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Gypset
(from gypsy-meets-jet set), is the new variation on old elements
of the fashion vocabulary: bohemian luxury, bobo fashion (bourgeois
bohemian or gauche caviar), haute hippie style....all
permutations of fashion ideas that have been around since the late
60s/early 70s (think the iconic image of Talitha and John Paul
Getty, photographed by Paul Lichfield for Vogue in 1969,
above).
Gypset has
become fashion buzzword ever since Julia Chaplin’s book
Gypset Style
was
issued last year by Assouline, and the idea has been gathering
steam (see net-a-porter.com's recent
Gypset issue
online.)
The Gypset
look: Kaftans, floor-skimming dresses, scarf dresses, vibrant
patterns, glorious color, glittery sandals, armloads of bangles,
chandelier earrings. Smoky Cleopatra eyes. Perfect for
this hot hot weather.
Julia Chaplin
has said, “I first encountered the gypset while working as a
travel writer for the New York Times...the gypset are an emerging
group of artists, musicians, fashion designers, surfers, and bon
vivants who lead semi-nomadic lives, unconventional lives. They
are people who have perfected a high-low approach that fuses the
freelance and nomadic wile of a gypsy with the sophistication and
global references of the jet set.”
Hermes
ad extolling the Gypset idea
She codifies
the set here on her website,
gypset.com,
10 ways to spot a
gypsetter:
1) HANGS OUT
IN PLACES THAT ARE HARD TO REACH: PREFERABLY MORE THAN THREE HOURS
FROM A MAJOR AIRPORT; DOWN DIRT ROADS
2) MANSIONS
OR VILLAS ARE OKAY IF THEY BELONG TO SOMEONE ELSE OR ARE SERIOUSLY
RUN DOWN
3) NEVER
WEARS CLOTHES WITH VISIBLE LOGOS
4) MONTAUK
NOT EASTHAMPTON; IBIZA NOT CAPRI; VENICE BEACH NOT SANTA MONICA
ETC.
5) DOESN’T
MIND FALLING ASLEEP WITH SALTY HAIR
6) DRINKS
AGUARDIENTE NOT CRISTAL
...and so
on...
...and which
we thought rather amusing. The real gypsy, in the poetic sense of the word, is
never part of a set. And
can never be really classified.
gypsy,
c.1600, alteration of gypcian, form of egypcien
'Egyptian,' from the mistaken origin of the gypsies (who were
actually nomadic tribes that left India in waves, beginning about
a 1000 years ago, moving westward.) In Spain, gitano. In
France they were bohemién and the word bohemian also has
the sense of being a social gypsy, of being unconventional, free,
vagabondish!
The term
'Bohemian' has come to be very commonly accepted in our day as the
description of a certain kind of literary gipsey, no matter in
what language he speaks, or what city he inhabits .... A Bohemian
is simply an artist or littérateur who, consciously or
unconsciously, secedes from conventionality in life and in art.
["Westminster Review," 1862]
Yves Saint
Laurent in Marrakesh, 1976
So we say
don’t take seriously Chaplin’s slightly odd attempt to classify
the real gypsy heart, and that the word
bohemian in a literary sense has less to do with the nomadic tribes that left India or
with group behavior and everything to do with the poetic sense of
the artist or
littérateur
who has the courage to be unconventional, independent. And
this gypsy idea can be extrapolated to the inventor, the website
entrepreneur, the banker, the surgeon, to any profession really...it perhaps best represents a spirit--the courage to be daring, the
courage to leave home, to not remain attached to tradition and
convention when progress means moving on....) It’s an old idea
really: think Victorian explorers, Byron, Paul Bowles...
And, of
course, we say yes to the fabulous fashion....!
Read:
Gypset Style,
Julia Chaplin
Shop
Gypset style:
net-a-porter.com
Explore online:
gypset.com
Tags:
fashion
travel
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