/fa/ - Fashion

“Hipster” is a term co-opted for use as a meaningless pejorative in order to vaguely call someone else’s authenticity into question and, by extension, claim authenticity for yourself.

It serves no conversational function and imparts no information, save for indicating the opinions and preferences of the speaker.

Meanwhile, a market myth has sprung up around the term, as well as a cultural bogeyman consisting of elusive white 20-somethings who wear certain clothes (but no one will agree on what), listen to certain music (no one can agree on this either), and act a certain way (you’ve probably sensed the pattern on your own).

You can’t define what “that kind of behavior or fashion or lifestyle” actually is, nor will you ever be able to. That’s because you don’t use “hipster” to describe an actual group of people, but to describe a fictional stereotype that is an outlet for literally anything that annoys you.

The twist, of course, is that if it weren’t for your own insecurities, nothing that a “hipster” could do or wear would ever affect you emotionally. But you are insecure about your own authenticity - “Do I wear what I wear because I want to? Do I listen to my music because I truly like it? I’m certainly not like those filthy hipsters!” - so you project those feelings.

Fuck off faggot plen.

>>7126989

Are you actually serious right now? Am I being rused? Look at OP

>>7126993
Just looked now. Saw the word and pasted the pasta.

Fashion-wise:
http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/the-evolution-of-a-hipster_50290b4e749ad.jpg

Up til' 2009 at least. Seems pretty accurate.

>>7127036
THIS. I WAS ABOUT TO POST IT AS WELL.

Hipsters do actually exist. It's the new "scene kid". Look up the tags #soft grunge and #hipster on tumblr.

People are posting bon iver and mumford and sons vinyl and tagging it #hipster

Pretty much the type of kids who would become scene kids in 2005 are now becomming pseudo hipsters

>>7126984
I believe that hipsters are a real thing, but they exist as a form of overzealous counterculturalism. For example, the people that always have to remind you that they were listening to Band X two albums ago "before they sold out". The people that don't wear certain brands because they're for "plebs". The people that don't vote because they couldn't be bothered to research the issues or because "all politicians are crooked".

Hipsters are a real thing, but I believe that everyone is a little bit hipster in one way or another. The "true" hipster aspires to be countercultural in EVERYTHING that they do, so I don't think that there are many people like that.

>>7126989
okay smart guy, if hipsters don't exist, what kind of person was my English teacher in high school?
What kind of persons were my classmates in art prep school?

>>7127036
>posting a link to an image on an image board

>>7127036
>>7127045
What is the actual link between all these different types of people?
Is it just that they have all been called "hipster" at some point in time? I think this makes the word meaningless if it applies to so many different classes of people.

>>7127110
Why would I download a picture of hipsters for you, shitstain?

we would all be called hipsters by the majority of the population

>>7127095

Are you implying you need to categorize people?

>>7127113
I think it's because they're all vaguely in-genuine people, trying to project some sort of depth through clothing and accessories.

>>7127116
>downloading images just to post them on 4chan

paste the image url into the filename prompt, shitstain :)

>>7127113
>not a single fit i would wear
im a hipster and damn this does not represent me at all

>>7127130
You've taught me something valuable today, poop streak.

>>7127095
A person.

>>7127125
Sounds like /fa/ to me.

>>7127095
why does /fa/ have to put everything into boxes?
gothninja, streetninja, techninja
dadcore
heroin chic
lunarcore

you guys can't just look at something and accept it. you have to make up a silly, vaguely defined name and attach it to anything that seems relevant.

>>7127128

lol wow. what does that mean. why do you consider yourself a "hipster"

>>7127130
Holy shit this changes everything.

>>7127150
coz i dress like one and listen to hipster music

>>7127128
>not a single fit i would wear
im a hipster
Surrrre you are bud. Enjoying pretending to enjoy things to fit into some stupid category because you're not interesting enough and just want to fit in.

Enjoy listening to Imagine Dragons or whatever posers listen to these days.

>>7127130

>>7127128
Well it isn't 2009 anymore, is it?

But what IS a hipster and what kind of music do hipsters listen to?

>>7127163
nah b mountain goats and built to spill

>>7127157
Holy shit you sound like 16

>>7127175
I'm 17

>>7127183
this faggot isnt me

hipsters exist its just not what nerds on japanese cartoon site think they are. they cant agree on what music hipsters listen to and what clothes hipsters wear because neither of those really have to do with the core attribute that makes one a hipster. whoever wrote op doesn't know what a hipster is either apparently. a hipster is a fake. someone who has no passion in something that he pretends to care about, simply because it's cool to do so. OP also says that it's "insecurity" that makes us point out hipsters. He is projecting that. It's not insecurity at all. hipsters kill subcultures and people that are part of a subculture like their subculture to stay authentic. its pretty much as simple as that.

