The fashion of the sixties and seventies is accompanied by an unprecedented social revolution, where there were changes in attitude that perhaps had been caused by some limitations that the young population felt 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, behaviors, music and fashion.
Then the so-called «psychedelia» appears, which did not stay in the seventies, but today comes to us through fashion, clothing and even jewelry, and are present on the most famous catwalks. like those of Christian Dior, who presents psychedelic motifs in his own way, updated and with his personal touch.
It should be noted that psychedelics became an artistic and cultural movement, which was strongly projected in the world of music and visual arts, in addition to influencing fashion and the behavior of individuals as had not been seen before. , achieving a validity that lasted from 1965 to 1975, although its rhythms and designs are currently used by many famous singers, bands and designers around the world.
It is argued that psychedelia emerged in the 1960s, within the hippie community of the city of San Francisco, California, United States, but it was in 1967 when its peak reached its peak, with the celebration of the Summer of Love ( Summer of Love). From that year on, his presence in music, arts and fashion was impressive, to the point of directly influencing the lifestyles of many young people of that time.
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 to other continents with an obvious global connotation. , which manifested itself through art and fashion, with the use of paintings and/or concrete or abstract designs, where curved lines and phosphorescent colors predominated.
But, let’s delve a little more about the origin of psychedelic art, a term attributed to the British psychologist Humphry Osmond and which 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 the consumption 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 visual arts, revealing 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 only representing drug use, which was perhaps the social phenomenon that gave way to a great artistic movement, represents a series of efforts and artistic expressions that have tried to project the inner world of the psyche, without 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, which had a very marked influence on young people, considering that both music and fashion were mutually influenced, and both In turn, they affected the new lifestyles of many young people of the time.
In this way, through pop and rock music, which were the most widespread socially, psychedelic designs were used for the presentation of record covers, murals, comics, fanzines or underground newspapers, concert posters, and even music shows. lights that projected lights with striking colors and shapes before a crowd ecstatic by the consumption of drugs of the moment.
This series of shows of lights, colors and shapes introduced young people to an imaginary world, where through the kaleidoscopic patterns of lysergic hallucinations, viewers 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 enter the world of fashion, clothing and jewelry, we have that, in the designs of this type of clothing, phosphenic motifs were included, a term that derives from the observation of a phenomenon characterized by the sensation of seeing stains light that is caused by 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 originated.
Consequently, in psychedelic designs, the transformation of patterns and objects is used, mostly represented in collages, with a high depth of stylization in the details, where kaleidoscopic patterns, fractals or the inspiration of Persian designs, characterized by the abundance linear and colorful, with spiral, circular and radial forms, in which repetitions, cloning and expansions of these forms are used, so that they cause the distorted effect of the same, which give a movement that is governed by its own laws, without gravity, free and fantastic, with color combinations that can be harmonic or contrasted.
For its part, the world of jewelry was filled with color and circular shapes and with curved lines in the design of rings, earrings, chains or long necklaces with motifs such as the symbol of peace, bracelets and rings in the same line, generally large and with many colors; which should be in tune with the rise of the fashion industry, areas in which there was an authentic and overwhelming change, by presenting different, original, fun and extravagant clothes, 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 jewelry with predominantly geometric shapes, large glasses and wide belts, in addition to the garment that revolutionized the world , the famous Mary Quant miniskirt, as well as the makeup where the eyes were outlined with thick black lines; while her hair was worn short with geometric cuts or long with hairpieces combining all colors.
In the musical field, Jimmy Hendrix played psychedelic rock, and in his presentations he dressed in brightly colored hippie clothes, while the Beatles projected a totally psychedelic image in 1967, when they used for the photograph of the cover of their album «Sargent Pepper”, military suits in electric blue, red, fuchsia pink and green, basic colors in the psychedelic designs of the moment.
But moving forward in the decades, currently in the midst of the Aquarian age, the designer Emilio Pucci brought his catwalks and psychedelia through the use of lysergic hallucinations, highlighting optical geometry, flowers and jeans, thus celebrating 50 years of the emergence of this revolutionary movement in the artistic and social sphere. This designer became famous in the 50s within the difficult and exclusive world of the Capri jet set, due to his informal clothing that was characterized by designs that freed the body from ties and were filled with vibrant prints, full of color and shapes. extravagant.
This famous designer knew how to combine geometry, kaleidoscope, kinetics and color, how to create images in the pure style of pop art, with different motifs that evoked the hippie relaxation of the sixties and his optical illusions of the counterculture that aesthetically revolutionized fashion .
Another example of the validity of psychedelic fashion is the autumn collection by Miuccia Prada, who used various geometric shapes in her designs, such as rhombuses and phosphorescent squares, which gave a much more intellectual version of the typical psychedelic movement of the sixties. and seventies, which was presented in a fresher, more extravagant, spontaneous and natural way; accompanied by jewels in different shapes that show the color in each of the designs and that highlight the clothing.
The 60s definitely gave rise to a real revolution in many aspects, such as music and fashion, but its effects were observed above all at a social level, with changes in the 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 jewelry, whose trends were imposed even in the most remote place on the planet.
This is how it became one of the most important movements in the history of the fashion industry, with strong influences from music and art, whose fundamental ideals were love and peace, as well as a strong opposition to war and violence, with a not very positive fact such 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 until today is remembered and valid in the world of fashion and the arts.