Hipsters

[frege64]

Speaking as a 46-year-old who works in an environment where I encounter "hipsters," I like a lot about the culture, the music and the accepting, as in non-homophobic and accepting of human difference generally, nature of the "hipsters" I know. A lot of folks who work at the quality coffeehouses in town are of this ilk and they are almost to a person very sweet. So I do like them, and if I were 20 years younger, would be one, I think. When I was in university, almost every item of clothing I had was thrift store and I wore my dad's fedora, so I guess my housemates and I were proto-hipsters.

What I cannot stand about the hipster subculture are a few things. One is that conformity always annoys, especially when it entails what looks like a slavish commitment to DISCOMFORT. Skinny jeans on a 34 degree summer day are not comfortable. Huge eyeglasses are not comfortable. I could go on and on, but my point is that the "uniform" strikes me as incredibly arbitrary and, again, uncomfortable. Also is a slavish commitment to a camp lack of taste; everything worn, consumed, or done in the way of body adornment is ironic and emphatically tasteless. I grew my first beard when I was 19 because I thought beards were hot- still do. Hipsters grow beards because they see it as some sort of 1970s ironic throwback. Hipsters drink horrible, horrible beer (PBR in the US; here it's Pilsner) because it's campily ironic to do so, especially when many of them, at least among the most evolved and stereotypical among Sutter5's Brooklyn, are in fact from very wealthy families and could afford better. They get awful haircuts and hideous tattoos, all in the name of irony. It's tiresome. Finally, the smoking. I despise smoking. There is nothing cool about laying claim to an addiction like this, and do lay claim to it as a fashion accessory is both ugly and stupid.

So I guess I like the brand of hipster I've met in Calgary- mostly nice, mostly sweet, mostly accepting, mostly non-ironic. The ones I've encountered in Berlin and Toronto and Portland are all too often really unpleasant.

[Pastiche]

Well whatever you do to improve your understanding, don't take lessons from Alanis.

[Pastiche]

Drinking Pil is ironic?

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by peter12

I've got a good little collection of hats going. I only throw one of them one as an accessory for an outfit. Like my good wool felt hats only go on with a suit and tie. I've got two straw hats for summer. To be honest, I think they're pretty snazzy looking but it also serves a functional purpose, like covering up my massive bald head and keeping the sun out of my eyes.

Why can't you just be like everyone else without trying to not be like everyone else but ending up being just like everyone else trying not to be like everyone else?

[Russic]

Originally Posted by Pastiche

Well whatever you do to improve your understanding, don't take lessons from Alanis.

I will continue to argue that "10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife" is indeed ironic.

I honestly don't feel wearing a trucker hat is ironic for a hipster. It's an attempt at drawing attention by standing out, but when everybody does it you no longer stand out. Technically if a hipster wants to be ironic wouldn't it be wise at this point to start wearing pants that fit?

Perhaps if the hipster in question is the head of a committee that is currently in negotiations with a trucker union and things aren't going well ... then it's ironic.

[PyramidsofMars]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

My favourite hipsters are the ones that wear their mirrored aviation sun glasses indoors but have to tilt their head to look over or under the frame of their glasses because they can't see a damn thing. They look like tards. Just take your glasses of fool.

Or punk hipsters that buy $200 pants and $300 pairs of shoes, then walk around complaining about evil corporations.

what kind of hipsters buy $200 pants? The big Hipster chains, Urban Outfitters and American Apparel, are way cheaper than most other non-Zellers/Walmart fashion outlets, and are generally great value for the money. Then you have the whole Value Village aesthetic. I don't really see that many Hipsters wearing expensive clothing.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Why can't you just be like everyone else without trying to not be like everyone else but ending up being just like everyone else trying not to be like everyone else?

I just like hats?

[Bill Bumface]

^ You can buy $30 plain t-shirts at American Apparel. Sure, you can find a lot of t-shirts for more than that, but for a plain t-shirt and a plain hoodie to bring you to a $100 shopping trip isn't cheap.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

^ You can buy $30 plain t-shirts at American Apparel. Sure, you can find a lot of t-shirts for more than that, but for a plain t-shirt and a plain hoodie to bring you to a $100 shopping trip isn't cheap.

You can also buy packs of AA t-shirts on Ebay for $4 a shirt.

[PyramidsofMars]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

American Apparel is reporting record financial losses so far this year. Is the current hipster fad dying?

American Apparel is really in the way more ridiculous/stupid zone of Hipster fashion, though. Compare the crap they sell to Urban Outfitters, which sells a lot of cool stuff that you need to find the right combination of to really seem mega-hipsterish. The latter store is a lot more in line with the sort of clothing I see on Calgary Hipsters, it's just fun, fashionable stuff, and quite interesting. American Apparel is waaaay too self-consciously goofy and weird for the sake of being weird.

