Saturday, July 11, 2009

The (Mainstream) Hipster


i'm not sure if it was during the week that latfh.com (Look at this fucking hipster) became my favorite blog (this was before tfln.com came into my rotation), one solid year embedded in San Francisco or perhaps my recent travels to other Hipster hot beds such as St. Louis, Chicago, Southern Illinois and New York when it hit me. Most likely a combination of all three, during which my eyes were exposed to an amalgamation of our country's youth (ages 16-45) into one (former) ironic body of vomit induced ugliness.

How has the hipster movement become so mainstream i kept asking myself? Hipsters used to be cool, different, fringe. Something most liked to look at, maybe envy or partially copy, but never fully go there. It was too hard to achieve, too much to ask of oneself. You needed to go over the cliff to get there and that was the part that kept the masses restrained and the hipsters hip. Today it seems like you only have to walk up to the vista and look out beyond the cliff and you've made it into hipsterdome.

The pure idea of being a hipster meant that there had to be a limit, crossing a threshold towards a mass movement would make the hipster extinct, and by God if we haven't crossed that line yet i don't know where you are drawing your line.

Where does this contemporary subculture of irony go now that their non-mainstream fashion, culture, music and films are....wait for it....mainstream!

A true hipster would revolt.

Hipsters out there, this isn't the evolution the O.G. hipsters had in mind.

By taking the hipster movement to the fullest and throwing it into the mainstream, anything hip about its way of life has been crushed. And irony please. Ironic Tees are now a multi-million dollar business and it appears white sunglasses are on their way there too.

My travels from coast to coast and up and down the Midwest have shown me just how mainstream hipsters have become. Everywhere i turn, everywhere i go i see it all around me. And i'm not saying this is a bad thing. i love people watching and the hipsters are making it more fun each day.

But what i do take issue with is the hipsters thinking they are ironic, unique, cool and 'hip' when it appears their movement has become a magnificent mass of sellouts.

i love Urban Dictionaries take on hipster. Here is a small sampling:

- Probably tattooed. Maybe gay. Definitely cooler than you.
- Has a closet full of clothing but usually wears same three things OVER AND OVER (most likely very tight black pants, scarf, and ironic tee-shirt).
- Always on the list.

i cannot wait for the day of reckoning, when irony becomes visible only though button down polo shirts, loafers and docker stain defender chinos.

In the meantime i'm gonna throw on my straight leg Dickies with my Toms (sans socks), tuck my u-lock into my ripped boxers, and ride my fixie to critical mass before I head to the 18th grand opening of an organic wine bar.

p.s. hope you caught the irony of my lower case i's throughout...fucking sweet

3 comments:

  1. This is your best work ever. By far.

    Some more fodder:

    fupenguin.com
    http://www.hotchickswithdouchebags.com/
    http://thisisphotobomb.com/
    http://fuckyeahsharks.tumblr.com/

    All awesome. I rotate daily.

    Oh.
    And.

    YOU SUCK CLAY!
    not true.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dshan:

    Truly amazing fodder. Possibly will change my daily web habits.

    And thanks for the words of encouragement

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh clay. such the prep at heart. being of the city-bore-hipster and having lived with one, i can attest to the fact that while the hipster movement was expolied by Urban Outfitters, Kings of Leon and your favorite, American apparel, it also represents the unification of hip hop meets lower east side, which is more of a racial and cultural phenomenon...but i won't get into that here. more importanty, history - and history of fashion - is full of movements that eventually appeal to the masses ad naseum. take the 90's when stussy, airwalk, vans were loved by a small group of ACTUAL skaters, turned mainstream and suddenly everyone and their brother was a deemed a "poser".

    in short, this too shall pass. and then we'll move onto something else initally respected for being unique, exploited and saturated beyond repair, and left to die. but it takes a hot second, especially in our country's current mood, so patience young butterfly.

    and i dont care what any "hipster"-hater says, American Apparel is a godsend at 10p.m. when you are desperately searching your wardrobe for something to wear to a rubix cube themed clothing exchange party.

    p.p.s. a true hipster doesn't care enough to revolt.
    p.p.p.s. who still wears boxers?

    ReplyDelete