For more than 200 years, Boho Style has been an exotic alternative to the accepted fashions of a given era. It is therefore normal that you may be questioning yourself what is Boho Style ?
Well, Boho style consists of loose-fitting and colorful clothing and has been known as bohemian chic, hippie, and aesthetic style. With their long, flowing hair and rich, damaged fabrics, the bohemians stand out in the crowd, representing a colorful counterculture based on creativity, poverty, and indifference to social structures and traditions.
Usually associated with artists, writers and intellectuals, Boho culture integrates different styles of clothing from around the world, as well as historical costumes.
#introOrigins of the Boho Style
Gypsies, as a counter-culture, appeared in France after the French Revolution. Deprived of the old patronage system, where a wealthy clientele supported the arts, artists were plunged into poverty. Many adopted a nomadic lifestyle, lived cheaply and wore worn-out, old-fashioned, or worn-out clothes. In the past, an artist was considered a skilled and talented craftsman.
But the Romantic movement of the late 18th century rejected the limits of bourgeois life and the old emphasis on reason, to embrace the imagination. A new cult of personality emerged with the artist as the hero and the individual style expressed in the way of dressing. The artist became a special kind of person, not just a craftsman, but a kind of eccentric genius whose creativity was expressed in the way he lived and looked. The artist himself (or herself) was a work of art.
What does Boho Mean?
In the 1830s, French Gypsies and Romantics adopted medieval styles of dress with their colorful fabrics, long flowing hair, and wide-brimmed hats. The novelist Henri Murger wrote stories about those he called the Gypsies, focusing on a group of artists and intellectuals in ramshackle coats, old shoes, and a general appearance of disenchantment. The style evolved into a cult of the individual, a person whose very appearance became a work of art with carefully crafted outfits and accessories.
In the 19th century, the aesthetic movement became a kind of bohemian way of life. Aesthetics rebelled against the rigid social constraints of the Victorian era and adopted a style based on the clothing of the past.
Convinced that the mass production of the industrial revolution was dehumanizing, Aesthetics endeavored to encourage the ancient techniques of the Middle Ages with individually manufactured products. Clothes were loose-fitting and soft, using fabrics colored with organic dyes and decorated with hand embroidery. Pre-Raphaelite artists of the time rejected the corsets, crinolines, rigid bodies, and restrictive clothing of Victorian fashion.
How Boho Style did evolve until today?
Boho style clothing, which remained unchanged for many years, was associated with young people who hoped to distance themselves from the materialistic culture of past generations. It even gave rise to more modern styles of counter-culture. The Beatniks, with their black turtle necks and striped shirts, took on a more austere tone. The hippies introduced a childhood note into the mix by incorporating old Western styles and short feminine skirts.
But while the media have adopted the boho style, one wonders if the term is still viable. When a counterculture becomes widespread, the style can no longer be considered an alternative.
When discount stores sell peasant skirts and fashion magazines offer expensive boho clothes made by designers, the nature of the lifestyle has become a cultural norm and is no longer unique or specific to a particular group.
Although fashion often embraces boho chic, life itself - the desire for individual freedom, the rejection of modern materialistic concepts, the dreaming of utopian ideals, and the production of handcrafted goods - remains a powerful alternative to the dominant culture.
Bohemian style has become iconic, in part thanks to the boho chic style that has given fashion a new lease of life. Many boho chic dresses are worn every day for bohemian weddings and, in addition to the many bohemian accessories, such as macramé, bohemian cushions, or bohemian rings go very well with them.
You can also create a totally Boho home decor, with beautiful garlands of colors, dream catchers on the walls, warm candles, colorful cushion covers, a total bohemian look in the end!
What is Boho Style Clothing?
The Boho Style clothing, or more commonly known today as boho chic, has travelled through history, reappearing as beatnik style and in the hippie culture of the 1960s. This style generally consists of the following fashion elements:
Boho Style clothes:
- Loose, flowing pieces of apparel made of natural fabrics
- Casual bohemian dresses, flowing, colourful, pastel
- Embroidery dresses, multicoloured, lace, very sexy
- Colored scarves worn around the neck, on the head or in place of a belt
- Peasant style clothing, including tunics, wide trousers, boots, and sandals
- Used or worn clothes
- Dresses, kimonos and traditional fabric patterns from Persia, India, Turkey and China
- A mixture of historical elements of medieval clothing and more modern styles
- Ethnic Diapers
- Small brown dresses or very comfortable suede dresses
- Matching clothing in a non-traditional way, for example by mixing prints or unusual color combinations
- Women's patched clothing in bright colors that goes very well with bohemian sunglasses.
- Velvet or denim skirts
- Paisley, floral fabrics, ruffles, serrated sleeves
Boho Style accessories:
- Wide-brimmed hats
- Wreath of flowers or wicker
Boho Style jewelry:
- Large hoop or pendant earrings
- Several rows of pearls, several bracelets, and the wearing of unusual, handmade or unequaled jewelry
Boho Style hairstyle:
- Flexible and fluid hairstyle
- Braid or fringe that will give you a magnificent bohemian spirit.
Boho Style mentality:
- A look of artificial dismay
You got it right. For any woman, the Boho Style means something different and there is always something to please any taste or body,. Whether you have a fine or large size, the Boho Style will definitely suit you. A patterned dress or floral print? A hippie dress? A lace dress? Every bohemian dress will embellish your wardrobe and your everyday life! Boho chic is a very original and meaningful style, with natural materials and a style focused on the hippie-like pompons or feathers, with lots of bright colors like turquoise, which goes very well with a tunic for example.
This colorful style will bring love into your life, which will make your life a real bohemian one. You can also combine your Boho Style dress with a kimono, some trousers, or an accessory such as a bohemian necklace. Don't forget that there are not only dresses in bohemian but also beautiful sweaters, long skirts, jackets, or even boots. Everyone will find happiness in this style both chic and floral, but also who knows how to combine romanticism and sexy, which is very rare.
Ultimately, bohemian style is a style that fits both spring and summer, our dresses will embellish your wardrobe and give love in your life.
Is Boho still in style?
Boho Style clothing is a style that will never perish, just like the vintage style. These two styles are different but so complementary, what better than a boho dress in your dressing room accompanied by a pin-up dress?
The bohemian dress for the casual dress of the day, and the pin up dress for a cocktail party for example!
Important Boho Figures from the Past
William et Jane Morris
William Morris was a designer who created alternative textiles for clothing and interior design. He was known for his commitment to liberal socialism and the preservation of history and was known as one of the first environmentalists. He also designed clothing for his wife, Jane Morris, who was a model. She became an icon of the aesthetic and craft movement with her loose medieval-style dresses and long, lush hair.
Rainbow gathering:
An annual meeting of like-minded individuals who reject capitalism and materialism and embrace utopian ideals, creative living, the environment, and diversity.
The Hippie Movement in the 60s:
Focused on the creativity of life and clothing, the hippie style included elements of historical costume and a rejection of everyday life.
Greenwich Village:
A modern gathering place for impoverished artists and writers, and a refuge for the creative community as a distinct minority group.
La Bohème:
The musical is based on Puccini's opera La Bohème. The story revolves around a group of artists and their struggles against poverty and disease.
Paul Poiret:
The fashion designer of the early 20th century used elements of peasant costumes from all over the world in his creations. His introduction of the historical dress into haute couture eventually bled out in general fashion.
Dorelia McNeill:
Dorelia was a model for artists Gwen and Augustus John in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Augustus painted her with long, full skirts and scarves while they lived in their personal utopia.