The Source Family was a 1970s California religious sect founded by the wildly charismatic Jim Baker, aka Father Yod, aka Ya Ho Wha: a decorated marine, judo expert, killer-of-two-men-with-his-bare-hands, bank robber, organic-foods restaurateur, Sacred Herb smoker, chanter of hippie gospel, assumer of spiritual authority, collector of roaming youths, owner of huge gray beard, husband to 14 wives, practitioner of tantric-sex marathons, deliverer of home-birthed babies, inhabitant of haunted dilapidated mansions, and musical frontman to the box set God and Hair.

Father and his followers wore flowing garments embodying the "feel of freedom," writes former member, The Source book author, and photo archivist Isis Aquarian in an e-mail interview. (Isis will present a documentary based on the family at SIFF; she is also currently collaborating on a line with local menswear designer, UW fashion history lecturer, and esteemed paper-bib-and-collar sculptor Michael Cepress.)

Men's plain-cut ankle-length tunics were constructed from giant pattern pieces formed by lying down and having the full body outline traced. The tunics were trimmed with mystical-symbol embroidery woven from their own long hair. Women dressed in low-cut gowns, "great for breast-feeding," and for a time, everyone wore white head wraps of homespun cotton, knotted at center front to protect the forehead's "third eye," a cosmic hotbed of astral realms, planets, glands, and gateways, explains Isis.

Intricate handmade belts and jewelry finished the ensembles, though when Father saw members "growing too attached to the Aquarian names" he'd given them, such as Sunflower, Galaxy, Electric, and Starwoman, he ordered the family to wear simple leather tag necklaces stamped with sacred numbers to call each other instead. "We quickly 'got it' and soon went back to using our names. Father was always coming up with ideas to help us overcome our egos," Isis writes in The Source.

Father's commanding earthly presence was soon torn away. Though "he believed hang gliding lessons were unnecessary for him, as he could access the memories of his previous lifetime as a Lemurian to help him fly," he died during his first attempt. He wore "a garnet velvet robe with a black velvet sleeveless over-robe," and just after he'd so stylishly fallen from the sky, "everyone—the police, the paramedics, firemen—seemed frozen, unsure of what to do with this giant, velvet-robed man who looked as if he had stepped straight out of the Dead Sea Scrolls..." recommended

The Source plays at the Seattle International Film Festival on Thurs May 31 at the Everett Performing Arts Center, and Fri June 8 and Sun June 10 at the Harvard Exit.

Send fashion information to marti@thestranger.com.