We’re off to Ibiza, where the sea breeze has the scent of freedom, fun and letting go. Because we all know that swimming in Ibiza has something special about it and that having fun in a night of music on the beach is going to move our bodies, our feet and our heads. Everything about Ibiza has its own style, and its clothing even more so.
We can’t talk about Ibizan dress without referring to Adlib fashion. This vogue was able to liberate women from the strict aesthetic canons, in a way that avoided thinking about opinions and from an era that was best left behind.
It was in the decade of the sixties, in full flow of the hippie movement on the island, when Smilja Mihailovich came to revolutionise Ibizan fashion. Called the Princess of the Pitiusas, Smilja Mihailovich abandoned the old Yugoslav royalty to create a philosophy of freedom in Ibiza.
This philosophy was based on gaining understanding of our own bodies, a long way from the rules and without impositions. Smilja, with a ring on each finger, was the free spirit who managed to create the perfect blend between clothes and materials of the peasant and artisan with the open minds which came to the island.
Smilja Mihailovitch · fotografía de: www.adlibibiza.es
Designs in white, natural materials, entirely artisanal work, ornamented, comfortable clothes made what was called “Dress how you want but with style“ a perfect portrait of Ibizan fashion from the era, an image that is both recognisable and unique.
It is now about fifty years since the Princess of the Pitiusas set foot on Ibizan soil, creating a movement that was so new for fashion of the era that even today it still feeds the exact same influences.
From the latin ad libitum, which means freedom (lit. “At your pleasure”), Adlib fashion managed to create a new way of thinking, a new relationship between body and its own style which, ever since, we think of as a place in which to spend long summer nights dressed in a mix of tradition and liberation.