God bless Douglas Haddow. He's written the most concise, well reasoned critique of what is perhaps this nation's worst, most despicable counter-culture movement: hipsters. Don't believe me? Ask ANY obvious hipster, and he or she will deny being one. The movement has already become severely self-loathing.
The culture is not associated with any calls for social change, but rather entirely defined by certain products: tight jeans, fixed-wheel bikes, Pabst beer etc. Most everything hipsters wear can be defined as a "vintage" clothing item. Inherent in the term "vintage clothing" is the implication that the garb has already been warn by a previous generation. So, even in its most prized attribute, its fashion, hipsterdom fails to offer anything new.
I initially took a much less extreme stance towards hipsters until I saw a MySpace photo of my friend who recently moved to Portland. She was surrounded by men and women who looked exactly like her. I don't just mean they were wearing the same clothes or making the same facial expression, I mean their hair color and cut, makeup and even posture were identical. We can't afford to let this culture corrupt our youth.
I must admit that I have, in moments of weakness, purchased items I know are associated with hipsters. My converse sneakers and old sports coat are prime examples. I feel a tinge of guilt every time I put them on.
I know the urge to fit in is powerful, and I battle it regularly. But I would maintain that, were someone to look at a photo of me and my friends, they could still pick me out of the crowd. And finally, stop wearing fake glasses hipsters. Some of us were not born with the gift of perfect vision and have been forced to wear spectacles. Please stop co-opting them so you can use them as fashion accessories.
Although I do wear aviator sunglasses, scarves, booties, vintage jewelry, and I have bangs.
But I do not drink pabst, ride my bicycle everywhere, and wear skinny jeans with a fanny pack.
I shop at the gap, wear boot cut jeans, and drink wine so there.
you're not a hipster. You're a douche.
Seriously, you look too clean and pretty to be a hipster. Hipsters try really hard to look like dirty ugly dorks. Which leads me back to you Simon, you're an authentic hipster, not a wannabe hipster.
JJ. I heart you both:)
Although douche sounds so negative. I'll go with preppy.
Are M & A hipsters? I think so...
:)
of other movements. But why does it signal the end of culture? More culture can emmerge. There might even be a backlash to this crappy one.
Also, and the article points this out, but no one actually considers themselves a hipster. It's not an identity to be owned.
It's certainly not counter-culture.
hipsters insult other hipsters by calling them hipsters while denying that they themselves are hipsters.
I think it's funny. But Greenley you haven't also added whether or not you believe yourself a hipster... that haircut...
There's a name for these people.
They're everywhere...
I haven't lost hope in the possibility of a true, honest to goodness counter culture, but right now there is no alternative. Marisa and I disagree over whether future counter-cultures are informed by those that came before it. There is nothing worth using in this current faux-movement, and whatever comes next will have to start from scratch. I maintain that without hippies, there would have been no punks, and without the black power movement there would be no hip-hop.
sparks a response movement of people who hate retro shit and are so full of meaning it's sloshing over the sides.
But I bet you're all fucking hipsters, or at least 90% hipster.
old to be a hipster. it seems to me hipsters have to be younger than 30.
my beard makes me suspect, they tell me. But, alas, I am old and fat and couldn't possibly be a hipster. In the olden days, they called it arrogant and self-absorbed.
"Hipster" means "a person who thinks he is cooler than me who isn't." Posers.
That's why we hipsters won't identify ourselves as hipsters. By definition, a hipster is someone less cool than the person identifying the hipster. And for God's sake, it's pretty important to be most cool, isn't it? To have the shiniest tail feathers and produce a nest of eggs? Humans. Pfff. I'm so happy to be above you all. The bands I like are sooo much cooler than the ones you like.
You might as well mock cops for their Gargoyle sunglasses. Why not? You might as well.
And then we all died.
I am such a hipster. I see through it all so much better than the rest of you.
to hang out with hipsters because they don't make fun of my dancing. I can't dance. But they don't seem to mind. They probably mistake my awkwardness for irony. And my scarves are pretty awesome. Whatever.
Because this article is at least a year too late.
It's not anyone's problem you feel guilty wearing chucks, it's called getting old and we're all doing it! Who gives a crap what the sheeple are doing, they are young and stupid and under a respectably elaborate corporate spell that a blog, or like the 200 blogs that came before it, and supporting damning evidence can't fix.
Waiting for a movement you can really get behind is harder than looking for someone you'd marry... at least one of them gives you sex. Every 3 years someone blames the death of culture on something...wasn't it Britney Spears Or Paris Hilton last time? I think you and your pure, untarnished, un-corpratized soul needs to get over it!
Now you kids get off my lawn!
When I hear the word "counter-culture" I reach for my revolver,
a.
That's good.
I like that.
Now, that's a movement I could really get behind.
