The term “hipster” is thrown around a lot in North America these days. If you speak to most North Americans belonging to the 20- to 40-year-old demographic, you’ll hear the term once every half hour, at least.
The first time I heard the term was en route to a burger joint with family in the Los Angeles area. Francesca, 26, a self-confessed burger gourmet told me, “I’ll take you to the best places that are top secret: no tourists; not even the locals know— only hipsters do. This burger place we’re going to serves the best burgers ever. We call it the ‘Oh F*** Burger’ because when you take the first bite, you can’t help but say that.”
“What are ‘hipsters,’ exactly?” I asked her and after several enlightening conversations plus some research, here’s what I came up with.
Hipsters are a subculture of men and women typically in their 20s and 30s that value independent thinking, countercultural beliefs, progressive politics, an appreciation for art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence and witty banter. They live a lifestyle that is often at odds with mainstream culture. The greatest concentration of hipsters can be found in the Williamsburg, Wicker Park and Mission District neighborhoods of major cosmopolitan centers such as New York, Chicago and San Francisco respectively.
Although “hipstersim” is really a state of mind, it is synonymous with distinct fashion sensibilities. In line with their eschew-anything-mainstream philosophy, hipsters don thrift store finds (the more retro the better) and handmade clothes; tight-fitting jeans; old school sneakers; thick-rimmed, large glasses; Yasser Arafat scarves (though usually just around the neck). They usually sport tattoos. ironic facial hair (long side burns to offset a shaved head or a long beard on only half a man’s chin) and severe do-it-yourself haircuts (cropped bangs for women or a shaved head with long hair only on the crown for men). Their preferred mode of transportation is the skateboard, old-fashioned, fixed-gear bicycles or roller-skates while not using public transport (they wouldn’t be caught dead driving a car).
Their activities are mostly of the “hangout” variety namely coming together in groups to listen to underground music and drink beer — Pabst Blue Ribbon is their brand of choice. The reason they have time for this is because they are mostly just out of college and are waiting to find jobs and/or themselves. Some hold part-time jobs in eco-conscious establishments such as retail giants Urban Outfitters and American Apparel if not in the vegan food industry or alternative coffee houses. Some are graduates of Ivy League schools and trust fund babies from well-to-do families so they do have the luxury of killing time in such a laid-back manner. They live in young, artsy neighborhoods, have “elitist” taste in music, art or fashion. They listen to minimalist techno, independent rap, nerd core, Elephant, garage rock and punk rock. Some of their favorite bands: Bright Eyes, The Arcade Fire, The Arctic Monkeys, The Libertines, The Strokes, or similar sounds. They watch independent and foreign films and read independent books, magazines and periodicals. They champion androgyny in terms of physical appearance and resist labeling of any sort.
But according to New York writer, comedian and blogger Joe Mande, who has been called a hipster basher, the word “hipster” originated in the 1940s as a term to describe jazz enthusiasts who enjoyed smoking marijuana and, occasionally, opium. The same definition could apply to modern hipsters, only you would have to substitute “rave” for “jazz” and “salvia” for “opium.” Hipsters morphed into “Beats” in the 1950s and “hippies” in the ’60s, then sort of disappeared.
The term started to get picked up again in the 1990s to describe a new batch of young people trying desperately to position themselves outside the mainstream.
Mande writes, “Modern-day hipsters are unlike any youth-oriented countercultures of past generations — such as hippies, Goths and beatniks — because they don’t really believe in anything. Hipsters have no overarching philosophy; there is no ‘movement’ to the movement. In fact, a vast majority of hipsters refuse to admit they are hipsters. Most of them consider the term an insult — the equivalent of a racial slur.”
Mande adds that, “The only current event a hipster is concerned about is the ‘best new music’ section on Pitchfork.com. The only human rights issue they can agree on is the inalienable right to act like a teenager well into your thirties.”
Being a hipster is about apathy, says Mande. To belong, you need to show how little you care about trends, perceived pressing issues and global concerns. You need to steel yourself against media indoctrination and liberate yourself from the rat race in the corporate world for financial self-sustainability.
Mande continues, “If you do it right (becoming a hipster), you’ll be putting on airs of universal dispassion and nonchalance like a pro. Hipsters rebel against a shallow, materialistic, directionless society by being shallow, materialistic and directionless.”
