The Modern Hipster
And now we’ve come full circle. Try to ask one of your modern Hipster friends this simple question: “What is a Hipster?” From behind overly large glasses and bedraggled hair, he or she probably won’t have an answer and might not even consider themselves one. The modern Hipster, more than any other subculture, seems to try to confute its very existence. The ultimate goal here is to non-conform without an admission of actually doing so. Successful non-conformity is achieved through cultural irony—take anything valued within a culture, be it fashion, music, literature, or art, and use it or wear it with outright, yet subtle irony (this is more difficult to achieve than one might think). The common fashion statements seem to be that one finds some of the ugliest—yet sometimes expensive—clothing, preferably wrinkled, and looking thrown together (a lot of thought and preparation can go into this). Any type of T-shirt graphics, footwear, or eyewear worn ironically is a bonus.
However, some argue that the modern Hipster doesn’t really subscribe to a particular philosophy, genre of music, or politics. In a Huffington Post article entitled, “Who’s a Hipster?” Julia Plevin argues that the “definition of ‘hipster’ remains opaque to anyone outside this self-proclaiming, highly-selective circle.” She claims that the “whole point of hipsters is that they avoid labels and being labeled. However, they all dress the same and act the same and conform in their non-conformity to an “iconic carefully created sloppy vintage look.”
Perhaps the greatest challenge to the modern Hipster—and dare I say the ultimate irony?—is that although that hipster may consider himself totally deck (cool), unless he’s got some philosophies and politics to introduce to the world, his contribution may die with the totally ironical T-shirt in a Goodwill bin.
Image sources: Life Photo Archive, tea.. (cc)
