Dye Hard: The Psychedelic History of Tie-Dye
From ancient India and China all the way back to the USA and its current hippie associations, tie-dye has been around for a long, long time, gracing the backs of emperors and wooks alike.
It’s unlikely that any person escaped their teen years (or any psychonaut made it through their early exploration phases) without at least one tie-dye item of clothing — whether it be a classic Grateful Dead tee, a bandana, or a pair of socks, colored carefully at summer camp (might be talking about myself here).
The history of tie-dye runs a lot deeper than you think…
From ancient India to China and all the way back to the USA and its current hippie associations, tie-dye has been around for a long, long time, gracing the backs and shoulders of emperors and wooks alike.
Bandhani In India
In India, bandhani, also known as bandhej, is the world’s oldest recorded and known form of tie-dye, dating all the way back to 4,000 B.C.
The name comes from the Sanskrit word bandh, which means “to tie,” — reasonable, as the process of making bandhani involves tying and then plucking the fabric with one’s fingernails to make intricate designs.
This is an ultra-traditional form of textile dyeing and is still practiced all around the Indian subcontinent today — according to author, designer, and textile historian, Archara Shah, “More than 25,000 people today earn their livelihood from bandhani.”
In Northern India, bandhani were discussed in songs and poetry as symbols of love, and this association remains to this day. Weddings are a common place to spot traditional bandhani patterns, whether worn by guests or given to the star couple as gifts.
Different colors of pieces have different meanings — red, for example, is used to bring good luck to newlyweds.
Bandhani was widely practiced throughout many northern states of India, but some other parts of the country had their own forms of it — Rajasthan is known for leheriya, style of textile tie-dye exclusive to the state, mostly used for dyeing and making male turbans, and still practiced today.
Xié In China
A little bit northeast of India and a few thousand years in the future, China was also experimenting with textile dyeing in their own form of tie-dye, known historically as xié.
We know this goes as far back as the Eastern Jin Dynasty from 266-420, though the practice of dyeing fabric and tie-dye style skeins and descriptions of them have been found in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) — which was widely known as the peak of tie-dye in China. A Tang Dynasty Buddhist scripture describes it as “tying the silk fabric and dyeing.”
The Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) also featured experience with the technique, with the ancient text Notes to Zizhi Tongjian stating that “Xie is to twist the fabric and tie it with thread, then untie after dyeing. The tied part retains its original color, while the rest is dyed colorfully.”
During the Yuan Dynasty, a different, unique, and deeply artistic type of tie-dye emerged known as “shu tie-dye.” This style grew in popularity among higher-ups, eventually becoming beloved by the royal family, leading to its record in history books (while other form of dyeing may have been forgotten).
Like in other cultures, techniques varied. One that was widely practiced was known as “Zha Hua,” which means “tying a knot,” wherein, instead of using rubber bands like you might have done last summer with a tie-dye kit from Michaels (I see you), the process was a little more time-consuming and intricate:
“According to the requirements of decorative pattern, wrinkling, folding, rolling, squeezing and other methods, make the design a certain shape. Then, using a needle and thread to stitch, seam strictly, tightening it up to make the fabric look like a bunch of “knots.”
Shibori in Japan
Deriving from Chinese dyeing techniques comes Japan’s form of tie-dye, known as shibori, which itself stems from the Japanese word shiboru, meaning "to wring, squeeze or press” (you’ll notice most cultures’ name for tie-dye seems to be something along the lines of tying and dyeing — which, you know, is accurate).
While it’s possible that shibori as a technique could have existed well before this, given some ancient Chinese texts stating that Himiko, a shamaness-queen living in Japan from 170 to around 248 AD, gifted the emperor of Cai Wei, one of China’s major dynastic states at the time, a piece of “spotted” cloth. It's possible this spotted cloth actually referred to a dyeing technique. We don't know for sure because the oldest surviving pieces of shibori are only from the 8th century (still pretty old, but not quite Himiko-era old).
There are a handful of different types of shibori, each involving different techniques to create the characteristic patterns.
Nui shibori, for example, is a simple running stitch technique used to make more controlled and detailed patterns, while arashi shibori involves wrapping the fabric very tightly around a pole, scrunching it up, and clamping it in place to create a diagonal pattern.
Arashi means “storm” in Japanese, and this style of dyeing is intended to evoke the feeling of the rain in a dark and heavy, well, uh, storm.
Amarra in Peru
1,500 years ago, amarra, a tie-dyeing technique, emerged in modern Peru, and spread widely across the Americas, even hitting the southwest USA (eventually morphing into the tie-dyeing techniques we know today).
Amarra is known for its distinct diamond and dot patterns — which, according to visiting University of Arizona scholar Laurie Webster — is meant to simile snakeskin or possibly cornfields.
Often, these patterns can be seen with these grid patterns, and many visual records remain showcasing religious figures and deities wearing amarra clothing.
Adire in Nigeria
In Nigeria, Yoruba people experimented with textile dyeing by pleating cloths before tying them and then, well, dyeing them.
Like shibori (and other forms of fabric dyeing), the most common color used was deep indigo. The use of indigo as a color and dye in various cultures is a different story on its own — this color can be obtained from many, many plants around the world, but its widespread use is related to more than just availability — it was, for a long time, a rare and deeply valued commodity, referred to as blue gold).
The word “adire” comes from the Yorruba words “adi” and “re,” meaning to tie and dye, respectively.
The style first emerged in southwestern Nigeria, but ended up spreading up to other parts of northern Africa. The textiles are typically made by women, and so knowledge of how to make them has historically been passed down through families from mother to daughter and so on.
According to the Victoria and Albert Museum, “the technique dates to the 1800s,” but the term "àdìrẹ [...] was first used in the early 20th century and became increasingly popular in the 1920s due to an influx of imported European cotton shirting material.” This movement encouraged textile artists and local women to experiment with dye and patterns.
Tie-Dye Today
Modern tie-dye is likely what you picture in your head when you first read the word: A rainbow, spiral pattern on a big t-shirt.
But it’s so much more than that, having first had a part in American culture as far back as the 1920s.
Yeah, that’s right — your hippie aunt and uncle were rocking the tie-dye in the 60s, but so were Gatsby and Depression-era housewives, particularly when tie-dye was widely marketed as a thrifty and sustainable practice and hobby for sensible women.
Back then, before the 60s, it was more commonly known as “tied dyeing,” and a a 1928 informational booklet titled The Charm of Color had a full section in it called “The Art of Tied Dyeing,” featuring four different tie-dye patterns one could experiment with.
“Tied dyeing opens the way to make your surroundings vivid with color” — the pamphlet reads.
“The results may be exotic and brilliant for moods of happiness or caprice — or they may be soft, subtle, restful for luxurious relaxation.”
A Dye for Every Era
Remember that bit from The Devil Wears Prada, where Miranda tells Andy that whole lecture on cerulean blue and the relevance of a particular top in fashion and society as a whole?
That’s kind of what tie-dye is, too.
The art of textile dyeing and working with fabrics and colors, especially indigo and other naturally occurring ones, has been a part of human history since we first learned how to do it.
Some archeologists have found evidence of this going as far back as the Neolithic period, back in 10,200 BC.
Tie-dye runs deeper than just the merch stand of your local Phish concert, and these examples are just scratching the surface.
Further Reading
Bicycle Day (April 19): The First Acid Trip in Human History
How Phenibut Went From Russian Space Drug to American Addiction
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