‘60s Sunshine. Psychedelic images of butterflies, summer pilgrimages, headbands, stringy beards and hippie communes should wash over you like the sweet grooves of The Grass Roots, The Youngbloods and The Association. Bohemian styles are making a full comeback this spring, and it’s time to revisit their flowery ideals of love, peace and friendship.

The hippie subculture began as a liberal youth movement in the 1960s, and followers celebrated the counter-culture, alternative lifestyles, music festivals and psychedelic drug use in hopes of self-exploration and spiritual revelation. Whether or not Mellow Mushrooms are up your ally it is important to understand that underneath the somewhat shabby exterior of the movement, it is one associated with a political agenda of peace and anti-war demonstrations. Hippies were known as societal dropouts; much of their political expression relied on a pacifist approach.

Traveling was also an important aspect of hippie culture, and they would hitchhike or pack themselves into a paint-splotched VW bus en route to Monterey Pop and Woodstock music festivals. In a 1967 article entitled “The Hippies: The Philosophy of a Subculture,” Time Magazine outlined the hippie culture with the following quote: "Do your own thing, wherever you have to do it and whenever you want. Drop out. Leave society as you have known it. Leave it utterly. Blow the mind of every straight person you can reach. Turn them on, if not to drugs, then to beauty, love, honesty, fun."

Fast forward almost a half a century, and we are seeing the hippie movement’s legacy on the spring/summer runways. Did this arise because of a growing anti-war movement in our country? I know not. No matter the motivation behind this trend, it’s very clear: This season, it’s hip to be a hippie. We are seeing tie-dye, beads, floral prints and peasant blouses. See by Chloe offers several ethnic printed blouses that radiate bohemia while Antik Batik’s brown suede vest would be perfect for an afternoon of cloud gazing in a field. It doesn’t matter if you are spending $250 to look like $2.50 or tie-dying your own tees, just remember in the words of Scott McKenzie, “Be sure to wear flowers in your hair.”