Collected Fashion Subgenres, Part 6
A flower child, a wook, an indigo child, a celestial being. She's all of it.
The Flower Child of the new Millenium. In essence, if this girl’s whole vibe was boiled down to one thing, it would be a suncatcher, so that’s the name I landed on, but I almost chose “Indoor Windchime.” (Is that better?) Like a few others before it, The Suncatcher is another persona that takes place in the late ‘90s-early 2000s. She’s out of high school, either taking a gap year to WWOOF or attending a college with a robust Inter Co-Operative housing system. I associate her with Ann Arbor, Michigan, but she could also be from somewhere like Asheville or Eugene. Her music taste doesn’t completely align with mine (I can’t really get into DMB or Phish) but I can respect her love for jam bands and neo-ska-reggae (Slightly Stoopid and Sublime). And she goes hard. She has followed a band on a tour with her friends at least once, and loves music festivals held in forests.
Even though I went to college about ten years after this era, I still spent a lot of time with aesthetically adjacent people. After all, my house was sandwiched between Minnie’s and Vail, so there were times I watched drug-induced naked backyard drum circles from my bedroom window. Before marijuana was legalized in Michigan, Ann Arbor held an annual Hash Bash that brought in weed enthusiasts from all over the state to openly smoke weed all over the city. There was a performance by a guy named Chief Greenbud where he covered “Who I Am” by Jessica Andrews but changed the lyrics to be about pot.
Hippies are hippies—ever since their inception they’ve been stoned, generally harmless (except for the crystal deodorant), and smelling of patchouli. I went through phases growing up where I thought the Summer of Love movement in the ‘60s was the coolest thing ever. I never smoked pot, but I would burn incense I bought from the nearby headshop and play “Get Together” by the Youngbloods and pretend I was time-traveling. Then I got older and realized hippies are kind of annoying, even when they’re right about stuff. That being said, because of my proximity to them, I befriended many Co-Op members (if you’re unfamiliar with Co-Op culture, they’re kind of like if frat houses were communist, co-ed, and crunchy granola).
So, the Suncatcher is a generation or two out from the OG Summer of Love Hippie. I pictured her home decor before I started thinking about her outfits because Suncatcher interior design is so evocative. Yes, I said it! It’s a cross-cultural pastiche: Tibetan prayer flags, tie-dye tapestries, yin-yang, Ohm symbols, hammered-copper celestial wall art, blown glass pipes, dolphin art for some reason. She has the blue fluffy sun blanket on her bed and/or couch, a few pairs of worn-out Birkenstocks by the front door, and maybe a Steal Your Face poster taped up somewhere. The smell of chemical-based incense floats through the air: Pounding Surf, Blueberry Blast, Cherry Vanilla. It mingles with the residual scent of nag champa, patchouli, sandalwood, palo santo, body odor, and bong water.
One of the best places for the Suncatcher to find clothing is at one of those “Himalayan” themed stores that are dotted across the country. They often sell salt lamps, singing bowls, and hematite, but they also carry the perfect clothes to practice yoga in (or visit the food co-op! Yes, everything in Ann Arbor seems to be a co-operative).
If you identify with the Suncatcher, I have some good news for you. It’s easy to dress like her, and easy to find clothes she would wear. Sometimes they’re even selling them on the street in places like Union Square, or at little art fairs or markets. You can find them online, sure, but you should probably just visit the closest Himalayan store. That way you can buy home decor, too.
Back to my dear Ann Arbor: there used to be a store there called Orchid Lane. Any of my old heads remember it? Orchid Lane was the epitome of Suncatcher style. It was like the kind of stuff you’d find at Himalayan stores, but nicer. It closed many years ago, but I still think of it fondly, although at the time I never bought anything from there! It just wasn’t my style back then. It’s pretty forgotten, but every so often I’m able to find Orchid Lane pieces on Poshmark. Annoyingly, there has since been a kid’s clothing company with the same name, so you have to sort through some children’s dresses. Here are a few that I like!
Other brands that fit the bill: FLAX by Jeanne Englehardt, Patagonia, Merrell. I truly think your best bet is at the Himalayan stores. But always check vintage, thrift, and online, too.
Do you have any muses that would be considered “Suncatcher” or “Indoor Windchime”? It seems like the kind of aesthetic that wasn’t really represented by any particular celebrity. I’d hazard to say our Suncatcher muses include Ani DiFranco, Donna Godchaux, Erykah Badu and…I’m throwing a little Macy Gray into the mix.
The Suncatcher is the type of chick who seems kind of like space-case at first—she might talk to you a little bit too much about her favorite music or drugs without caring if you’re interested—but she is always down to share her dank-ass weed with you. Once you get a little stoned, she’s a lot more fun, and she will take all of the vegetables in her fridge that are just on the verge of going bad and throw them into what appears to be an orange, squash-based soup, and she will feed it to you, and you are stoned enough that you are like “Wow, this is actually so nice. She made me fucking soup!” Then she hands you a big jar of water and ice cubes to drink from and offers you tea and a Tarot reading. Jerry Garcia sucks, but this girl rocks.
Okay, time to smoke a bowl.
Namaste!
As a communist this article is really making the case for Ann Arbor Michigan, I should probably check it out someday. Are there any similar places by the water on the upper peninsula? Northern Michigan looks BEAUTIFUL