What is your definition of "hipster"?

[summer]

I read this and was confused because I don't think I know what a hipster is then. If it's about splitting a restaurant bill 4 ways, then I might be one!

Are they intellectual? Are they boho? Are they funny? Are they rich? Skinny jeans seem to be a marker, but lots of people where skinny jeans. Jay-Z started wearing them, but maybe he's a hipster now since he sometimes wears thick glasses?

Why are we supposed to hate them? I'm out of the loop over here. Most of my friends live in Park Slope/Williamsburg, I may have a fedora , and I have an affinity for Trader Joes. Am I one???!

www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/fashion/montauk-feels-the-effects-of-too-many-hipsters.html?ref=fashion

SO, these signs have been popping up around the East End: a picture of a hat with a red slash through it.

Not just any hat, mind you, but a fedora.

What did a hat ever do to anyone? Why the chapeau chauvinism? Well, it’s complicated. And it’s really about those who wear the hat, and what it has come to represent in certain quarters, especially in the once happily sleepy, now unhappily besieged, hamlet of Montauk.

At its most superficial level, the fedora featured in the signs represents your basic hipster. And to some extent, it’s just part of what is shaping up as a countrywide anti-hipster movement. Something about artisanal tattoos; a bespoke, frontiersman beard; and, yes, a fedora perched atop the head just so is sending some people around the bend.

In these parts, the image of the hipster is also a stand-in for a more deeply seated suspicion that the whole look provides cover for a more privileged crowd that is intent upon importing to your neighborhood higher real estate, food and drink prices — and a new attitude that says, “I’m richer than you, I’m hipper than you and, gosh darn it, some things are going to change around here.”

As the Web site Diehipster.com puts it in a diatribe aimed at urban-based hipsters, “You’ve accomplished nothing over the last decade but displaced hard-working families, old-time residents and newly arrived immigrants who do not seek attention like you [Offensive Adjective Inappropriate for Family Newspaper].”

The view is still more pronounced in Montauk, which is feeling the full weight of its now well-established position as a “discovered” beach enclave whose proud self-image as a “drinking town with a fishing problem” has earned ceaseless coverage in fashion magazines and lifestyle sections like this one.

While this all began several years ago, this summer has seen a considerable, if anecdotal, spike in visitors, and there is a growing sense the town is hitting a tipping point.

Its wind-swept, pared-down sensibility is so in keeping with the fashion of the times that Neiman Marcus advertises on its Web site “Classic Montauk” skinny jeans, by Robert Graham. All manner of celebrity chefs and high-end, Manhattan nightclub impresarios have blown through town to put their stylish, beachy stamp on it. Foreign elements are popping up at the newer — and superbly designed — restaurants: valet parking (Navy Beach, the Surf Lodge) and late-night “security” (the Crow’s Nest); $70 drink pitchers (Ruschmeyer’s) and $27 lobster rolls (Montauk Beach House).

And while locals and longtime visitors can, and do, debate whether some of this is quite welcome, the overwhelming amount of trash the newly enlarged crowds tend to leave behind, including on the beaches, is not. And few would dispute that it has all brought with it something that is considered to be even dirtier by the old standards of the hamlet: status, conspicuous displays of it.

No one has described the old anti-status mood of the place better than Lili Adams, the owner of the beloved food cart the Ditch Witch. In an interview with The New York Times a few years ago, she painted a scene of three guys at a Montauk bar: “Two of them are millionaires and one is a bum, but you could never tell who was who.”

The fear is now overwhelming that this humble sensibility is being chased away. And that’s where the hat comes in. “It’s not just a hat, it’s the attitude that goes with it,” said Rob Devlin, the owner of the West Lake Clam and Chowder House, a Montauk fixture that has remained overwhelmingly popular in the face of all the new establishments. “The attitude is, ‘Hey, I’m So-and-So.’ ”

Mr. Devlin’s anti-fedora sign is featured prominently by his outdoor bar with the phrase “Save Montauk.” He said he was happy for the new customers. (“They do put my kids through college.”) All he is asking for is a little more respect for what is already here (and, perhaps, an end to the expense-account approach of splitting a bill seven ways on seven credit cards).

click link above for page 2

[fakejew]

I discussed this with my best friend a few months ago.

