The original Bohemians are an ethnic group known primarily as Gypsies by English-speaking populations, but they are called in their own language the Romani. Their heritage can be traced to the Indian Subcontinent. They traveled to Europe wearing their native homespun cloth dyed in natural colors. Today, the Romani live throughout the world with the largest of their numbers still in Central and Eastern Europe.

It is estimated that approximately 1,000,000 Romani, or “Roma” live and dwell here in the US. Portugal, during colonial times, deported their population of Romani to Brazil, where now approximately 800,000 live. The look of their clothes and style was at some point termed “Bohemian,” later shortened to “Boho.” While it began as a way to describe the simple homespun look, the Bohemian term began to take on new meaning over time.

In a book on Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle described the man through Watson’s words, stating that Holmes “loathed every form of society with his whole Bohemian soul" going on to describe how Holmes hid out in their lodgings, buried in old books. Winston Churchill was also called Bohemian by A.N. Wilson who stated that Churchill was pre-First World War Bohemian “in his dress-sense as in much else.” Bohemian began to represent a rejection of conformity to the norm.

Chic is a term that began in the late 1800s in France, meaning elegant or stylish. “The Lady,” Britain’s oldest weekly women’s magazine, stated in 1887, “the ladies of New York…think no form of entertainment so chic as a luncheon party.”

The book “Lucia in London” by E.F. Benson also used the term to describe the gathering of an elegantly dressed array of guests that arrived at a spur-of-the-moment post-opera party, “the most chic informality that it was possible to conceive." And Audrey Hepburn, the classy and sophisticated actress of the 1950s, wore an Edith Head dress that took off in popularity, the designer stating "If it had been worn by somebody with no chic it would never have become a style.”

Both “Boho” and “Chic” have a rich history in English-speaking culture. Together, the combined term “Boho-Chic” has come to represent a sort of homespun but sophisticated, antique but trendy, and rebellious but beautiful look in fashion.









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Perhaps the most credited with the Boho-Chic look is UK actress Sienna Miller, who, when returning from her travels, was caught wearing a feminine hippie-reminiscent look that caught on in a big way with women across Europe and the United States. Ruffled tops and flowing white peasant skirts became the order of the day.

Beaded headbands, Shakespearian-influenced dresses, gypsy skirts, and long feminine hairstyles were popular during the period of 2004-2005 especially. While the style began in the 1990s, it peaked under Sienna Miller’s influence.

However, the actress never intended to create a fashion wave and when the trend began to nosedive, as all fashions do, the actress remarked that it was not her fault that the style of dress she loved was copied and worn out. But perhaps because of this influence she had had and the way she started up another trend in 2007, she began marketing her own clothing line, Twenty8Twelve, with her sister Savannah.

Other actresses responsible for the Boho-Chic movement were Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson whose popularity with young girls gave them a great deal of influence over the style of the day. With their own clothing line, among many other product lines, these girls were positioned to market Boho-Chic while they wore it.

Kate Moss, another actress from the United Kingdom, was also observed wearing Boho-Chic style clothing and accessories, only adding to the popularity of the look. But as the Boho-Chic trend began to fade in 2005-2006, a new look came in that too closely mirrored Boho-Chic to take credit for originality. The 2007-2008 “folk” style that followed shared a lot in common with Boho-Chic, as actresses like Mischa Barton (wearing a feminine empire-waist short dress in 2006) promoted the newest version of feminine fashion.







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