Jeans Legend: Hippie Trail

San Francisco was the spiritual home for the Hippie movement.  Synonymous with the cult was the flared blue jean; head to toe denim worn in and worn out.   Easy style; easy life; long hair for all, this was the birth of the free love drug culture.  It makes sense given that San Francisco was and still is the home of the legendary Levi Strauss.    The Hippie trail was in legend much more about the Levi Brand than any other although Lee and Wrangler jeans played a big fashion role. 

©Le Fabuleux roman du jean, levis story (1990), ©Denim from cowboys to catwalks, a visual history of the world's most legendary fabric (2002)

The Woodstock festival at Whitelake NY state galvanised the the peace and love hippie movement. Thousands of denim wearing hippies attended and clothing companies launched special editions for the festival.    Lee jeans launched their brilliant blue rainbow denims.   Levi's  limited edition decorated jackets are a great example of how the embellishment of the brand has evolved.

©levis.com , ©wrangler.co.uk

Embellishment and decoration has gone from strength to strength since the Woodstock days of anti - establishment denim messaging.  Hardly a jean exists without some embellishment or treatment even if it is only to emulate its being worn in or worn out. 

©levis.com

The great Levi's have revived the Summer of Love vintage.  Freedom, happiness and carefree.

Trend Direction: FESTIVAL

Close Up - Bleached

Shibori hand dyed MiH overshirt in vibrant indigo.  Smock style wears as a mini dress or painters overall shirt.

Tie dyes; crackle finishes; splash dye effects and resist dyeing.  All in high contrast starting with extreme dark indigo bleached out to almost white.

To achieve dip dye at home simply dip the bottom into a bowl of bleach, let it dwell for a time emerging further up the garment for a shorter time to get a graduated look.  Then splash and flick more bleach liberally with a paintbrush to get the splattered look.

Wild dye effects where extreme contrast is achieved by stitching in pleats, white spray bleaching, releasing when the garment is dry.  Before the pleats are released this garment has been acid washed as well.  The acid wash is achieved by soaking the pumice stones in a strong solution of bleach and tumbling them together with the garment in a dry drum. Acid wash must not be attempted at home.

Trend Direction: FESTIVAL

Close Up - Jacquards and Prints

Lurex star jacquard. Can also be translated as a print. This denim is reversible lighter on one side and darker on the other.

©TheDenimEye2016

Ronald Van Der Kemp £955

Stella McCartney £365

Givenchy £790

Marc Jacobs £685

Faded out multi pattern print enhanced by hand stitching and extra stone washed fading.  Looks great in wide legged cut offs. 

See below for a similar denim from a well known brand, Current Elliot.

Current Elliot Boyfriend Cropped Print £250

Multi pattern woven jaquard below reminiscent of Navaho decoration.

Tropical acid print onto denim shirt. After printing the shirt has been enzyme washed to fade out the print but not to wear it out with a stone wash. 

Trend Direction: FESTIVAL

Vintage

Real originals such as Fiorucci and Mr Freedom 70's pieces. Below original 1970's Fiorucci skirt. Note, pretty beading and liberty print edging and blanket stitching - all great ideas for your own customisation.

Note the skirt panels are all different denims which each have worn differently over time.

©TheDenimEye2016

The jeans in the shoot below were from a 'decorate your denim' competition held by Levi in the 1970s and shot by Sam Haskins, but were never used commercially. Such decoration led to the start of Levi commercially offering customisation to their retail customers. 

Trend Direction: FESTIVAL

Wear It - Festival

Decorate with braids and beads, badges and bows.

Wear chunky ankle boots with frayed cut offs to emphasise your calves. 

Embroidery in primary brights give your old denims a folksy flavour. 

Mixed patterns and mixed fabrics look spontaneous and fresh.

Collage ©TheDenimEye2016. Individual images (clockwise from top) ©topshop.com, ©foxyzingaro.blogspot.co.uk, ©wildandfreejewelry.com, ©studded-hearts.com, ©drielys.com, ©bewithstyle.com, ©lelookbcn.tumblr.com/lelook.eu, ©aviewfromtheshade.blogspot.com, ©asos.com, ©chicagostreetsyle.com, ©drielys.com

Faith Connexion £625

Junya Watanabe £495

Marc Jacobs £375

Roberto Cavalli £1,630

Ripping, repairing and fraying combined with contrast fabrics and prints.  Mix, match and play with unusual combinations of denim and other fabrics.  

Trainers or boots are the preferred footwear and fringing is a must for accessories. 

Traditional Festival girlie dresses from MiH and The GREAT!

MiH £245

The GREAT $275

Fringed suede waistcoat traditionally indian inspired, combined with a gathered bottom indigo shirt.

Abercrombie £58

Zara £29.99

Valentino £960

Zara £29.99

Trend Direction: FESTIVAL

Close Up - Painted Denim

Creative imagery painted onto pre-washed jeans. Original and unique.   These jeans are old Energie men's denims - also good for women's boyfriend trend.  Best to use dark slightly washed jeans as your personal canvas for painting.

©TheDenimEye2016

©TheDenimEye2016

Trend Direction: FESTIVAL

Close Up - Decoration

Folk appliqué, embroidery and delicate decoration onto dark denim. Burnt out leaf structure could be a tonal bleached print onto mid shade indigo enhancing the wash out abilities of the indigo dye.

©TheDenimEye2016

Mexicana embroidery onto worn out vintage denims.

©TheDenimEye2016

©TheDenimEye2016

Exotic printed florals onto worn out denims. giant flowers plus rough denims create a tension of opposites with added interest of weft shredding.

©TheDenimEye2016

Frieda Kahlo style Mexican florals pigment printed onto denims.  Make your own artistry using acrylic pigment paints on yesterday's denims.

Gold pigment looks more Boho than luxe when combined with scraped and worn-in areas.

Trend Direction: FESTIVAL

Close Up - Patched

Pieced and patched indigo boyfriend jeans from Egome - hand stitched patching with stripes placed inside the jeans and lined with natural lace are enhanced by scrape and spray finish.  All this can be achieved at home using whatever contrast fabrics you have to hand.

©TheDenimEye2016

Crazy creative Wrangler jeans pocket from the 70's. The Jean is a 2x1 real vintage twill and the pocket is a retro mix of hand woven plastic and denim enhanced by heavy stone wash to highlight the seamed weave.  The woven plastic looks like the formica patterns from the 50's.

Hand embroidered MiH jacket designed and made exclusively for Selfridges Denim Studio, London.  Light blue bleached out indigo embellished with graduated blues is refreshingly sunny after all the dark trends from fall winter.

©TheDenimEye2016

Hand embroidered patched MiH boyfriend jeans.  The lightweight denim is vintage ring spun with a slight aged tint which when combined with the Navaho style decoration is spot on for the summer trend.  Comfort with high style.