We agreed it's essentially an urban hippie. Lives in a city center, uses a car minimally if at all, buys local, organic, etc. is generally "green."

Fashion really has nothing to do with it except that maybe hipsters have certain tastes. But liking the fashion they like doesn't make you a hipster.

[summer]

Aug 5, 2012 5:35:31 GMT -5 fakejew said:

I discussed this with my best friend a few months ago.

We agreed it's essentially an urban hippie. Lives in a city center, uses a car minimally if at all, buys local, organic, etc. is generally "green."

Fashion really has nothing to do with it except that maybe hipsters have certain tastes. But liking the fashion they like doesn't make you a hipster.

Yup, check, check, check. That's me. :-(

[IIOY]

I've had the same confusion. As far as I can tell, it seems to be a catch-all for young(ish) snobs with an intellectual superiority complex and who dress with a sort of studied and purposeful casualness, if that makes any sense, LOL.

ETA: and Indie music. Gawd, the Indie music.

[fakejew]

Aug 5, 2012 5:39:55 GMT -5 summer said:

Aug 5, 2012 5:35:31 GMT -5 fakejew said:

I discussed this with my best friend a few months ago.

We agreed it's essentially an urban hippie. Lives in a city center, uses a car minimally if at all, buys local, organic, etc. is generally "green."

Fashion really has nothing to do with it except that maybe hipsters have certain tastes. But liking the fashion they like doesn't make you a hipster.

Yup, check, check, check. That's me.

If it makes you feel any better if I were in my 20's I'm sure I'd be a hipster too.

[summer]

Aug 5, 2012 6:08:11 GMT -5 fakejew said:

Aug 5, 2012 5:39:55 GMT -5 summer said:

Yup, check, check, check. That's me.

If it makes you feel any better if I were in my 20's I'm sure I'd be a hipster too.

I'm 37. That should take me to the safe zone then. Hipsters certainly can't be 37.

[IIOY]

Urban Dictionary's long-ass definition. Unfortunately the mobile site won't let me C&P.

m.urbandictionary.com/#define?term=hipster

[fakejew]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipster_(contemporary_subculture)

And the wikipedia article.

I guess you could technically be a hipster at 37. I personally don't think of someone in their mid to late 30's as a hipster.

[rugbywife]

My BFF and I have an 'ex-friend' who is a hipster...for us its more about how she thinks nothing is cool - except for whatever she loves at that moment. IIOY's definition works...its the superiority thing, something of the: I am better than you because of what I think/dress/listen to/go to see, etc...So yes, indie music rocks, but if she happens to love LMFAO, then LMFAO is cool too. And my ex-friend and her DH aren't that young, mid-thirties. But God do they think they are the shit. It is exhausting. (that is at least partially what led to the 'ex-friend' thing).

My best guy friend is described by some as a hipster but because he isn't so 'superior' about it (in most cases - he has his moments) I don't really consider him that way. Or maybe he's just generally less of a douchebag than my ex-friend.

[dylanite]

Careful, Summer. You might change the board's position on hipsters to something less worthy of hatred if you are seen as one.

[darnkatz]

Aug 5, 2012 5:35:31 GMT -5 fakejew said:

I discussed this with my best friend a few months ago.

We agreed it's essentially an urban hippie. Lives in a city center, uses a car minimally if at all, buys local, organic, etc. is generally "green."

Fashion really has nothing to do with it except that maybe hipsters have certain tastes. But liking the fashion they like doesn't make you a hipster.

And living this way does not make one a hipster

I would never consider myself a hipster, and we live in a city, don't own a car and buy local.

The hipsters around here are pseudo-intellectuals who hang out in indie coffee shops, like to wear seasonally inappropriate clothing (i.e. fur hats in the summer), stuff paperbacks in their tight jeans, hate children and hate everything that is popular right now. They ride fixed gears only, loathe stopping at stop signs and think helmets are for idiots.

[ChillyMcFreeze]

I think my definition of a hipster is different from y'alls'. They have the intellectual superiority complex, but they think reading Kurt Vonnegut makes them some existentialist, brooding, misunderstood intellectual when they're almost always nearing 30 with 12 credits under their belts. In philosophy.