I mean, the photos on Look at that F'ing Hipster and sites like that are all of the really outlandish sorts. They never show you the reality of most people who hang around in Hipster circles dressing fairly reasonably, if indulging in awful things like the trucker hats.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by peter12

You can also buy packs of AA t-shirts on Ebay for $4 a shirt.

I can buy a "Flames" jersey on ebay for $30.

[PyramidsofMars]

Originally Posted by Weiser Wonder

I'm a borderline hipster. I'm listening to Beach House, haven't shaved in weeks, I drink PBR, I go to the hipster bar, I vote liberal, I cried when Table 5 attacked me with a pigeon yesterday. I'll upgrade, I'm a definite hipster.

From my experience, Calgary Hipsters are not immune to hating the Liberal party.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

I can buy a "Flames" jersey on ebay for $30.

No, they are totally real. You just buy them from the distributors who make concert t-shirts etc... who get their supply in bulk from American Apparel.

[PyramidsofMars]

Originally Posted by Pastiche

Drinking Pil is ironic?

If you do it ironically, yes.

I worked several of these big hipster bashes (I mean over 800-1000 people in the building), and there was always a special order of Pilsner. We had Trad Ale, we had Steamwhistle, neither of which are amazing but both of which are even to a seasoned and serious beer drinker servicable for their style, and despite not even being that much cheaper, most of the hipsters who attended opted for the Pilsner, out of some ironic statement bull similar to what the American Hipsters do with PBR.

That whole blue-collar-irony thing is going out the window, though. I think the twee phase is almost creeping back in, and with it the appreciation for more complex and interesting brews will as well. Maybe. Hopefully.

[PyramidsofMars]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

^ You can buy $30 plain t-shirts at American Apparel. Sure, you can find a lot of t-shirts for more than that, but for a plain t-shirt and a plain hoodie to bring you to a $100 shopping trip isn't cheap.

Fair enough, I never shop at AA, I'm just guessing.

But you can get really cool shirts and pants and jeans from UO starting at just $15. I bought a nicely styled plaid shirt from them last summer which I still wear for $9.99 on sale online. I bought awesome brown Levi's 501's from them for $20, which go for $78 at the Bay, if you're lucky enough to find that style there.

The point is that I could dress like a Hipster if I wished. I have all the disparate elements, but I just choose not to go for the whole aesthetic, opting for just a shirt and jeans and my regular shoes, y'know, but I have all the elements. I could be a functional Hipster fashion-wise in two minutes if I wished, and my wardrobe is f'ing cheap.

It's f'ing cheap, and it looks better than what 80% of people throw on, which I'll bet is more expensive.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by fotze

Am I the only one who has no idea who this thread is about.

This thread is definitely a whatchoo talkin about willis.

I found out last week that the guy who tailors my suits also does the decorations at the Danish Canadian Club. Jorgen Hansen. We talked about food.

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by PyramidsofMars

If you do it ironically, yes.

I worked several of these big hipster bashes (I mean over 800-1000 people in the building), and there was always a special order of Pilsner. We had Trad Ale, we had Steamwhistle, neither of which are amazing but both of which are even to a seasoned and serious beer drinker servicable for their style, and despite not even being that much cheaper, most of the hipsters who attended opted for the Pilsner, out of some ironic statement bull similar to what the American Hipsters do with PBR.

That whole blue-collar-irony thing is going out the window, though. I think the twee phase is almost creeping back in, and with it the appreciation for more complex and interesting brews will as well. Maybe. Hopefully.

Well. . . that's ######ed. If someone told me I was being ironic for drinking pilsner (I'm from Saskatchewan. . .I'm allowed) they might get an ironic punch to the face.

[troutman]

Originally Posted by fotze

Am I the only one who has no idea who this thread is about.

This thread is definitely a whatchoo talkin about willis.

"Hip" for an Engineer is wearing rugby pants, and your midget hockey jacket from the 1980s.

[PyramidsofMars]

Originally Posted by Kybosh

Well. . . that's ######ed. If someone told me I was being ironic for drinking pilsner (I'm from Saskatchewan. . .I'm allowed) they might get an ironic punch to the face.

if you weren't a Hipster they wouldn't tell you anything of the sort. They would just assume you were a cheapskate who had awful taste in beer.

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by PyramidsofMars

if you weren't a Hipster they wouldn't tell you anything of the sort. They would just assume you were a cheapskate who had awful taste in beer.

Just so we're clear. It's ok to drink vitamin P if you shop at Urban Outfitters but if you're a regular guy you have awful taste. Got it.