Famous
acts create a look, an identity, a signature, and run with it. Lady Gaga’s
thing is that she’s some kind of crazy Barbie on LSD (right?), Katy Perry has a
dirty mouth under an unassuming head of blue, pink, or purple hair, and the
Biebs has a crazy feathered ‘do. Zoe Deschanel has bangs. But (the world’s most
significant popular phenomenon) The Beatles, despite their constant fame, did
not hide or rest within a single identity. Throughout their decade of wonderful
togetherness, they plunged themselves hairy-head-first into important and
urgent schools of thought and belief systems, and their clothing always
reflected this. Coco Chanel said that “fashion has to do with ideas, the way we
live, what is happening.” If you merely study the (predominant) style changes
of the band, you will see what they were doing between recording sessions,
where their plane had flown from, which authors they were reading.
HAMBURG + EXI STYLE
When The Beatles first arrived on the scene, they were fresh from Hamburg and the “exi” subculture that swept the youth there. Post-war Germany was a complicated place for young people, and their response to the downfall of a government that they often disagreed with was to assert that they thought for themselves. This is why existentialism, or “the philosophical and cultural movement which holds that the starting point of philosophical thinking must be the experiences of the individual,” was so appealing to them. The Beatles played around Hamburg for two years before gaining popularity in Liverpool, and when they finally were well received in their home country, they arrived in the latest Exi style with shaggy overgrown hair and black, angsty clothing.
CLEANING UP THE
ACT
Of course, band manager
Brian Epstein wasn’t incredibly keen on their drab look, and forced the four
young men into suits and ties (I could make a “drab four” to “fab four” joke
here, but I won’t). With shaggy hair intact, they began touring the UK–and
later the United States–in skinny ties and slim suits.
SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND
However, with the sudden
creation of one particularly adventurous (and drug propelled) album, The
Beatles moved from style icons to the retreat of imaginative costumes that
allowed them to escape their stressful reality. With the release of Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album that many consider to be their best,
The Beatles adopted the persona of the album’s band. They wore colorful suits
adorned with medals both fake and borrowed, grew some groovy moustaches, and
allowed themselves to be something else. They retired from the tiresome task of
touring and dived headfirst into the pursuit and creation of art.
SARIS + GARBANZO
BEANS
Take the release of yet another incredibly successful album
and cue India, spirituality, drugs, and higher consciousness. Success
surrounded The Beatles and suffocated them between a rock (perpetual media
attention) and a hard place (fanatic lunatic young women). How are you supposed
to write amazing music when you can’t shake a cameraman or go anywhere without
being mobbed? You go to India with Mike Love of The Beach Boys and Mia Farrow.
They spent their days meditating for hours on end, eating
vegetarian meals, playing music and listening to records, and most of all,
escaping the relentless media. The Beatles traded musical techniques with other
musicians staying there and swapped their suits for clothes made from the wild
fabrics of saris purchased at local markets. Though the trip turned sour when
the Maharashi proved to be corrupt (suggesting The Beatles deposit percentages
of future albums to his Swiss bank account and attempting to seduce female
students), the trip was legendary if for the music they wrote alone. When they
returned to the US, The Beatles recorded some of the best music the band would
ever create, and they also brought a fresh new style to accompany their new
music.
THE HAIR
The band’s inner tensions were reaching sky
high levels and though they were creating music as great as ever, they each
recognized the era of The Beatles wrapping up. And they dressed like this (can
you tell that the 70′s were just around the corner??):
These
few incarnations of The Beatles’ style demonstrate the versatility,
imaginativeness, and creativity of the four men whose collaborative musical
efforts spanned a decade. The style cues are endless. You could delve into any
individual year and find some groovy outfits, fashion choices that are still
relevant, outlandish risks, tongue-in-cheek statements. There are many visual
encapsulations of their style evolution, such as this cute little number:
If anything, The Beatles inspire me to jump headfirst
into whatever I’m feeling–whether it’s a philosophy, cultural identity, or an
embodied personal need, and to translate it literally into what I’m wearing. To
be fearless and creative.
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