Must I be painted as a hipster for my canvas sneakers? Who the fuck else makes canvas sneakers besides Converse?
OK, Vans, but they are also unsufferably hip. And they fall apart quicker than the Chuck Taylors.
I don't want gigantic moonboot sneakers from Nike. I want regular old sneakers like I wore when I was a kid. Is that a crime?
is at least 5 years behind the hipster curve. Fixers were dumb when bike messengers used them. There are no bike messengers in this town. So why the fixers.
Oh and anngora, there's nothing more hipster than taking a picture of yourself in aviators and an ironic t-shirt making fun of ironic t-shirts.
You know someone pointed out my chucks last year and called them "Ellen Degeneres Shoes" because she wears them all the time, and I am spreading that. It takes some of the stink off wearing them. I like my Ellen Degeneres shoes, they're comfortable.
@jerry- I feel you on the moonshoes thing. Hideous, my friend...
@worlds apart- Jeez, agreed on the bike messengers thing. You think I'd be afraid to boldly look like an ass by having that avatar, but I am NOT AFRAID!! I never said I was clean. No one is clean, everyone is dirty.
I just want people to stop fussing over whether or not they might accidentally do, wear, or say something "cool" and be labeled some kind of a "sellout" or "hipster". Who cares? I know your really respected by people who are real and don't want to lose that....but c'mon! So many people walk around with this false sense of authenticity and it makes them annoying.
We all think that we are going to be cool forever, but look at Ice Cube now... NWA to family movies...dang man! We are all selling out, might as well do what we want.
(except me)
(I have cool on cruise control)
(off to Urban Outfitters)
Still NOT AFRAID,
a.
I think there’s an important distinction that needs to be made between those that happen to wear things or do things that hipsters do, and those that fully buy in. Also, I carry no pretensions about this blog completely obliterating hipster culture, but I think the more we can discuss things like this and the more self-aware we are, the less chance we have of falling into the trap. Yes this story is old. That’s my fault. Finally I would take Britney Spears and Paris Hilton over the current trends any day of the week. At least they embrace who they are, and Britney seems legitimately bananas.
And I don’t think it’s anyone’s problem that I have Converse. That was meant to illustrate that I too (like hipsters) have felt the desire to belong, or at least not be hassled for my fashion decisions
"hipsters," like nearly everyone, are desperate to seem cool. They achieve this by:
1) Acting like they don't care what they look like and dressing accordingly - they are "above" such perceptions.
2) Making self-effacing comments which indicate that they are too cool to be affected by criticism or cut-downs (see maren and angora above).
Other signs of desperation - thinking that being crazy is cool (Simon) Criticising others and claiming things are out of date (Worlds Apart). Claiming you are smarter than others and more privvy to hip information than they are. Lamenting the death of "culture" as if that would be a bad thing. Being a control freak. Being uptight.
to appear cool would be to claim this topic is boring while still feeling the need to contribute to it (hotrod).
Marisa, btw. I like the idea of new culture emerging out of the obliteration of this one.
@Simon...I get what your saying man. A little check never hurt anyone, and I'm throwing respect on that. I like that not only is Britney crazy, but seems to think everyone is dumber than she is. That's what gets me about her, in interviews and docs she seriously thinks "no one will know I never answered that question" or "everyone will think this nude body stocking with rhinestones on it is really my naked body with diamonds if I say it is...it's movie magic y'all!" (this...really happened and actually disturbed me).
@worlds-I can get behind the Friday movies but not any of that "Are We There Yet?" mess (maybe I will when I have chirrins)...at this point I'm building a shrine to Ice T. I mean maybe it's a little lame he plays a cop (not really) but he's married to that Coco and parades her and her gloriously huge tatas and booty around in two band aids and a thong...his whole life is a rap music video!
I wish my life was a rap video!
Well sometimes it is,
a.
I thought booties were for babies (literal babies). And if hipsters really tried "really hard" to look like dirty, ugly dorks, they would roll around in mud, wear high-water cordoroys or plain pants, use breast pocket pen holders (or whatever you call them), get bowl cuts and not wash their hair at all.
True, honest-to-goodness counter-cultures are not obvious to mainstream culture. When it is, it quickly gets sucked into the "shitstem." All cultures are informed by previous cultures, it's unavoidable. For example, we all have to wear clothes and they can never be radically different from other clothes.
Trying to avoid being a hipster makes you a hipster (defined as - someone attempting to seem cool).
I went to the No Age show tonight and there weren't as many hipsters as I'd have expected. Still, the type of people that turn up at shows for hipster bands really have a big problem with hygiene. Never fails. Smells like sweat and ass. It wouldn't hurt to wash your flannel t-shirt and shave every once in awhile.
Is the Alibi getting old? Maybe bring in some new blood that won't lash out against kids for no reason?
