The fashion of the sixties and seventies is accompanied by an unprecedented social revolution, where there were changes in attitude that perhaps had been aroused by some limitations felt by the young population regarding sex and personal freedoms that they did not possess. But with the arrival of drugs in the lives of many young people, a social phenomenon appeared that revolutionized habits, attitudes, behaviours, music and fashion.
Then appears the so-called “psychedelia”, which did not stay in the seventies, but today comes to us through fashion, clothes and even in jewellery, and make presence in the most famous catwalks like those of Christian Dior, who presents the psychedelic motives in his own way, updated and with his personal touch.
It should be noted that the psychedelic became an artistic and cultural movement, that was projected in a forceful way in the world of music and visual arts, as well as influencing the fashion and behaviour of individuals as before had not been seen, achieving a validity that was maintained from 1965 to 1975, although currently its rhythms and designs are used by many singers, bands and famous designers around the world.
It is argued that psychedelia emerged in the 60s, within the hippie community of the city of San Francisco, California, United States, but it was in 1967 when its peak reached the top, with the celebration of the Summer of Love. Since that year his presence in music, arts and fashion was impressive, to the point of directly influencing the lifestyles of many young people of that era.
On the other hand, it should be noted that although this movement began in the city of San Francisco, it did not take long for it to take root in the minds, hearts and culture of the entire United States, transcending other continents with an obvious global connotation, that was manifested through art and fashion, with the use of paintings and / or concrete or abstract designs, where curved lines and phosphorescent colours predominated.
But, let’s dig a little more about the origin of psychedelic art, a term that is attributed to the British psychologist Humphry Osmond and that means “manifesting the soul”; also known as lysergic art, a term that refers to the chemical name of LSD. In this way, it can be understood that this type of design originated and was inspired by the experience induced through the consumption of hallucinogenic drugs such as LSD, peyote or others.
However, as a curious and positive thing that we can rescue from that use of drugs as strong as LSD by young people who sought to express their feelings and ideas, this psychedelic art originated that invaded the environments of literature, music and music visual arts, making known numerous artists and designers who have had a fabulous career and have left significant contributions to the world of art in general.
In this way, psychedelia far from representing only the consumption of drugs, which was perhaps the social phenomenon that gave rise to a great artistic movement, represents a series of efforts and artistic expressions that have tried to project the inner world of the psyche, however, at a conceptual level the expressions “psychedelic art” or “lysergic art” are still considered as the artistic movement of the counterculture of the sixties and seventies of the twentieth century.
As a consequence of this psychedelic movement, which basically identifies the visual arts, the rise of psychedelic music originated, that had a very marked influence on young people, considering that both music and fashion were influenced by each other, and both at the same time, they influenced the new lifestyles of many young people of the time.
In this way, through pop and rock music, which were the most socially disseminated, psychedelic designs were used for the presentation of album covers, murals, comics, fanzines or underground newspapers posters, and even shows of lights that projected lights with striking colours and shapes before a crowd ecstatic for the consumption of drugs of the moment.
This series of shows of lights, colours and shapes introduced young people into an imaginary world, where through the kaleidoscopic patterns of lysergic hallucinations, spectators were able to make their own interpretations that reflected their revolutionary ideals, through their political, social and spiritual feelings, which were maximized and inspired by being in altered states of consciousness.
If we go into the world of fashion, clothing and jewellery, we have that, in the designs of this type of clothing included phosphenic motifs, a term that derives from the observation of a phenomenon characterized by the sensation of seeing spots luminous that is caused by the mechanical, electrical or magnetic stimulation of the retina or visual cortex; in addition to other entoptic phenomena or visual stimulation. This of course is stimulated by the consumption of hallucinogenic drugs, from whose consumption this famous psychedelic movement where originated.
Consequently, psychedelic designs use the transformation of patterns and objects, mostly represented in collages, with a high depth stylization in details, which included kaleidoscopic patterns, fractals or the inspiration of Persian designs, characterized by abundance linear and colourful, with spiral, circular and radial forms, which makes use of repetitions, cloning and expansion of these forms, to cause the distorted effect of them, which give a movement that is governed by their own laws, without gravity, free and fantastic, with combinations of colours, that can be harmonious or contrasted.
For its part, the world of jewellery was filled with colour and circular shapes and with curved lines in the design of rings, earrings, chains or long necklaces with motifs like the symbol of peace, bracelets and rings in the same line, usually big and with many colours; that should be in tune with the rise of the fashion industry, areas in which there was a real and sweeping change, presenting different clothes, original, fun and extravagant, leaving aside the glamor and luxury of previous years.
On the other hand, this brand pop culture was characterized by the use of prints and materials such as plastic, especially in accessories such as jewellery with predominantly geometric shapes, large glasses and wide belts, in addition to the garment that revolutionized the world, the famous miniskirt of Mary Quant, as well as the makeups where the eyes were outlined black and thick lines; while the hair was cut short with geometric cuts or long with hairpieces combining all the colours.
In the musical field, Jimmy Hendrix made psychedelic rock, and in his presentations he wore hippie clothes of very striking colours, while the Beatles projected a totally psychedelic image in 1967, when they used for the photograph of the cover of his album “Sargent Pepper “, military suits in electric blue, red, fuchsia pink and green, basic colours in the psychedelic designs of the moment.
But advancing in the decades, currently in the middle of the Aquarian era, the designer Emilio Pucci took to his catwalks and psychedelia through the use of lysergic hallucinations, highlighting the optical geometry, flowers and jeans, thus celebrating the 50th anniversary of the emergence of this revolutionary movement in the artistic and social field. This designer, became famous in the 50s in the difficult and exclusive world of the Capri jet set, due to his casual clothes that were characterized by designs that freed the body from ligatures and filled with vibrant patterns, full of colour and shapes extravagant.
This famous designer knew how to combine geometry, kaleidoscope, kinetics and colour, like creating images in the pure style of pop art, with different motifs that evoked the hippie relax of the sixties and his optical illusions of the counterculture that aesthetically revolutionized fashion.
Another example of the validity of psychedelic fashion is the fall collection of Miuccia Prada, who used different geometric shapes in his designs, such as rhombuses and phosphorescent squares, which gave a much more intellectual version to the typical psychedelic movement of the 1960s and seventy, which was presented in a fresher, extravagant, spontaneous and natural way; accompanied by jewellery in different shapes that show the colour in each of the designs and highlight the dress.
Definitely, the 60s led to an authentic revolution in many aspects, such as music and fashion, but its effects were observed mainly at a social level, with the changes in mentality of young people who were uninhibited, rebellious and against of the culture that had been imposed until now, giving rise to the famous hippies, whose representative icon has been psychedelia, marking a very important time in fashion, both in clothing and jewellery, whose trends were imposed even in the most recondite place on the planet.
This is how it became one of the most important movements in history in the fashion industry, with strong influences from music and art, which had as its fundamental ideals love and peace, as well as a fierce opposition to war and violence, with a fact not very positive as the appearance and consumption of new drugs that also caused unfortunate events, such as deaths from overdoses, murders and social conflicts of all kinds, however, the effect of their consumption left a contribution significant that to this day is remembered and current in the world of fashion and the arts.
ALFA