Jimi Hendrix Found His Signature Style in His Girlfriend’s Blouses

Jimi Hendrix rose to prominence in the late 1960s, when counterculture and the hippie movement were picking up steam. The rock legend was viewed by many as a hippie before the term even became popularized, thanks in large part to the clothes that he wore. But his outfit choices weren’t necessarily his own ideas: he was inspired by the fashion of his girlfriend as a teenager.

Jimi Hendrix’s girlfriends

Hendrix dated a number of women from his teenage years until his death at age 27 in 1970. According to Express, he painted his high school girlfriend’s name on his guitar, writing “Betty-Jean” on the instrument.

AffairPost detailed whom Hendrix was linked to as he grew older. In 1963, he began dating who many viewed as his muse, Lithofayne “Faye” Pridgeon. By 1965, he was in a relationship with Devon Wilson, who had become known as a “Super Groupie” due to her being linked to several popular musicians including Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, and Miles Davis. 

As Hendrix rose to fame in the mid-1960s, he flew off to London to perform and record new music. His first day there, he met Kathy Etchingham, who worked as a DJ at a club in the city. Five of his songs — “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn To Be),” “Send My Love to Linda,” “Wind Cries Mary,” “Foxy Lady,” and “Gypsy Eyes” — are rumored to be about Etchingham.

He began dating Monika Danneman in 1969 until his death a year later.

Jimi Hendrix’s personal style was inspired by one of his girlfriends

Philip Norman’s 2020 book Wild Thing: The Short, Spellbinding Life of Jimi Hendrix takes readers on a journey through Hendrix’s life, and details many of his quirks from his youth. In one part, his brother Leon — who himself went on to become an accomplished guitarist — reflected on when Hendrix began accessorizing with various objects and wearing flamboyant clothes.

“It started when he found a pigeon feather and stuck it on his guitar,” Leon recalled. “Then he painted it red, wrote ‘Betty-Jean’ on the front and hung it with the little tassels you used to get on Seagram’s Seven whisky bottles.”

“Or he’d come onstage wearing a blouse,” Leon continued. “People used to ask me: ‘Where does Jimmy get his clothes from?’ and I’d say, ‘His girlfriend.’ That was out with the other guys in the band, who were only about conformity. He was a hippy before anyone knew what a hippy was.”

Jimi Hendrix’s career

As the counterculture movement grew in response to the unpopular Vietnam War, so too did Hendrix’s career. He first started performing as a backup guitarist for artists like Little Richard and Ike and Tina Turner in the early 1960s before forming his own band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience. In 1967 and 1968, The Jimi Hendrix Experience released three albums — Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love, and Electric Ladyland — and became one of the hottest bands in the business.

After they parted ways in 1969, Hendrix continued to perform, most notably at his closing performance at Woodstock in August 1969. Hendrix died a year later in September 1970 at the age of 27.