(love you guys, but you're bringing me down)
Maybe he is getting old. He has crossed the threshold.
Let's address the fanny pack issue. They are definitely a hipster accessory. Now I'm sure, Marisa (in her unyielding faith and trust in all of humankind) believes this fad has nothing to do with people following a trend. It is merely a movement of likeminded, storage-conscious individuals. Hey, people are carrying around more things these days, and they've all realized (conveniently at the same time) that fanny packs are a great way to transport stuff around. I will never wear a fanny pack because in fifth grade (when fanny packs were only cool amongst middle-aged folks) my dearest mother made me wear one on a class trip. EVERYONE at school mocked me, and rightfully so. But, in the end, I had the last laugh because there was sunscreen in my pack and, once the sun was about to burn my skin, I slathered on the SPF 45. All the other kids got scorched. So suck on that Escuela del Sol Elementary class of 1996!
Finally, I don't mean to bring you down Jonny, but a lot of these "kids" are in their mid-20s, to early 30s. I don't consider people that age "kids." But, you’re right; this world can only take so much hate. My next blog will be more cheery.
1. You won't wear one because kids made fun of you. (That sounds kinda "hipster"-y to me).
2. It was an on-body storage facility that saved your delicate skin. (You acknowledge that it has useful merits).
So why is it such a jump to think that maybe the fanny pack is a good way to carry stuff around and that, since they're making nice-looking ones, people will start wearing them? If I wear one, will you, in all your hipster knowledge, make fun of me? What if I carry sunscreen in it that I can lend you? Or Cholula? Think of the possibilities.
I won't wear one because they're unnecessary AND because people made fun of me (probably the very same people who are wearing them now). How much shit do you really need to carry around for goodness sakes? I'll keep sunscreen in my pocket if I need to. People already have purses, men's carry-alls, brief cases, gym bags, backpacks, book bags, trapper keepers etc. Nobody needs another thing to carry their other things. Your Cholula is in your desk drawer, which is great. Why mess with that system?
They put a bulge where many sane people fight to keep bulges off of and make you look like a retired tourist fresh out of a Winnebago or a mental defective who's lost his way.
I'm in.
You know that person wearing a fanny pack rollerblading in the park to C+C Music Factory waving at people in their fingerless gloves?
Look closer... it's me,
a.
The hipsters are interesting enough at face value, until you start talking to them. Then you realized that all the effort they took into compiling pop culture past concepts fashion and the hair doos left them as neurotic little flavorless empty people. Rarely objective.
I always imagined them as little guppies in school of fish. Nervous of what everyone else is doing. Dependant of what everyone else is saying and doing. The anixety ironically tends to suck the love/fun out of most of the upper echelon art events that they gather around.
It's why I got out of santa fe. Sadly.
It's like being a decorative rebel house wife in angst fashion suburbia. Making sure you cut your fashion lawn like everyone else.
Good thread.
that's all it is. it's a chosen style. it runs the spectrum every time some new trend comes in. cool. hip. hipster. you can be a shallow person regardless of the trend you choose. people who care so much about style and how they look happen to include hipsters this decade. it will have a new name and look soon. and within that trend will be shallow and non shallow people. but yes, it is ironic that the cool style right now is trying to look uncool. also, by the time it becomes labeled a trend or style, it is already lame. if you can buy it at urban outfitters or any national chain, it's past its coolness.
of whether it's a culture or just a style. yeah, that's a larger argument.
I used to love them, but man oh man once you go New Balance it makes your feet hurt just to look at them.
Who like Simon says (ha ha ha) are actually 21-35. We only have a few oldies (but goodies) here.
And maybe you are right jonnybluejeans, we all grew up in the rocker / hip hop age. So maybe we are simply hating on the new trends that are being worn by many a youth today because we are too old to be cool 'hipsters' like them.
I had decided at the Anodyne the other night that we all actually looked a little hipster. Which is funny. And I'm using the word hipster as a fashion/trend term really because I think that is really all it is. If you look at the high school kids they are all in skinny jeans. They all have bangs and choppy haircuts.
So all us Alibiers are actually old and lame. We come from another generation. Deal with it.
I used to be with it, but they changed what it is. Now what I'm with, isn't it anymore, and what's it seems weird and scary to me.
Some day, it will happen to you!
"with it" for about five minutes back about 1963 or so but that was a mistake, I hope nobody saw me, and I vowed never to repeat the error. I can happily report that I have been "with it" free for the past 46 years. Takes a lot of the pressure off.
Oooo-kaaaay, Douglas Haddow.
According to Merriam-Webster, a hipster is "a person who is unusually aware of and interested in new and unconventional patterns (as in jazz or fashion)." Sounds like the kind of person I want to spend my time with.
Haddow is talking about counter culture conformity, which can also include hippies, ravers, goths, b boys, punks and any other potentially generic participant in a non-mainstream lifestyle that comes with a uniform.
