Tie Dye Your World

Tie-dye is most synonymous with the 1960s, when the vibrant colors blended to embody the free-spirited and eccentric hippie lifestyle. The practice and technique of tie-dyeing developed long before then, however, as various cultures across Asia, Africa, and the Americas employed similar techniques for naturally dyeing textiles as early as the sixth century.

Millenia later, tie-dye became the zeitgeist of the 1960s, becoming a trend taken up by musicians like The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker, who sported their tie dye during iconic performances at Woodstock, helping to define tie-dye as the countercultural style of the decade. It continued to live on the fringes of the 1970s disco era on artists like Donna Summer, and rose again in the 1980s on nouveau hippy chicks like Drew Barrymore.  In the ’90s tie-dye made its way into youth fashion through DIY T-shirts for boys and girls. While Cher Horowitz’s character in Clueless may not have been a fan of the baggy pants boys sported at the time, their tie-dyed tees were a staple.

Now, falling under the heading of “what’s old is new again,” tie-dye has appeared on the Spring and Fall 2019 runways in fresh and versatile ways, playing on various decades of the enduring print.

At Christian Dior, the elegant aesthetic took an artsy turn for Spring 2019, with tie-dye treated dresses creating abstract, kaleidoscopic prints.  Proenza Schouler paired acid-washed denim with mixed treatment tie-dyed pieces for an elevated take on the trend, while at John Elliott, bleached-out tie-dye gave a relaxed feel to his collection. At Prada, accessories also got the tie-dye treatment, coordinating with ink-like prints on mod dresses and skirts, and Stella McCartney presented a light-hearted take on tie-dye, pairing an oversize t-shirt with lace-trimmed shorts. Bright colors appeared as tie-dyed pieces for an 80’s rock ‘n’ roll take on the R13 Spring runway, where a 1980s-inspired take on the trend was mixed with relaxed, grungy denim.  Dries Van Noten brought tie-dye to menswear with both monochromatic dyed pieces and multi-colored options like bold trench coats.

And in case you think tie-dye is going to be here and gone again after Summer, on the Prabal Gurung runway for his Fall/Winter 2019 collection, the designer showed that the eccentric print will surely stick around, and Designer Hillary Taymour has established tie-dye as a primary part of her collections – for her Fall/Winter 2019, she dressed up a classic spiral dyed t-shirt with satin pants and a silver chain detail.

—
Photo Credit: FashionStock.com / Shutterstock.com