Pretty Green x Smiley – The Collection

From free parties to punk to acid house, the Smiley has been permeating music culture for more than 50 years. The psychedelic heritage of that luminous grinning face is what has inspired the collection. As this summer’s music festivals kick off, it’s a collection that celebrates fun, freedom and imagination.

These vibrant visions were dreamt up in the small hours of a sleep-deprived morning. The soul of the collection was influenced by the oil lamp projections that used to be projected over psychedelic bands during music festivals in the 1960s; blending with the soundwaves to create hallucinogenic experiences for those watching.

In the low light of the office, with acid jazz on the stereo, we experimented with a technique to replicate these visuals, using a blend of ink and milk. The two liquids endlessly interacted with each other, creating a pattern that was always changing. It was the vision we’d imagined: a swirling marble landscape.

This is the 30th anniversary of 1989’s ‘summer of love’ and it was a key inspiration for the range. The hectic all nighter; the rejuvenating sunrise; the hazy blue morning. The marble pattern was filled with a vibrant 80s colour palette and digitally enhanced with a warped Smiley, to create a print that taps into the ecstatic energy and infectious freedom that flows through crowds at summer music festivals. Look deeper and you’ll find the ‘SUMMER OF LOVE ‘89’ message embossed alongside bold graphics, referencing the fly posters of the era.

It’s a collection that lives and breaths cultural history, encapsulating hedonistic festival ambience for a new generation.