Sunday, August 2, 2009

TIE-DYE (A SUMMER'S TALE)

I was watching e-news last night and it seems that tie-dye is making a comeback. Well, it's been a while since I last saw anyone wearing tie-dye t-shirts or skirts on the street. With the weather getting really warm and hazy, it's about time something cool and vibrant made its appearance again. Welcome back, tie-dye. I've missed you so much. I remember wearing my tie-dye t-shirts (till the colours faded) almost everywhere I went to when I was still a student. With my unruly long black hair, torn jeans, beads and sandals, people thought I was a flower child or at least, someone trapped in the 60s and just couldn't get over the era. I was definitely a sight to behold so I can understand now why people always gave me the weird look every time I passed them (the same way I look at the present youngsters with their pierced body parts). I also remember going to a free open-air reggae concert on my campus field and the organiser provided buckets and buckets of dyes for concert-goers to dye their white t-shirts in. There were lots of tie-dyed t-shirts (including a few underpants and bras!) left to be dried on the grass while the concert-goers moved and grooved to reggae music. That was also the summer when I had to repeat a class I had to drop earlier. Once I went shopping at The Mall (it was still the 'it' place back then) with a few friends (Aznan, Zainor, Ali and Mudasir) and we spotted a shop (I think it belonged to the former actor, Azmil Mustapha) selling tie-dye shirts. We were like hippies on pots when we saw the clothes! Oh! It was patchouli and sandalwood-scented psychedelic heaven for us and we got ourselves a tie-dye shirt each. Now that I'm older, I wonder if tie-dye t-shirts can still look good on me. Maybe yes but I'll get a second opinion before I dare wear them in public again since I definitely do not want to look like a member of the Grateful Dead.

On second thought, maybe I should start with these tie-dye boxers.