i try not to use the word myself, but i tend to think it means "someone who likes something i like in a way i don't like". so it is basically a contextual insult. from this core definition, other conventions of hipsterdom grew.
the problem with hipster definitions is that the term has drastically different accepted conventions region to region. locally, one might be able to use "hipster" somewhat effectively because of the shared context in which it is said. even within local conversation, different circles or classes can assume different meaning, leading to confusion. on the internet, any hope of bridging these regional definitions is lost because of the scale of interaction.
the result is a few meaningless characteristics ("skinny jeans", "moustache", "flannel") become the accepted definition, stripping the word of any real power it may have had. in one city/social group, someone is called a hipster for her zelda t-shirt and thick-rimmed glasses. in another, his tweed jacket and cigarettes earn him the label, or a joy division tee and vans in another. in rural contexts especially, these conventions become ridiculous. i have a friend from alberta who posted his "hipster costume" which was literally straight-leg jeans (as opposed to boot cut) a v-neck tee and an adidas headband. i think he also wore dc skate shoes.
the point is, there are no consistent physical characteristics or actions that can be nailed down as "hipster", only the intent of the speaker is consistent. "hipster" is always meant to satirize or insult someone else's cultural participation.

fuck sorry guys i was in a writing mood

test

hipster used to mean poser but now it's just anyone who strays from the norm

I always see it as being used as a term to define a "trendy poser". As in a guy who sticks to trends but have no real personality.

http://nplusonemag.com/what-was-hipster

The near-definitive "theory of the hipster" book.

http://nymag.com/news/features/69129/

Condensed thoughts by one of the participants.

>If I speak of the degeneration of our most visible recent subculture, the hipster, it’s an awkward occasion. Someone will point out that hipsters are not dead, they still breathe, they live on my block. Yet it is evident that we have reached the end of an epoch in the life of the type. Its evolution lasted from 1999 to 2009, though it has shifted appearance dramatically over the decade. It survived this year; it may persist. Indications are everywhere, however, that we have come to a moment of stocktaking.

>...

>A key myth repeated about the hipster, by both the innocent and the underhanded, is that it has no definition. In August, after noting that the New York Times had printed hipster as a noun or an adjective more than 250 times in the previous year, Philip Corbett, the paper’s grammarian, wrote an open letter to the newsroom warning against its use. He certainly could have objected that it made for lazy headline copy, or that a derogatory term was being misused as praise. Instead, he objected that it wasn’t clear enough what the word means.

>We do know what hipster means—or at least we should. The term has always possessed adequately lucid definitions; they just happen to be multiple. If we refuse to enunciate them, it may be because everyone affiliated with the term has a stake in keeping it murky. Hipster accusation has been, for a decade, the outflanking maneuver par excellence for competitors within a common field of cool. “Two Hipsters Angrily Call Each Other ‘Hipster,’” a headline in The Onion put it most succinctly.

>The longer we go without an attempt to explain the term simply and clearly, the longer we are at the mercy of its underlying magic... If we see the hipsters plain, maybe we’ll also see where they might come undone.

honestly just hearing that word makes me cringe at this point. No matter what context its used in.

I used to think "hipster" had no definition, but now I realize:

It's just a simple perjorative that means "18-35yo who isn't a jock" or "anyone who dresses at all more fashionably than the majority of their peers in a given location" or "anyone who likes music other than top 40 pop"

It's not complicated. It's just a straightforward insult calling people "inauthentic" based on superficial appearances.

>>7127555
omg lol nice trips so hipster

>>7127555
>It's just a simple perjorative that means "18-35yo who isn't a jock" or "anyone who dresses at all more fashionably than the majority of their peers in a given location" or "anyone who likes music other than top 40 pop"

Except you're 100% fucking wrong..

>>7127555
Or anyone who tries to be, or tries to appear to be more sophisticated than the majority of their peers in a given context.

"Normal" people take offense at such appearances or lifestyles because they implicitly make average people out to be unsophisticated in some way.

>>7127561

this isnt the real poet

>>7127571
ok, what is the correct definition then?
I'm not trying to defend "hipsterism" at all - I'm just saying its a blanket term for people who are or who are perceived to be intentionally differentiating themselves from their local majority.

>>7127594
honestly, I wouldn't give a flying fuck if it was.

>>7127587
i think it's more this. people won't necessarily call a guy a hipster if he listens to obscure music; it's not until he says "you've probably never heard of them" and implies he's trying to set himself apart on purpose, then he gets called hipster

>>7127607
I wish that was true, but its not...
I never tell people what music I listen to, but if they find out by accident its the same old "omg so hipster" shit that I am just so fucking tired of.

>>7127607
>>7127637
People who are going to stoop to using an idiotic, dated term like hipster aren't going to care whether the "hipster" goes out of their way to try to set themselves apart.
People try to make themselves feel superior to other people. "hipsters" try to be more sophisticated or whatever than their local average, and average people try to convince themselves that the "hipsters" are only doing it to feel superior, not because they legitimately enjoy those things.

People who leverage themselves on being pretentious about their adopted obscure taste.

>>7127743
actually, that is by far the best, most concise definition I have ever heard.

I might add "or are perceived as doing so," but it's not true in all contexts.

>>7127122
Of course you do, how else are we supposed to determine which group of people not fitting into our category are inferior?

me and everyone else on this board.
We are hipsters and im the biggest of all of em.
expect us.
we do not forget.

>>7127147
it's called language
it helps people talk about things without having to define them every single time they bring it up

>>7127130
holy shitsnacks

>>7128147
except "hipster" is a particularly lazy, useless piece of language, which is larded down with so much cultural bullshit that it has almost lost all meaning other than as a snide, douchey way to insult someone you feel threatened by

>>7127130
still downloads them. just to your temp folder instead of your pictures folder