Mande cites the following as celebrity hipsters who have successfully rebelled against the Hollywood-prescribed celebrity lifestyle: Chloe Sevigny, Mary Kate Olsen, Russell Brand, Drew Barrymore (pre-Charlie’s Angels), Adrien Brody, Tilda Swinton and Joaquin Phoenix.
If it interests you at all, here is how to become a hipster according to WikiHow:
1. Gain a strong sense of ironic and sarcastic humor. When asked a question, refuse to answer directly, and instead answer with an obvious lie. For example, while watching a really cool scene in a movie, and someone says, “Oh, my God, that was so cool. Did you see that?” You answer: “No, I paid eight dollars to come here and stare at the ceiling.”
2. Knowledge of good music is crucial. If you are into any mainstream music (Britney Spears, Rihanna, Akon, Taylor Swift, Beyoncé), throw it all away.
3. Switch to independent music, which is all that real hipsters listen to. There’s Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, Belle and Sebastian, Electric President, The Bandicoots, Jens Lekman, The Beatles, The Grateful Dead, etc. (Editor’s note: The Beatles are indie now?)
4. Namedrop often. Talk about all the obscure bands you like that nobody you know has heard of. When friends talk about a band you’re unfamiliar with, just say you’ve heard of them but not actually heard them.
5. Insult a lot of bands. If you love everything, you’ll seem like a fanatic. Make sure to give off a vibe that you are too cool and elite for a lot of bands.
6. Remember to use perhaps the most important hipster line. “I liked them before they were cool.”
7. If you would like to seem even more educated and elite there is the key phrase, “I liked their first EP but pretty much after that I never got into them.”
8. Fashion is just about as important as your music taste is. The thrift store look is crucial but you don’t need to shop in such stores to look vintage. A pair of “skinny jeans” is essential to looking hip. Hipsters have ironic eyewear such as shuttershades, oversized glasses, Buddy Holly glasses, nerd glasses and authentic Ray Ban wayfarers in rainbow colors. Choosing shirts and headgear is easier as long as you have the skinny jean look pegged: ironic graphic tees; plaid shirts; berets; large flower headbands; neon nail polish; gingham and floral vintage cardigans; fit hoodies; patterned and colorful leggings — all are part of the hipster phenomena, especially when you layer them together without seeming to match consciously. But make sure your pants are tight — it’s crucial.
9. Food. Start growing your own food. Use compost if possible. If you can’t, go only to the natural foods market. Many hipsters tend to be vegetarian or vegan.
10. It takes a brave hipster to start dancing. They almost never do but if the music and setting are right, they engage in dance movements. They don’t so much use the hips as gyrate the upper body and arms. Lots of swinging the head back and forth, too.
11. Female hipsters love to use Tumblr, Blogspot, or Wordpress. Plus taking photos with their Holga cameras or cross-processed and “dreamy-like” shots of themselves in a field, by the ocean, in forests, or in their hipster rooms.
12. Denial. Until recently, hipsters never call themselves hipsters. They tended to deny their “hipster-ness” at each possible turn.
13. Location. It is very important to live near a large population of hipsters or else you will not be able to show off how hip you are.
14. News. Know what’s going on at all times in your hipster community. When some new, obscure band is on Pitchfork.com, preferably before, you should know about it.
We all have been part of some subculture at one point or another in our lives to varying degrees. We were either baby boomers, flower children, hippies, yuppies, punk rockers, Goths, Grunge, Gen Xers, ravers, surfers or FaceBook babies, depending on what decade we found ourselves coming into adulthood. Perhaps some of us are still stuck there. In any case, being part of a group is being part of a cultural shift — a natural evolutionary progression, which involves adapting a new type of groupthink that helps people ease — if not totally avoid — the pressures of real life by normalizing and extending mental juvenescence well beyond physical juvenescence. A coping mechanism, then, until real life kicks in. And as we do live in a democratic world, we shouldn’t merely tolerate what rational adults deliberately choose as their lifestyle choice, we should celebrate it. After all, they might know where are all the top secret burger places are.
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Thank you for your letters. You may reach me at cecilelilles@yahoo.com.