Fashion News

Woodstock-Inspired Jewelry Fashion

August 14, 2009

Woodstock may turn 40 this Sunday, but its hippie-inspired fashions live on - from tie-dyes and peasant skirts to those ubiquitous Love Beads. Can you dig it?

This weekend marks the 40th anniversary of the famous 1969 Woodstock Music Festival, held outside the rural town of Woodstock, New York. And while many youngsters today may think the owners of Ben & Jerry's are the only hippies still kicking, the fashions of that bygone era of peace and love have never really left us.

Stars like Kate Hudson and Nicole Richie have made what used to be flower-child fashion into today's BoHo Chic. Flowing peasant blouses and skirts, leather headbands and jewelry made from natural materials like wood and turquoise came straight from Woodstock's muddy acres not Hollywood's red carpets.

"During Woodstock, fashion became about expressing yourself, decorating yourself, and showing your spirit in a very different way than it was before," Diane Davis, editor of Styleist.com told the Boston Globe.

"Style and fashion became very democratic, but on the other hand, it opened up an era of anything goes."

Which brings us to Woodstock's most prevalent jewelry fashion contribution: the love bead.

The love bead fad was inspired by Native American culture with each strand lovingly created by a soul brother or sister to symbolize their free love status - the more strands you could fit around your neck, wrists and fingers the better. The words 'hand made' and 'natural' were key to the creation.

Today bead lovers can rejoice in knowing the jewelry category is still going strong - from couture houses featuring high-end beaded strands in statement necklace form to department stores that offer hundreds of affordable options in addition to the hand-made styles that grace our flea markets and craft fairs.

So if you're headed to a Woodstock reunion party this weekend or simply want to keep the free love spirit alive, let Jewelry.com help you find your inner flower child with our bevy of BoHo chic jewelry styles to go with your bell bottoms and roach clips.

Peace out, star child. You dig?

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