With the recession in tow, it has become much more difficult to follow today's trends, forcing us to become more creative with our resources, or lack there of. Getting grown these days has led many of us to do some grand reflection: Do we hipsters simply comprise a genuine cultural movement based on mere spending power and are we now becoming a passing trend? Can the recession bring us back to the state of "authenticity" like our hipster forefathers?
Let’s take a look back.
The Hipsters Then: Smoking, drugs, nonconformity, transracial interconnectivity, sexual open-mindedness, and rebellious as hell. They were the skinny-tied jive-speakers, exercising their right to do the Boogie Woogie; The Beatniks clad in all black, exploring various facets of self-expression; The political activists in their Che-inspired berets, religiously questioning authority. They were the outsiders in search for a new meaning of life. Essentially, hipsters were the freaks and geeks of society.
Needless to say, the transition of hip has changed.
The Hipsters Now: Still smoking, brew drinking, still anti-establishment, emotionally destitute, eclectic in absolutely everything, but definitely tech savvy. The usual uniform consists of fucked up stovepipe or skinny jeans, tight plaid shirts and Buddy Holly glasses. They wear expensive cheap-looking clothes. The dark cafes are long gone… now kickin it at the coolest bars and jammin to the coolest bands. They are the information society that scratches the surface on all things science and philosophy while appropriating culture through art and music.
Retailers call us “walking dollar bills” because we love to spend. According to an article in Forbes, "Unlike similar groups of the past, the current generation of hipsters is a bit more generic in its self-labeling … because this scene is less focused on one idea, one purpose or one type of music. Instead, today’s hipster is defined by consumption… Urban Outfitters stocks just keep rising… because of their eclectic mix of taken down Williamsburg style in a can. [Hipsters are] great in numbers and have money they want to spend.”
How could hip swan dive deep into something as soul-depleting as corporate America?
Since the rise of the internet, we have become an information hungry society that feeds our own expansionist economy, giving birth to the radical consumers and a market in constant need to recreate itself. New York Times reporter John Leland relishes in a recent article, “Hip made things old before they even wore out. The market wasn’t selling material goods: it was selling the thrill of buying them and discarding them… Commodity fetishism valued the acquisition of things while devaluing the things themselves.”
The truth of the matter is that we can no longer flex our spending power we once had. But like a true hipster, why are we shopping at Urban Outfitters in the first place? One positive trait about the hipster demographic is that we are all well-educated and often have liberal arts or advanced degrees. Although hipsters are technically conformists within their own subculture, consequently, we are the leaders of the music, art, and fashion industries. In comparison to the much larger mainstream mass, we are pioneers and leaders of the latest cultural trends and ideals.
So instead of spending a shitload to look shitty, let’s stop trying. Instead of throwing down bucks to sport that “edgy” androgynous shag cut, take your razor at home and cut away. The "effortless cool" urban look, as inspired by those NYLON spreads, can and should be done effortlessly. Instead of trying to keep up with commercial trends, let’s just keep doing what we’re supposed to be good at and love doing.
Real talk, I hate fakers and scenesters. They're shallow. They're silly. They reek of entitlement. They haven't had to work for anything and therefore aren't interested in anything that takes work. And their homeless-inspired 'chic mental illness and substance abuse' getup is getting old.
Let’s mark the distinction between the people producing the work and those consuming it. Be the hipster you truly are, not those posers trying to look and be like you.
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