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The Official Student Paper of Riverside Poly High School

Falling in Love Again with Fest Fashion

Sep 17, 2015
Images courtesy of celebmafia.com and jonimitchell.com

1969: Bohemian style may have never left in the first place.

By Lily Mitchell, Staff Writer

Just in case you lived under a rock this summer, the eclectic “festival look” has now left the musical fields of Coachella and onto the urban runway: the streets.  Nearly every girl loves to collect a piece from this funky fad.  Fest fashion flashes spunky personality all while remaining on-trend.  Now, you don’t have to be a festival-goer to strut some Bohemian hippie threads.  

First, let’s throw it back.  Is the festival look really all that new?  You know what I’m talking about: cut-off shorts, flower crowns and crop tops complete with a kimono and fringe.  The truth is, this look originated in 1969 during the original music festival in New York: Woodstock.  Back then, teenagers who dressed like this were called hippies — and they were the real deal.  They didn’t go down to their nearest Forever 21 or Pacsun to buy their “original” look.  

Now, as soon as the popular desert music festival Coachella rolls around, our Twitter feed bombards us with anticipated entertainment news updates on actress Vanessa Hudgens’ latest ensemble.  Sometimes she has excessive spangly jewelry on, or maybe vibrant, flowy-printed bell bottom pants.  Maybe she rocks a funky hat, peasant top, janties (jeans shorts so short they might as well be panties) and some gypsy boots.  

Bottom line, she appears like a modern reincarnation of folk singer Joni Mitchell — who happened to be a performer at Woodstock by the way.  Looks like the festival look is a flowery revival.

Don’t take this the wrong way, this is a cool look, but the fresh factor seems a bit stale.  Just ask your grandparents, the original Bohemians.  Teens sweep the clothing racks under a false sense that the handmade-looking tie dye garment they are holding is something hip and fresh when it is really some authentic “fauxhemian” garb.  In reality, teens of the late ‘60s adorned themselves in hand-crafted fashion.  Their jean shorts were actually cut off and flower crowns were not fake — they were crafted from fresh flowers.  Now that huge chains of popular clothing stores crank out and mass produce this once-newfangled look, some of the beauty is lost.  Perhaps, the organic qualities of tie-dye, crochet, fringed items and slightly dingy kimono fabric fresh from the thrift shop were what made that 1969 vibe so lovable.  One shopping trip clearly shows that Woodstock couture never quite left the veins of the fashion world.  

 

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