Words and clothes as identity
A subculture announces itself through language and appearance. For the hippies of the mid-1960s, both were ways of showing a break with what they called the “straight” world. A shared slang marked out insiders, while long hair, bright colours and unconventional clothes made the break visible on the street. In 1967, as newspapers and magazines began to cover the scene, both spread beyond San Francisco with remarkable speed.
The vocabulary
Much hippie slang was borrowed from earlier groups, especially jazz musicians, the Beats and African American speech, and some of it was already in use before the hippies adopted it. A few commonly cited terms:
- Groovy. Meaning excellent or pleasing. It was in use among jazz musicians before the 1960s and became a mass-market word by 1967.
- Far out. Something remarkable or unconventional, used for ideas as well as experiences.
- Turn on. To take a drug, especially marijuana or LSD, though also used more broadly for being excited by something. The phrase was famously used in “turn on, tune in, drop out” at the Human Be-In in January 1967.
- Dig. To understand or appreciate, again with jazz and Beat roots.
- Bread. Money.
- Crash pad. A place to sleep, usually in a shared home.
- Freak out. To lose control or become panicked, often as a result of drugs; later the word “freak” was used as a proud term by some hippies.
- Straight. A person who conformed to conventional society, or who did not use drugs.
- Bummer. A bad experience.
- Trip. A psychedelic experience, or by extension any intense experience.
Not everyone used these words, and their meaning could vary by place and group. Many were mocked by outsiders, and some insiders came to regard heavy use of slang as a sign of an imitator. Some of the slang survived long after the hippies faded, while other terms sound dated and are associated with the late 1960s today.
The look
Hippie dress was eclectic, and it is easier to list the main elements than to say who wore what:
- Long hair and beards. Men’s long hair was probably the clearest signal in 1967, and it often drew hostility from employers, schools and relatives.
- Beads. Strings of “love beads”, often worn in numbers.
- Bell-bottoms. Flared trousers, partly inspired by naval uniform. They became closely identified with the era.
- Tie-dye. Cloth dyed in swirling patterns by tying and knotting it, a craft that became popular in the late 1960s.
- Indian and other imported fabrics. Cotton prints, kaftans, shawls and sandals, reflecting interest in Asia and the cheapness of secondhand and imported goods.
- Headbands, flowers and vests. Plus military surplus and old-fashioned clothes, worn in ways that mocked convention.
- Granny glasses and floral dresses for many women, often with long loose hair.
Much of this clothing came from thrift stores, army surplus shops or home dyeing. That was part of the point: it was inexpensive and went against the idea that fashion should be bought new.
From the Haight to the department store
During the Summer of Love, shops in the Haight sold psychedelic rock posters, clothing, beads and records to visitors during 1967, and the commercial potential was soon noticed elsewhere. As magazines such as Time and Life ran features on the hippies, manufacturers and retailers began to adopt the look. Paisley and other psychedelic prints, bright colours, flared trousers and long hair on men appeared in mass-market clothing across the United States and Britain, where London’s boutique fashion scene was already creating its own colourful version.
Hippie fashion thus entered the mainstream almost as soon as it became widely known. This created a persistent irritation for people in the scene, who objected to seeing their clothes and words turned into a marketing device, and who suspected that the department-store version was a costume. Some defended the spread, saying that anyone could wear the clothes and share the ideas.
Language and style in the long run
Many hippie words had a short life, and some entered everyday speech. The look lasted longer: flared trousers, denim, casual footwear and relaxed grooming became normal in the 1970s. Whether these were the legacy of a movement or just a youth fashion cycle is open to argument, but the pattern in 1967 was clear: a subculture’s distinctive signs, once noticed by the press, were quickly absorbed by the market that it often said it rejected.