Men's fashions of the late sixties are a fascinating mix of dandyism and exotic cultural appropriation. (Think of the Sgt. Pepper album cover.) How wonderful for posterity that fashion journalist Rodney Bennett-England decided to capture the moment in Dress Optional: The Revolution in Menswear (Dufour, 1968, now lamentably out of print). Sir Mark Palmer, who dropped out of the upper class to travel in a caravan with various pop stars and dress in Druid robes, offers a succinct explanation of the appeal of the hippie culture:
"It is not escapism leaving a bad scene to start a new one."
It strikes me that the vivid, revolutionary nature of men's clothing in this period is evidence that the time was ripe for a rejection of the "masculine mystique" along the same lines of second wave feminism. Instead, men got a brief escape into an alternate life before John T. Molloy rang the closing bell with Dress for Success in 1975. I think this parallels the short history of the "American costume" (aka the Bloomer costume) for women at the very beginning of the feminist movement. Which means there's always hope for men's liberation.
"It is not escapism leaving a bad scene to start a new one."
It strikes me that the vivid, revolutionary nature of men's clothing in this period is evidence that the time was ripe for a rejection of the "masculine mystique" along the same lines of second wave feminism. Instead, men got a brief escape into an alternate life before John T. Molloy rang the closing bell with Dress for Success in 1975. I think this parallels the short history of the "American costume" (aka the Bloomer costume) for women at the very beginning of the feminist movement. Which means there's always hope for men's liberation.
