a glimpse of the everyday.: _what is a hipster?

I don't think I've ever felt a need to write on this topic. It makes me giggle just thinking about it. But recently I have had so many people ask me about 'hipsters', I felt the need to write. Just in case one of my friends wandered onto my blog and I had not yet comprehensibly explained what exactly a hipster was. Why so much confusion? Well, I'm going to school in the Northeast. At an engineering school, no less. So here goes, an in-depth and visual look at hipster culture. To educate others (and myself) about hipsterdom.

This Urban Dictionary definition seemed a good start:
"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.......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."

OK, so from this we see that hipsters are distinctive especially in all areas of creativity, it is what they value highly. This results in an influence in all creative fields: art, music, fashion, theater, film, food, and more. There is also a very local/global feel to hipsters. Generally, if you don't know what a hipster is, you probably don't live near a high enough concentration. Hipsters are localists. They exist in neighborhoods, and are usually incredibly tied to their neighborhood - they buy local, travel locally, and get involved in the local community. But yet they are usually very global in attitude; they pay attention to global events, global music, global fashion and other creative fields, eat globally-inspired food, and tend to travel more. They are incredibly local in presence, but global in attitude and interest.

So how do you spot a hipster? Well, that can be a very easy or tricky question. Hipsters are usually cycling through fashion trends, music trends, and other creative trends at a much higher rate than mainstream culture. (generally speaking) Currently, I would say there is a lot of those thick-rimmed glasses, flannel, skinny jeans, side-swiped hair, analog everything from music to cameras to movies, fixies, bikes in general, anything ironic, and generally a scattering of anything and everything. Typeface is important. So are bow ties. I think one of the keys to hipsterdom is that you can get away with just about anything. You don't follow trends, you make them, or you break them. There are no real rules. Breaking the rules is the norm.. following the rules is ironic.. which is again breaking the rules. You do what you want to do. You actually put thought into things and get creative. I think that's why I subscribe to hipster culture. The creativity is electric.

A visual look at a few hipster cultural icons: