Ever wondered about the origins of the lesser-spotted Hipster? ChinaShop takes a look at the evolution of this cultural phenomenon...
The Hipster is a slippery creature to define. A 2009 Time magazine article took a pretty good stab at it: “Take your grandmother’s sweater and Bob Dylan’s Wayfarers, add jean shorts, Converse All-Stars and a can of Pabst and, bam, hipster.” Ever wonder why it seems so slanderous to call someone hipster?
The term “hipster” took root in the 40’s during the jazz age. It’s origins are debatable, but the consensus is that it either derived from the word “hop,” a slang term for opium, or from the West African word “hipi” or “xippi” meaning “to open one’s eyes.” What is particularly amusing is that hipsters usually came from backgrounds very dissimilar from the jazz musicians (usually Black) they emulated.
In a New York Times editorial, New School assistant professor Mark Grief claims that hipsters are typically “liberal arts college grads [from the White upper middle class pursuing ‘creative professions’ left] with too much time on their hands.”
Anyone can pick out a hipster. You can even make a game out of it - check out
(Look At This [F*cking] Hipster) and author Robert Lanham’s 2003 Hipster Handbook. In hipster-infested neighborhoods, such as Silver Lake or Echo Park, you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone not a hipster. Clues to picking out your hipster brethren: skinny jeans, cotton spandex leggings, fixed-gear bikes, vintage flannel, Parliament cigarettes, fake eyeglasses and a keffiyeh – a traditional Middle Eastern scarf.
Hipsters get a lot of flack for claiming to be “hipper than thou” without seeming to subscribe to any particular life philosophy at all (we refer you back to the use of keffiyeh as a fashion accessory). The hipster lifestyle feels like the bastard child of fringe movements from the post-World War II era - beat, hippie, punk, grunge - but without anything the styles stood for. IndecentBizarre.com summed it up saying, “Hipsters are too concerned with their own existential issues with the social that they are in no position to unify in a political front that could potentially upset business as usual.”
So… while we still can’t seem to conclude WHAT philosophy hipster culture seems to revolve around, we can definitely pick 'em when we see 'em… like shootin’ fish in a barrel. We’ve got your number.
Comments
Add a comment