Relay Column: What It Means to Wear Hippie Fashion (Yuki Ichikawa)

Wearing a particular fashion is not merely a matter of draping an outer layer on the "body" or "physical body." As Kiyokazu Washida points out, it is about covering oneself with a "second skin" (Wada 2012: 25-34, 212). This is not a mere metaphor, as we can only obtain fragmented images of self (body), and only by "stitching" them together, a "body" is created. There is no "truly pure body" that has not undergone this process. In this way, fashion has always been related to us.

Moreover, fashion not only changes the surface of the body, but it is also a "style of survival and receptivity," even giving a glimpse of our delicate desires (Washida 2012: 252-256). At the same time, it reveals our self-destructive desire to exceed our own limits. Additionally, with the dramatic transformation of our consciousness about body and sex in society, fashion has also undergone metamorphosis, with the first major revolution being the very hippie or psychedelic fashion discussed in this article.