‘Tune In, Turn On, and Drop Out’ was the motto of the hippie movement that grew partially out of young America’s disillusionment with the Vietnam War. Hippies were mainly white teenagers and young adults .

The immediate precursor to the hippies was the so-called Beat Generation of the late 1950s. But where the intellectual beats tended to stay out of politics, the hippies were known as much for their political outspokenness . Their opposition to the Vietnam War became one of the most significant aspects of the growing antiwar movement throughout the latter half of the 1960s.

To express their protests, and to ‘turn on’ others, the hippies used art, street theatre and particularly music. This culture reached its peak in the summer of 1967, when a concert in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park introduced the music of the hippies to a wider audience. The concert inspired thousands of young people around the country to head to San Francisco, .

In the 60’s, hippies sought to free themselves from societal restrictions, choose their own way and find new meaning in life. This made hippies instantly recognizable to one another and served .

Hippies often chose brightly coloured clothing. Much of hippie clothing was selfmade, and hippies often purchased their clothes from flea markets and second-hand shops. Natural and foreign accessories for both men and women included Native American jewellery, headbands and long beaded necklaces. Tie-dyeing was very fashionable .

Hippie culture spread worldwide through a fusion of rock music, folk and blues. It also found expression in literature, fashion, and the visual arts, .

Eventually the hippie movement extended far beyond the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, and appeared in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil and many other countries.