Psychedelica

Text: Billy Bride


Ever wondered what happens to the fast-fading fads of yesteryear? Childhood craft crazes that inspired many a Saturday morning D.I.Y. enterprise? It’s one of life’s great mysteries. Whatever became of your early attempts at macramé? Your first hand-embroidered hanky? Batik tea towels and tie-dye tees? Well, read-on my fellow artful craftsmen, for I have stumbled across an answer that is so dastardly, so preposterously implausible, that you will scarcely be able to believe.

It seems the precious tattered remnants of our childhood dreams have somehow fallen into the hands of our wily hippie brethren (don’t ask me how… they have ways) and through some process of inconceivable ingenuity (and their most devious and tricky talent to earn a crust via the most bizarre means possible), they have fashioned the very fabric of our adolescence into a magical patchwork wardrobe of stolen experiences.

You will see it too, if you have a mind to keep your wits about you at the next bi-annual Fire-Twirling Gala event. These mystical garments will dazzle and enchant you. They are mesmerizing, like looking into the great kaleidoscopic all-seeing eye of the rainbow serpent.

This special breed of patchwork is like a bewitching psychedelic tapestry. So, if one day you find yourself blessed with the outrageous fortune to stumble across such a garment at your local vintage market or community clothing drive, do yourself a favor and fork out the $5 for that unlikely looking mushroom hat, balloon pant or set of clown-academy overalls. Break out the incense and mandalas and relive all those lost and forgotten childhood dreams. The hippie handiwork will take you on a technicolour excursion you will never forget.

Check back each Thursday for more on the fashion world from Billy Bride