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King of the 'Blue-Chip Hippies': like, far out, but you know, like, monied?

The world of men’s fashion has come to resemble the hierarchy of a traditional American high school. There are the jocks, represented by those that wear Cole Buxton, Aimé Leon Dore, Sporty & Rich and now Slazenger, apparently. There are the nerds – the sneakerheads – perhaps more concerned with the function of retail (drops, reselling, collaborations etc.) than the actual concept of style itself. And don’t forget the faculty, or more specifically, the inspiring and needlessly handsome English teacher, whose bookish vibe is emulated by disciples of Drake’s, Beams Plus and Rowing Blazers etc. It goes without saying that the arty kids have always been represented by the leather and denim ennui of Parisian high fashion, but now a groovy sub-division has emerged, and finally, the stoner has a seat at the front of the class.

This isn’t the first time wavy, Woodstock-ish clothing has been cool. In the Nineties, grunge cherry-picked elements of hippydom – long hair, tattered denim, cropped tees – but it was much more about rawness and rage, rather than peace and/or love. And then in the Noughties the boho trend in womenswear saw girls wearing oversized studded belts over low-hanging jeans, frilled floaty dresses and big Indiana Jones hats. People soon moved on (apart from those in Clapham or Bali), but the hippy has made a triumphant return, and this time, it’s boujier.

A few weeks back, you might have seen Chris Pine – perhaps the most stylish of the Hollywood Chrises, but it’s an admittedly low bar – on The Jimmy Kimmel Show wearing a veeeery nice embroidered shirt and stripey slacks from American brand, Bode. Combined with a shaggy beard and mop of hair, he looked like he’d just emerged from the peyote zone of a Mama Cass pool party. But inspect the fit closer and you’ll see Gucci loafers, Jacques Marie-Mage sunnies and a gold Rolex. Cass might not approve of such accessorising, but that’s the vibe. Pine is the high priest of a key trend for 2022: the Blue-Chip Hippy.

Brown hand crochet messenger bag

Polite oversized crochet-trimmed organic cotton-corduroy sweatshirt

Sixties style has been on the rise for some time now. Much of the focus has been on Bode, the Pine-favoured brand by American designer Emily Bode that uses (or takes inspiration from) vintage haberdashery, mid-Century American ephemera and traditional construction techniques including crochet and embroidery. There is a youthful whimsy to Bode, an aesthetic antidote to the brashness of modern fashion. However, it is not the only brand finding inspiration in the youth movements of the Sixties. Take the Elder Statesmen; LA-based and influenced by the Sixties artwork of the founder’s grandmother, it offers tie-dye and hombre knitwear, loungewear and homeware. Or Kapital, a Japanese brand with a cult following that takes quintessential Americana and somehow makes it Americana-ier, which has drilled down even further into Sixties pastiche in recent seasons.

Aesthetically, those brands are mega. Weird stuff, made well, with an irreverent eye and a (small) middle finger up to the mainstream. But they are also unbelievably expensive. A pair of ‘Hippie Insane Remake’ patchwork jeans from Kapital are £1,860 at Mr Porter and a cashmere ‘Love N Stripes’ robe from the Elder Statesman will set you back $3,695. Exorbitantly priced clothes are nothing new – and sales of luxury goods have boomed since the pandemic – but surely the charming hippiness of a tie-dye robe is precluded by the fact you need to be on the Waystar Royco board to buy one?

There are currently young men on social media wearing old football shirts, straight blue jeans and adidas Sambas espousing ‘bloke-core’, but I doubt any of them have ever seen the inside of a regional football stadium. Or even a picture of a Pukka pie. And the same can likely be said for the Blue-Chip Hippy. It’s more about vibes than substance. Adherers to the trend will likely still wash, pay tax, use wifi and eat meat and continue to be enslaved to the corporate machine.

But, that’s not to say it isn’t cool. Harry Styles is doing some serious legwork for the BCH movement, and heck, when it comes to fits, that boy simply doesn't miss. Even Jay-Z has ben getting in on the action, recently wearing a baggy tie-dye bucket hat with an Off-White shirt and Audemars Piguet watch. And, of course, Pine's been at it again, this time looking not unlike a plucky divorcée at a Sussex art fair in a floppy bucket hat, neckerchief and Breton-stripe top. He was also sporting *two* pairs of sunglasses. And yet, it worked. Not sure I respect it, or understand it, but goddammit I like it.