A quick #hipster search on Twitter will reveal it is a popular trend. An Instagram search of the same hashtag will give you over 1.1 million results and that’s not including the thousands of other photos tagged under various similar names “hipsters” or “hipsterfashion” or, amusingly, the common misspelling: “hispter”.
Being a hipster is about “looking like you aren’t trying”.
Photo credit: stefan.erschwendner on flickr
What is a “hipster”?
What is this trend sweeping the nation? According to WikiHow, “it’s that, ‘I can’t be bothered’ look that actually takes some planning until you get into the habit”. WikiHow tells the hipster wanna-be that they can’t take themselves too seriously and that the goal is to look like you aren’t trying.
For someone who is most definitely NOT hipster and not into the whole “hipster” scene, I’ll admit, it’s hard to understand. I hear that it’s about being non-mainstream, non-matching patterns, shopping at thrift stores, growing your own food, being vegetarian, looking vintage, hanging out in the right places – with the right people and yet… not trying. Sounds like a whole lot of work to me.
The affects of being “hipster”
And is all that work really worth it? Do people choose to be hipster because it is “cool” or because it really defines them? The “not trying” attitude of the hipster culture is not very attractive to the rest of the world. How do you expect to find an employer when you give off the impression that you don’t like to try? And if that negative attitude starts to influence your relationships, how do you expect to keep your friends?
“ironic” T-shirts are a great choice for any hipster wardrobe.
Photo credit: juplife on flickr
And what happens when it becomes mainstream to be hipster? Then what? What happens when it becomes mainstream to be non-mainstream?
I suppose this trend will come and go like the rest, but until then the #hipster will continue to flood the social media and the streets of our cities.
I love the diversity of our world, the freedom we have in our country to display our personalities and quirks, the beauty of multi-culturalism and unique tastes. There is always something new to learn about the people around us.
If you consider yourself hipster, or have more insight into the hipster world, please enlighten me with your comments. I love to hear your take on the trend.
The Other Track 