Missed Retro Fashion - And Response

  • Thursday, August 4, 2016

So enough politics for about five minutes. Let’s talk about some fun stuff. 

The resurgence of 60’s memorabilia is really fun to see in the youth.  Flowered bell bottoms and dresses the ladies are wearing (the current designers still have never grasped the 60’s psychedelic design), hip huggers, mini (real mini) skirts, on piece mini dresses, hair styles, guys doing the ‘Wally Cleaver’ hair styles, stripped beach shirts and high boots.  College students are really into vinyl records again.  I love it.  I have a crack in the pavement, however, for retro groupies.  Here is your chance to re-start two of the biggest crazes of the 60’s. 

One, Nehru jackets.  My aged doctor even couldn’t remember what that was.  To begin with, all popular music and fashion (for men), was whatever John, Paul, George and Ringo wanted it to be. When the Beatles went spiritual with Dalai lama, they were mentored by a guru who wore the popular Nehru jacket, fashioned by the prime minister of India, named after himself.  I wore one in the late 60’s.  You wore it with a turtle neck or collarless shirt.  It was a take-off of a priest’s jacket.  The colors were varied.  The Nehru jacket just looked cool. 

Next, no one, and I can’t believe this, no one has resurrected love beads.  Again, my doctor was clueless. They began as little wooden, multi-colored beads, elongated beads on a long string.  People would wear two or three of them.  You can watch old 60’s Dragnet, Adam 12 and Laugh-in TV series and see them when they were popular and a very serious wardrobe statement.  Love beads meant “Peace, not war.”  They were the statement for the love generation, the hippies.  Love beads told the older generation that you were part of the new movement, and instantly put you in a category.  They also told young people that you were totally cool, into all the ‘hip’ and ‘mod’ events of the day, and, I might add, available. 

Well, retro fashion promoters, and more importantly, young college folk - take it and run.  Check them out on the internet.  You can start the retro revolution with the Nehru jacket and love beads.  Do what you do, have fun and make clothes of any era look good. 

Pete Burnette
Chattanooga 

* * * 

Pete I remember the Nehru shirts and jackets as well as the beads, Mohair vests and bell bottom pants. 

I also remember the night in 1969 when the Champells/Virgin Wool band wore their brand new green Nehru jackets for the first time. They were performing at the new University of Tennessee at Chattanooga at an event held on a closed Oak Street in front of Hunter Hall. 

I played in Ronnie Kaplan's Soul Brothers Band that summer along with Jim Doubleday, singer, Ed Scruggs, guitar, Tom Lifsey, drums and Hugh Adams on trumpet. The leader was Ronnie Kaplan, an excellent musician who played a stack of keyboards-electric piano, organ and with his left hand a Fender Rhodes keyboard bass with the same precision as Ray Manzarek of the Doors. 

The band's uniform was white bell bottom pants with dark blue shirts. I found a Nehru shirt the same color and wore that when I performed with them. 

Lake Winnie used to have a Friday night "Battle of the Bands." That summer we went up against one the most popular bands of the time, Bobby and Playboys. We tied. 

My friend Steve Young played trumpet with Bobby but he and the other trumpet player were absent that night. 

Many of the bands wore bell bottoms but I no of no others that wore the Nehru look. 

Ralph Miller

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