Hippie as a fashion statement, not a lifestyle

My idea of a hippie: long haired, tie-dyed clothes, loves the nature, loves peace, funky clothes, pastel colours, earthy, flower power and weed.

I'm not quite familiar with the technicalities of what it means to be a hippie or how this culture movement came to be. As I type, I am scrolling through Wikipedia and Google to find out more.
The general gist I got: the culture most of us are familiar with and are generally stereotyped in movies and cartoons by is the youth movement that took place in America in the 1960s. Their carefree attitude, love for nature and freedom of expression is what stands out in their beliefs. This soon became a lifestyle, not just a group of people trying to rebel against conformists. There are a whole bunch of interesting information I can get into about the hippie culture, including their vegetarian lifestyle to their views on taking drugs. However, my main interest is in the hippie fashion!

A text I recently sent to one of my friends ran thus: 'This place is so hippie! Makes me want to be hippie.. As a fashion statement of course, not lifestyle'.
My idea of hippie fashion is flowy skirts, bright tie-dye shirts and dresses, colourful scarves and feathered earrings. I generally understood the freedom of expression that the hippies were talking about and by large, not caring what anyone else thought about what I wore. But what I did wonder was, whether it was really fair of me to take the bits and pieces I liked about the hippie lifestyle and then not embrace the other things they believed in. Like being a vegetarian.

My main interest, and possibly only interest in this culture is the fashion. But Hippie clothing is closely linked to their beliefs. And one of the most important thing about hippie clothing is them being handmade. I steer clear of sewing and cloth making. Tie-dying became popular due to this. It is because of a value these fashion statements came to be. So can I just wear the fashion statement and ignore the culture and beliefs that comes with it?
The flower patters, also known as Flower Power is represented in the hippie clothing because they like to stay close to nature and want beauty in them. I have been quite a city girl for most of my life. Yes, I love the beach, the sound of the ocean waves and the serenity it brings, but it is not something that I have ever felt I needed to stay close to. I am quite confident I can breeze my way through a city life with minor regrets.

Then also comes the organic materials that Hippies use with their clothing. I have one t-shirt that is made out of organic cotton. I have not at all gone out of my way to seek these materials. I did notice, maybe a couple of years ago, organic material was quite popular and advertised as 'green being the new black'. This was also around the time when I purchased my organic t-shirt. But in the broader market, this trend has died down since then. I see a lot of ethical and fair trade clothing in hippie fashion. Maybe if I dig deeper into the clothing production world, I may find these issue being addressed by designers today. But as part of my lifestyle, I don't really think about where the material for the clothes are obtained from, or how they are made. I just buy clothes.

I think everything you wear makes a statement, however small. So when a statement origins from a particular lifestyle, values and beliefs, I have a bit of dilemma of supporting these articles of clothing when my lifestyle doesn't represent any of those things.

Among the waves...

I am a Maldivian. I have never surfed in the open water in the Maldives. I have never had a diving trip in the coral reefs that surround the tiny islands. I cannot believe how much I have been missing out on.

Having taken a trip to Byron Bay recently, and staying at a backpackers hostel, I got the chance to meet quite a few people from different countries. And every time I tell them that I am from the Maldives, people find it exotic and also surprised that I had never engaged in any of these water sports.

Surfing and diving were never really part of the Maldivian lifestyle. My friend who is from Coffs Harbour was surprised when I told her this and said that they actually went surfing as part of school sport. Even snokelling, with the the islands being surrounded by coral reefs, still seem like a luxury activity I would have to pay for. Snorkelling might have been done by a fishermen but this is hardly a job for a girl so that was never a part of our lives, to be done at our whim either.

Today, I am quite sure that if I decided to go surfing in Male', I will be met with disapproval from my Dad and Grandma. Surfing is not quite what you call respectable in Maldives, it being reserved as an activity for tourists and it has a stigma attached to it when locals do it. Especially girls.

I was excitedly telling my cousin in Maldives about the surfing lesson I had, and how much I wanted to surf back at home, but even she was telling me about how things in Australia and Maldives would be different, and a girl going out to surf where there was 'a lot of boys' would not be acceptable. Surfing is just not part of the lifestyle, and definitely not to be taken part by a girl.
It would be more appropriate for me to go to one of the tourist resorts (similar to snorkelling) and away from the public eye, as opposed to going for an evening surf on the island where I grew up in. It's just the way things are, as much as I think it is unfair.