Because most people are generally stupid, this nuisance always was and will always be. But personally, I'm more worried about squares and religious people (sometimes one and the same).
Furthermore, fuck that annoying, pretentious article. Adbusters (which could be considered a hipster magazine, mind you) just gets more and more self-righteous.
Ravers, goths, b-boys hippies all stood for something. Be it equal rights, or raves or hip-hop. They all have some attachment to something that isn't just a clothing item or an accessory. All groups have hangers on who don't really care about what their group really stands for (e.g. hippies who just like bell bottoms) but at their core, all the groups you mention stand for something. But hipsters are only identifiable by the stuff they own. There is no unifying creed or ideology. It is simply a set of products that identifies a certain sub-group. And as for religious people, at least they believe in something.
stand for something? And standing for raves and hip-hop seems lamer than standing for nothing.
And what happens when your shoes don't agree with your beliefs? Like, my creepers suggest an anarchist bent while my heels cry conformity. My vegan Earth shoes say "I'm eco-friendly" but my leather platforms threaten to eat them when my closet light is off.
Fashion is a distraction. Or, as Oscar Wilde said:
"A fashion is merely a form of ugliness so unbearable that we are compelled to alter it every six months."
Does anybody really care?
Both of those things are cool. I've only been to one rave, but it was enjoyable, and the people there seemed to really want me to have a good time. They didn't just sneer at people for not looking ironic enough.
It was a blog explosion while I was away over hipsters...that is awesome. Almost all sub-culture are the same to me, here today and only a handful of people into it the next day. One thing I do know is the Snuggie culture is taking over all cultures!
Let's examine what these groups stand for:
Hippies: hippie music, hippie fashion, not being part of the establishment
Ravers: raver music, raver fashion, not being part of the establishment
Punks: punk music, punk fashion, not being part of the establishment
Goths: goth music, goth fashion, not being part of the establishment
B Boys/Girls: hip-hop music, hip-hop fashion, not being part of the establishment
"Hipsters": hipster music, hipster fashion, not being part of the establishment
It's all the same thing with a different sound and accompanying uniform. Saying that "hipsters" as defined by Adbusters don't stand for anything isn't fair. A function of associating oneself with a subculture is to stand for something, mainly that you distinguish yourself from the prescribed culture. Furthermore, the article itself claims that most hipsters associate themselves with some form of art...which all of these other subcultures do as well.
And raves/ravers? Much more vapid than hipster culture. Probably because it's generally more drug-addled. If THEY stand for something other than partying to shitty house music please tell me.
That was an awesome post - I could not agree with you more. It is all the same, but taste preferences define the "style" you are into. I used to swear I was punk when I was younger, but as I get older everything kind of blurred together and I can see fun in it all.
really.... I just don't understand what is wrong with "hipsters". They are just a group of people who like a certain type of fashion and music. oh and Kristin, are M & A hipsters? well maybe I am, but I don't care. I do not call myself a hipster, I do not call myself anything, however, if someone called me a hipster, I would not be offended and I would not deny it. Hipsters don't need to stand for anything, do frat guys stand for anything? do nerds really stand for anything? no! no one stands for anything. So leave those poor hipsters alone and let them do their weird dancing to their weird music. Now excuse me while I put on some parachute pants and a bandana around my head so I can go for a ride on my fixie to go buy some organic groceries while listening to ELO on my ipod.
Chucks are not hipster. They came back in the early '90s, and everyone knows (i.e. everyone in my office) that I'm an expert on that era. Grunge reclaimed it, and though they were the first to embrace irony in an all-consuming fashion, that irony had substance. Meaning that this particular "counter culture" embraced the totems of its childhood as young adults as a way to question the adulthood that had been offered to them by the generation before. Hipsters (be they me, you, that guy you made out with last night at the Anodyne) as a whole aren't saying much about their embracing of vintage. They (or we) like what they like, but there doesn't appear to be a message behind it. This is clear when you drive by a junior high (because it's on your way, not because you're peddy) and you see 12-year-olds in their best hipster gear. That's when you know it's by no means a counter culture; it's just what is in fashion for some people. Whatever movement might have existed is dead. This has always been true, such as when on "The Brady Bunch" Greg started dressing like a hippie. And now on the Disney Channel most of the kids dress like they're 27 and living in Brooklyn.
I say that with the recession, counter culture will be shoulder pads. Discuss.
Since everyone keeps bringing up Chucks. I used to wear them all the time when I was younger because the wear cheap. For less than $10 I would have a new pair of shoes that would last me 6 months or so. Last time I looked at Chucks they were $45-$55...wtf??? I guess we have Nike to thank for that!
has more vanity than he'd care to admit. That's why nobody wants to be called a hipster: it hits a little too close to home.
