Tie-Dye's Back and it's Better Than Ever

Yes, I said it. My Berkeley-loving, hippie, free-speech touting heart is gleeful that tie-dye is back on the menu, and not only at the Telegraph Avenue street vendors. And I’m also giving myself a huge and not entirely deserved pat on the back, because we shot this look before designers like Kim Shui showed their tie-dye-infused collections at New York Fashion Week (never mind that Altuzarra debuted a tie-dye collection back in 2018 . . . and Burberry, and Prabal Gurung, but whatevs).

Could it be that we’re invoking a radicalism and spirit of protest as a result of today’s social and political climate? God, I hope so. I don’t think trends pop of out of coincidence – there’s a zeitgeist that bolsters them into existence.

Fittingly, this was one of the UC Chancellor’s homes back in the day. I swear I didn’t plan that.

It was 42 degrees when I took this photo. It took me two hours and a hot shower to recover. My body prefers TROPICAL climates, haha! But it was SO GREEN here and so *worth it*.

Quicksand!

Even with cultural phenomena unrelated to fashion, we see reasons why things come in and out of vogue. Take this brilliant episode of the Radiolab podcast about the social and economic reasons for the rise and fall of quicksand in the common lexicon. Trust me, it’s worth a listen. The subject of quicksand increased sharply in the 1960s and 70s, and decreased through the year 2000. Why? One answer is that there was a feeling of the fate of the country spiraling out of control with the onset of the Cold War. Interesting, right? It just goes to show that trends of any kind are way more complex than they seem. There is almost always a social, economic, and political backstory.

Trends Aren’t Accidental

So for whatever my uneducated opinion is worth, I don’t think it’s an accident that designers like Phillip Lim, the brain behind my throwback denim jacket, are starting to use tie-die again. It evokes this feeling of “down with the man” (and maybe, by default, up with Mueller? That may be projection on my part) that my parents’ generation unceremoniously yet oh-so-impactfully forced upon the world.

Oh, my hand is purple? It’s ten whole degrees above freezing, so I don’t know what my problem is.

In the news media, our homes, and on social media I feel that drip drip drip of thoughts like,”we’re not going to take your bigotry anymore,” and “hey, maybe we should examine why Latina women make 53 cents on the dollar for every white male in this country, just a thought, please and thank you,” and “why are my feet wet? Oh yeah, because sea levels just rose again.”

I am not saying that tie-dye is changing the world (although wouldn’t it be an unexpected hero? Let’s all go to CVS and stock up on RIT kits, haha). Rather, I’m saying that it may be telling us something about where we’re wanting to go as a society. Maybe we want to stir sh*t up a bit – it’s time for that, don’t you think? I do. Nothing says “no more walls – or steel barriers, or whatever” and “hey, let’s not be jerks to each other” like good old fashioned, kumbaya-and-patchouli-soaked tie-dye.

Choker: Dannijo | Top: Tularosa | Jeans: ASOS | Jacket: 3.1 Phillip Lim | Bag: Zac Posen | Shoes: Nine West

How to Wear Tie-Die if You Don’t Want to Look Like a Time Traveller

I’ve provided some tie-dye options at the end of this post. Just FYI if you’d like a few ideas!

Take it easy on any other throwback items that day – keep your bellbottoms in their drawer, and maybe make your daisy chain on a day when you’re not wearing your righteous tie-dye.
Pick one (1) tie-dye piece. I mean, you do YOU, just know that if you go all-out tie-die, you’re going to look like you broke into the lost and found at the International House at UC Berkeley 45 years ago and really, really ran with it. I secretly hope someone does this and sends me a pic. No pressure.
Add something that feels fresh (just not a daisy chain). For me, I pulled out my Popeye pants, used pumps that legit have clear PVC sides, wore a boob-suffocating one-shouldered crop top, and then doused myself with a borderline-tacky amount of pearls. But you add your own touch.