Post Beat Generation
The Story Behind The Marine Beatnik
In The Beginning
If only we were taught about the Beat Generation at school, we might have paid better attention. Set in a 1950s backdrop of cigarette smoke and jazz, the beatniks were hip before hippies were a thing – rebelling against the fast-growing grips of consumerism and television in a fight for freedom of thought and self-expression. They’d make music, read and write, pass around drugs and ideas, with a dress code of self-contradicting stubborn nonchalance. They wore black on black, turtleneck jumpers and cigarette leg trousers most typically – or, more latterly, checkered shirts, crewnecks and lived-in jeans.
Still Causing A Stir
No matter how fleeting the beat movement was, the waves they made on society are still rippling to this day – influencing subculture, spirit, style and mind. History is a beautiful thing when the likes of Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac are its poster boys. So, it felt only natural for us to make a piece of clothing in ode to them.
For The Angelheaded Hipsters
The Beatnik check is a pattern we made exclusively for our Whiting overshirts in celebration of some of our favourite people from that time. We wanted to make something classic and long-lasting that would get even better with age – there to stick with you for many years to come. Wear it as a shirt, overshirt, jacket or all three – the key, as learned from those howling beat poets, is in carefree styling and traveling lightly.
We couldn’t be happier with how it turned out. Currently available in eleven colourways, the Beatnik Whiting comes in a wide range of tones. But, for us, it’s the Beatnik Whiting in Marine that’s our most-cherished. It’s been part of the Wax family for half a decade now, which is nearly as long as we’ve been going. And, perhaps due to the simplicity of its colours, it’s become our number one best-seller. Nothing could be more timeless than ecru and deep blue… Except perhaps ecru and deep blue Beatnik checks? Still just as good as when it first landed, the Beatnik Marine is made from recycled and organic cotton, corozo nut buttons and a whole lot of 1950s spirit.
“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.”