Hot Looks: The Flower Power Girl

At first glance (and possibly at second and third glance as well) you might assume that DJ Dandelion had just stepped out of a time machine.

This vibrant DJ’s love affair with the swinging ’60s took root in her early teens when she unexpectedly received a present of several original ’60s designer dresses.
“I got present of six Mary Quant dresses from an aunt of mine,” Dandelion explains. “She was moving house and was up in the attic when she found these. It was like a dream, it was the best present ever!”
When asked to define her own particular look, Dandelion is keen to make a distinction between the very different styles that existed within her decade of choice.
“My style is very mod-style, it’s mid-’60s – 1965, 1966,” she explains. “I don’t go for the hippy side of it or the psychedelic side of it. It’s all very sharp.”
Dandelion’s dedication to the ’60s fashion cause is so extreme that she owns almost no ‘modern’ clothes. Everything in her wardrobe is 40 years old or older, with the exception of the odd convincing ’60s reproduction that she has managed to pick up along the way.
Just as much effort is put into Dandelion’s era-appropriate hair and make-up, and surprisingly, she doesn’t spend hours in front of the mirror perfecting her eye-catching visage.
“It probably takes about half an hour to do my make-up now because I’m so used to it,” she reveals.
Dandelion has always sported ’60s hairdos, ranging from a beehive to a ‘slick’ to her current low-maintenance coiffure – a Sassoon bob – “It takes about two minutes to do, it does itself.”
The ’60s have always been a part of Dandelion’s working life, as well as her wardrobe. She worked in Dublin based second-hand stores SéSí and Wildchild for many years, often taking clothes in place of payment.
“Every week, new clothes would come in and I’d say ‘I’ll take that instead of getting paid!’” she laughs.
These days, ’60s music is her trade. Each Friday night, she dons her retro threads and dj’s at Sassy Sue’s Go-Go Inevitable at Dublin’s Sugar Club.
“There’s so many different styles of people that come in, it’s amazing” Dandelion says. “There are a lot of people who do dress ’60s, but you don’t have to dress that way to come, everyone’s welcome.”
When asked to name her favourite item of clothing, Dandelion agonises over having to choose just one, before eventually settling on an authentic Louis Féraud dress, bought (or perhaps earned!) in Wildchild.
“It’s gorgeous”, she says raptly, “It’s black and it has orange, green and white circles on it. I have a picture of Brigitte Bardot wearing it.”
The most expensive piece in her wardrobe is an Andre Courreges jacket, priced at €400. But Dandelion maintains the splurge was well worth it.
“I bought it about six years ago, it’s doubled in value since then,” she reveals. “It’s real space-age, it’s an amazing jacket. Actually, Brigitte Bardot wore a lot of his stuff as well.”
So can we presume that Brigitte Bardot is Dandelion’s ultimate ’60s style siren?
In fact, her fashion icon is Anita Pallenberg, the woman often referred to as ‘the sixth Rolling Stone’, partner of both Brian Jones and Keith Richards.
“I really like her style,” explains Dandelion. “She did something different with the ’60s. She was there at the time, but she still looked different from everybody else. She always managed to take it one step further.”
This autumn, Dandelion will put her extensive knowledge of ’60s fashion into practice when she releases her own line of clothing. “I’m working with my sister on these designs and we’re trying our hardest but we can’t really agree,” she laughs, “I’m saying ‘I don’t want anyone to have the same clothes as me’, and she’s saying ‘But that’s the whole idea’!”