Define Hipster.

UgEkd.jpg

Maybe add overly tight trousers and pointy shoes. Commonly found around Shoreditch and east London. Listens to crap electro mainly. Moustaches help. As do fixed wheel bikes.
 
Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20's and 30's that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter. The greatest concentrations of hipsters can be found living in the Williamsburg, Wicker Park, and Mission District neighborhoods of major cosmopolitan centers such as New York, Chicago, and San Francisco respectively. Although "hipsterism" is really a state of mind,it is also often intertwined with distinct fashion sensibilities. Hipsters reject the culturally-ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers, and are often be seen wearing vintage and thrift store inspired fashions, tight-fitting jeans, old-school sneakers, and sometimes thick rimmed glasses. Both hipster men and women sport similar androgynous hair styles that include combinations of messy shag cuts and asymmetric side-swept bangs. Such styles are often associated with the work of creative stylists at urban salons, and are usually too "edgy" for the culturally-sheltered mainstream consumer. The "effortless cool" urban bohemian look of a hipster is exemplified in Urban Outfitters and American Apparel ads which cater towards the hipster demographic. Despite misconceptions based on their aesthetic tastes, hipsters tend to be well educated and often have liberal arts degrees, or degrees in maths and sciences, which also require certain creative analytical thinking abilities. Consequently many hipsters tend to have jobs in the music, art, and fashion industries. It is a myth that most hipsters are unemployed and live off of their parent's trust funds.
Hipsters shun mainstream societal conventions that apply to dating preferences and traditional "rules" of physical attraction. It is part of the hipster central dogma not to be influenced by mainsream advertising and media, which tends to only promote ethnocentric ideals of beauty. The concepts of androgyny and feminism have influenced hipster culture, where hipster men are often as thin as the women they date. The muscular and athletic all-American male ideal is not seen as attractive by confident and culturally-empowered hipster women who instead view them as symbols of male oppression, sexism, and misogyny. Likewise, culturally-vapid sorority-type girls with fake blond hair, overly tanned skin, and "Britney Spears tube-tops" are not seen as attractive by cultured hipster males who instead see them as symbols of female insecurity, low self-esteem, and lack of cultural intelligence and independent thinking. Hipsters are also very racially open-minded, and the greatest number of interracial couples in any urban environment are typically found within the hipster subculture.
Although hipsters are technically conformists within their own subculture, in comparison to the much larger mainstream mass, they are pioneers and leaders of the latest cultural trends and ideals. For example, the surge of jeans made to look old and worn (i.e. "distressed"), that have become prevalent at stores such as The Gap, American Eagle, Abercrombie and Fitch, and Hollister, were originally paraded by hipsters who shopped in thrift stores years before such clothing items were mass produced and sold to the mainstream consumer. The true irony here is that many of the detractors of hipster culture are in fact unknowingly following a path that hipsters have carved out years before them. This phenomena also applies to music as well, as many bands have become successful and known to mainstream audiences only because hipsters first found and listened to them as early-adopters of new culture. Once certain concepts of fashion and music have reached mainstream audiences, hipsters move on to something new and improved.
Because of the rise of various online photo-blog and social networking sites, insights into urban hipster culture is reaching sheltered suburban audiences at an exponential rate. Cultural "norms" have been deconstructed by hipster culture as a whole. Hipsterism is often dismissed as just an image thing by some, but the culture as a whole is effecting changes in society, leading to feelings of insecurity and resentment in people who are no longer a part of the cultural ruling class. For example, a lot of anti-hipster sentiment evidently comes from culturally-clueless suburban frat boy types who feel that the more sensitive, intelligent, and culturally aware hipster ideal threatens their insecure sense of masculinity. Anti-hipster sentiment often comes from people who simply can't keep up with social change and are envious of those who can.
Click to expand...

kd
 
Hipsters are a subculture ... independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation ... creativity .... also often intertwined with distinct fashion sensibilities. Hipsters reject the culturally-ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers

Urban Outfitters ... American Apparel...
Click to expand...
This is something that amuses me about the movement, though I guess it's true of most subcultures. Hey guy's, we're all going to be different by being the same! We're anticorp apart from the corporations that cater to us!
 
ubersonic said:
Hipsters are an American thing, we don't have them in the UK, you do get a couple of copycats but in most cases when you hear hipster its just from people who have heard the term online and in US media using it to describe somebody it doesn't apply too.
Click to expand...

You've obviously never visited Bethnal Green. :p
 
Hipsters are obnoxious brats who think they are gods gift to this planet and know everything about any possible subject, university hipsters tend to be the worst but this phase will usually die out by the time they hit 30 since they will realise how much time they have wasted just talking bull and smoking weed when they could have been doing something useful.
 
I got called a hipster in the post a pic thread for wearing a jäger scarf on a night out.

To be honest, I probably am, not purposefully but still. I listen to a lot of underground drum and bass/Dubstep/electronic music, wear skinny jeans, have tattoos, and wear short sleeve tops all the time.

Someone put me down quick! What have I become!
 
I moved from Buckinghamshire into an East London flat to go to university. I also play the guitar but I wish I could play harpsichord, which I guess is kind of like a baroque synth. What does this make me!? :confused:
 
One of my shipmates hated Australia, Japan, Korea and Singapore because they were, in his own words: "Mainstream". He loved the Philippines because it was: "Gritty and real".

I'd say it was more because none of his friends at home could say they've been there.
 
Shayper said:
I got called a hipster in the post a pic thread for wearing a jäger scarf on a night out.

To be honest, I probably am, not purposefully but still. I listen to a lot of underground drum and bass/Dubstep/electronic music, wear skinny jeans, have tattoos, and wear short sleeve tops all the time.

Someone put me down quick! What have I become!
Click to expand...

yeah, you look like the sort that would ponce around with lipstick on :p
 
The Funktopus said:
One of my shipmates hated Australia, Japan, Korea and Singapore because they were, in his own words: "Mainstream". He loved the Philippines because it was: "Gritty and real".

I'd say it was more because none of his friends at home could say they've been there.
Click to expand...

He loves the Philippines because they're prostitutes are much cheaper then Singaporean ones.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom