{"id":50558,"date":"2018-09-28T09:28:50","date_gmt":"2018-09-28T16:28:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/?p=50558"},"modified":"2024-04-17T06:38:41","modified_gmt":"2024-04-17T13:38:41","slug":"design-style-bohemian-chic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/creativemarket.com\/blog\/design-style-bohemian-chic","title":{"rendered":"Design Style: Bohemian Chic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bohemian chic, also known as boho-chic, is a design style that takes its cues from hippie<\/a> and bohemian inspiration. Popular since the 1990s, its actual roots go back to the 1960s and the counterculture movement of that era. Some trace it even earlier to 19th-century England. Throughout the decades, its popularity has ebbed and flowed, dependent on various celebrities or luminaries to literally carry the style on their backs and remind pop culture every so often about what makes it so unique.
If you’ve ever been to large music gatherings like California’s Coachella or runway fashion shows, you’ve probably seen some form of bohemian chic in action. For anyone else, it’s identifiable by warm earth tones, layered looks, and mixed patterns for a highly eclectic appearance. After all, bohemian is a reference to counterculture: people who reject the establishment’s way of doing things and march to the beat of their own drums.
Now that you’re intrigued about this one-of-a-kind design trend<\/a>, read on to discover everything about it and how you can make this approach to design all your own.<\/p>

<\/span>The Etymology of Bohemian<\/span><\/h2>

The word itself is a curious one that often causes confusion for some people. Defined as leading an unconventional lifestyle with others of like mind, it has historically been applied to artists, musicians, literary figures, and even those seeking more transcendental, spiritual pursuits. While these bohemians often carried anti-establishment social and political views, they sometimes also expressed their philosophy by committing to reduced consumption.<\/p>

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First used in the English language back in the 19th<\/sup> century, the term bohemian<\/em> was directed primarily at outcast writers, actors, and musicians in big European cities. Many of them lived non-traditional existences. The term “bohemian†itself came into use in 1848, transferred over from the French bohemién<\/a><\/em>, which literally meant a Gypsy.
Gypsies were incorrectly believed to have originated from Bohemia, which sits in today’s Czech Republic as the biggest and westernmost historical section of Czech territory. Nonetheless, since Gypsies have historically been a nomadic people, traveling throughout Europe, the meaning of the word “bohemian†as someone representing an unconventional counterculture takes on added significance.<\/p>

<\/span>The History of Bohemian Chic<\/span><\/h2>

There’s really no one, defining moment in time where we can point to and say, “Aha! That’s were bohemian chic originated!†Still, there have been pivotal moments after the word’s acceptance into the English language that give us clues to its development as a distinct design style.
Elements we associate today with this design trend can be traced back as early as the mid to late 19th<\/sup> century, specifically the pre-Raphaelite movement, so named due to their opposition to Renaissance painter Raphael’s emphasis on elegant compositions and classical poses, which they believed corrupted art. Their philosophy was rooted in the belief that art had to be reformed entirely by rejecting the so-called mechanistic<\/em> method seen in works of Mannerism (the successor to Raphael), which was characterized by more artificial design elements. The pre-Raphaelites wanted to move art back to the ideals of the Quattrocento period of art, circa 15th<\/sup>-century Italy, which promoted:<\/p>