The night is brand new and full of promise…a sweet smell of bonfire smoke, marijuana, sandalwood, jasmine, and sweat drifts into your open window as you pull up to the curb. The last notes of California Dreamin fade out on the radio of your rusted VW bus and, as you bend over to grab your homemade picket sign that simply says “NO MORE!”, you wonder where exactly you heard about this Central Park Be-In-not that it really matters, because you’re here now, buffeted by the sounds of shouts, music drifting in the wind, adorned in your faded army jacket and braided hemp necklace.

Peace, love and an impeccable fashion sense?

From the summer of 1967 to 1970, anywhere from 15,000 to 20,000 young people gathered in parks across the United States adorned in various colorful silks, tattered jeans, peasant tops, plaids and herringbone, fur-lined coats that drag the ground, and sometimes nothing at all. These humans screamed about the Vietnam war, the draft, civil rights, being gay, being straight, drugs, sadness, happiness, and everything in between. These gatherings, known as Be-Ins, finally culminated in the iconic Woodstock. The world seemed in chaos to the outside observer of this “hippie movement”; the well dressed wall street businessman who simply wanted to take a shortcut to his job but was inundated constantly by these lewd displays would never have thought that this scene would be what defines the unforgettable era of the ’60s and ’70s.

Fashion, as a concept, isn’t just about textiles. It’s an outward, visual expression of a cultural paradigm. In the case of this advertisement for Landlubber Clothes, the lack thereof exhibits the concept of freedom sought after by a generation wracked by war and social constraints.

All of these elements come together to form what sociologists, historians and cultural academics refer to as the zeitgeist. Colloquially defined as the spirit of the times, it encompasses the important events, ideas, music, and culture of a specific time period and helps us to understand the who, what, why and where of the grand pagent of human experience. So what does zeitgeist have to do with fashion? Or rather, what does fashion have to do with zeitgeist? Simply put, fashion is the visual representation of zeitgeist, readily understandable as an expression of beliefs, values, tribal association, and cultural divisions. “Fashion can show our mood and culture as if it is speaking for us before we verbally say anything”.(Clarke 2022) Fashion is what we see in our mind’s eye when we think of 1969.