[Flamesguy_SJ]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Nothing wrong with it....if you live in the 1930's. They went well with the whole suit/tie combo of the era. A fedora/pork pie on a guy today feels a little too try-hard. But hey, if you like it, go nuts.

Speaking of thinks that feel try-hardy....dudes who wear toques in the summer, inside, or just as a fashion accessory. That really grinds me gears.

The fedora thing is an example of the hipster's sense of irony.

I think this summarizes hipsters pretty accurately:

Ever since the Allies bombed the Axis into submission, Western civilization has had a succession of counter-culture movements that have energetically challenged the status quo. Each successive decade of the post-war era has seen it smash social standards, riot and fight to revolutionize every aspect of music, art, government and civil society.

But after punk was plasticized and hip hop lost its impetus for social change, all of the formerly dominant streams of "counter-culture" have merged together. Now, one mutating, trans-Atlantic melting pot of styles, tastes and behavior has come to define the generally indefinable idea of the "Hipster."

That's from an adbuster article published a few years ago.

There is a really great book that I read as part of my Pop Culture Seminar called "Hip: The History" that traces the history of the hipster and "hip" culture; it's a pretty funny read, and it does little case studies on fads and fashions that were significant for an era (in the instance of "post-hip", the author talks about those stupid fataing trucker hats).