hippie movement thus forms in the course of the 1960s, under the sign of rejecting values bourgeois American society. We revolutionize the world by advocating non-violence, listening to music, conversing, loving each other, and using drugs.
Within hippie movement various forms struggles social and political. We then find the new left, the pacifists of the Vietnam War, and African American activists for civil rights.
THE HIPPIES, A LIFE CLOSE TO MUSIC
As a child of rock n roll and the Beat generation, which is embodied through rock and progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin; as well as the garage rock style, the hippie musical culture. Both festive, surreal, and alternative, this music continues to surprise.
THE SUMMER OF LOVE, A WHOLE SUMMER UNDER THE SIGN OF HIPPIE
During the summer of 1967, the Summer of Love. It is an informal event that takes place at San Francisco, in Golden Gate Park. Thousands of people flock to gather and make the hippie lifestyle. San Francisco, which was already filled with symbolism, transforms into a place that exalts multiculturalism and tolerance.
It is in this festive atmosphere that free concerts and daily gatherings are organized throughout the summer of 1967. Individuals gather and exchange in this park, which displeases the municipality and the residents. Some disturbances occur, but by the end of the summer, the event loses steam.
THE WOODSTOCK FESTIVAL, THE PEAK OF THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT
It is at the end of the sixties, during the summer of 1969, the Woodstock festival takes place. It is then the peak of the hippie movement. It occurs about a hundred kilometers from Woodstock, in a field in Berthel, in the state of New York from August 15 to 17.
Huge artists perform during this festival, such as Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, and The Who. Despite a catastrophic organization and weather that did not spare the festival-goers, Woodstock became a legend of the hippie movement filled with pacifism, music, love, and psychoactive substances.
THE UNMISSABLE ARTISTS OF THE HIPPIE STYLE
Hippie style artists mainly belong to musical styles such as rock, blues, funk, and folk. They have become myths due to their premature deaths. Many iconic artists from the hippie era can be found in the Club of 27.
This is the case of Jimi Hendrix, famous guitarist and singer of psychedelic rock, blues rock, and hard rock. He performed on the Woodstock stage and made a famous electric guitar cover of the national anthem: The Star Spangled Banner. He died from an overdose of psychoactive substances in 1970.
Janis Joplin is another famous singer of the hippie movement who is part of the Forever 27 Club. A blues and soul singer, she is particularly known for her songs like “A piece of my heart.” She also performed on the Woodstock stage in 1969 and died of an overdose in 1970, less than a month after Jimi Hendrix.
THE HIPPIES, A LIFE AT THE HEART OF NATURE?
SAN FRANCISCO, SYMBOL OF THE HIPPIE COUNTERCULTURE
It is all about California that embodies the lifestyle pacifist and the ideology full of utopia of the hippies, but especially the city of San Francisco. Thus, San Francisco becomes the must-visit city of the hippie lifestyle. The Haight Street neighborhood in particular stands out as the birthplace of the movement. It is in this neighborhood that we find the homes of Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, adorned with psychedelic murals, as well as the hill in Golden Gate Park where the Summer of Love took place in 1967.
Today, this neighborhood is still marked by the hippie movement, which could be described as bobo today, where many independent artist studios and salons can be found. tattoos, small grocery stores, and shops promoting cannabis.
THE LEGACY OF THE HIPPIE MOVEMENT, THE BABA COOL CULTURE
This generation is attributed a large number of current events and debates. Thus, the culture of festivals born with them. Just like the consideration for theenvironment and ecology. Indeed, it is with the hippie movement that environmental issues will grow, not as we know them today, but rather as a first consideration of nature.
THE DRESSING STYLE OF HIPPIES
The hippie generation sixties tends to prefer loose and wide clothing that creates a fluid and airy look. A fan of clothing with ethnic patterns, feathers
So, to find a hippie look worthy of the early sixties, why not go for a flowing bohemian skirt that will completely embrace this style? Don't hesitate to accessorize your hair with all types of ornaments: headbands, scarves, flowers for a look Flower Power, let your creativity speak.
So, if you have a themed party planned under the sign of the hippie, whether you are a man or a woman, adopt a style with long hair, some fringes a little retro, and big flowers. You will then have the perfect hippie costume for your party, and if you choose to invest in classic pieces, you won't have any trouble wearing them in everyday life, because the hippie chic style makes its grand return.