27th May 2019

Tie-dye for a…little Batik

philippanestie Culture, Fashion, Trending 60's fashion, 70's Fashion, batik, fashion ideas, tie-dye

I was surprised (and pleasantly) to see that tie-dye and batik are ‘big’ this season appearing all over summer clothes and accessories. Although synonymous with the flower power era and the 1970’s, I think looking at what the design houses have come up with it looks like an interesting and invigorating take on these most fascinating and fun textile techniques.

Don’t get me wrong tie dye can be ‘bad’ or rather naff when done in an ‘unsympathetic’ way shall we say…like taking ‘any object’ and just tie dyeing it without thought or rather when the tie-dyed effect worsens an object as it’s just not a ‘suitable’ subject. A contradiction I know…especially when there are ‘no rules’…?

Inspired by this I dug out some fabrics from a textile class I took a very long time ago, where I learned both techniques, images which provide the background to the photos from my ‘archive’ namely my vast collection of Fashion and Textile books and magazines from that era, to see how it was ‘done’ then. I think you can agree it’s definitely not boring; yes one or two might be a bit cliché but then who cares?

As that’s the spirit of it, it’s meant to be adventurous, unpredictable and dare I say exciting? Is it coming back as many of the same issues that the hippy area was concerned with are still rearing their ugly head now? The tie-dye and batik statement is great as it talks of originality, freedom and nonconforming, so yes I think it’s a good thing that it’s going ‘mainstream’ and I’ve not even checked out the High Street aspect yet! Wonder what if anything..I’ll find? Anyway I’m just enjoying this moment as summer gets into swing, maybe I should give it a go?

Images from Golden Hands New Guide Batik Special Marshall Cavendish 1972, The Art of Sewing/Exotic Styling Time International 1975, McCall’s Needlework & Crafts Spring-Summer 1973