Skinny jeans and hats are a given, and they spend a shit ton of money to look like they shop exclusively at Goodwill. And bird shirts.

The organic/enviro-friendly thing isn't a hipster requirement in these parts. Those are hippies, and they're different because they're everything hipsters strive to be. Hipsters just can't figure out how to put down mom and dad's credit card to actually live that way. They shop the Green Wise section at Publix and call it a day.

Indie music/shitty bands are required. They use the word "mainstream" a lot as a synonym for "I still listen to it on my iPod, but I would never admit it." They liked Kings of Leon before they were a thing.

Generally, I know them when I see them, and I am instantly overcome with wave of loathing.

[rugbywife]

Aug 5, 2012 7:49:37 GMT -5 ChillyMcFreeze said:

I think my definition of a hipster is different from y'alls'. They have the intellectual superiority complex, but they think reading Kurt Vonnegut makes them some existentialist, brooding, misunderstood intellectual when they're almost always nearing 30 with 12 credits under their belts. In philosophy.

Skinny jeans and hats are a given, and they spend a shit ton of money to look like they shop exclusively at Goodwill. And bird shirts.

The organic/enviro-friendly thing isn't a hipster requirement in these parts. Those are hippies, and they're different because they're everything hipsters strive to be. Hipsters just can't figure out how to put down mom and dad's credit card to actually live that way. They shop the Green Wise section at Publix and call it a day.

Indie music/shitty bands are required. They use the word "mainstream" a lot as a synonym for "I still listen to it on my iPod, but I would never admit it." They liked Kings of Leon before they were a thing.

Generally, I know them when I see them, and I am instantly overcome with wave of loathing.

This is EXACTLY what I wanted to describe as a hipster and by this definition my ex-friend is definitely a hipster and my best guy friend totally isn't!

[ringstrue]

it just sounds like a snobby geek who dresses spechul. Who has time to watch and judge how much others buy organic or not? I'll tell you who, hipsters.

[heightsyankee]

Aug 5, 2012 6:18:50 GMT -5 IIOY said:

Urban Dictionary's long-ass definition. Unfortunately the mobile site won't let me C&P.

m.urbandictionary.com/#define?term=hipster

I think this definition gives them too much credit. I think hipsters have a sense of intellectual superiority that they haven't earned; they think they're so unique and counter culture while looking and acting like every other hipster; they judge you if you're high income although their parents pay for their apartments in the cool parts of town. They hold popular culture in complete disdain. They are baristas or artists, but not all artists are hipsters. Most baristas are.

I think a lot of people who are in to throw back fashion and have artistic careers (graphic designers for example) get labelled "hipsters," but to really be a hipster you can't have a real job.

My fave blog about hipsters: lookatthisfuckinghipster.tumblr.com/

[heightsyankee]

Aug 5, 2012 7:49:37 GMT -5 ChillyMcFreeze said:

I think my definition of a hipster is different from y'alls'. They have the intellectual superiority complex, but they think reading Kurt Vonnegut makes them some existentialist, brooding, misunderstood intellectual when they're almost always nearing 30 with 12 credits under their belts. In philosophy.

Skinny jeans and hats are a given, and they spend a shit ton of money to look like they shop exclusively at Goodwill. And bird shirts.

The organic/enviro-friendly thing isn't a hipster requirement in these parts. Those are hippies, and they're different because they're everything hipsters strive to be. Hipsters just can't figure out how to put down mom and dad's credit card to actually live that way. They shop the Green Wise section at Publix and call it a day.

Indie music/shitty bands are required. They use the word "mainstream" a lot as a synonym for "I still listen to it on my iPod, but I would never admit it." They liked Kings of Leon before they were a thing.

Generally, I know them when I see them, and I am instantly overcome with wave of loathing.

I responded before I read all the posts. So, yeah, ditto to this. Especially the bolded. ^o)

[Deleted]

My best example of a hipster experience was going to a Killers concert 6 or 7 years ago where everyone looked like they were trying really hard to act like they were indifferent to the experience. My friend and I were laughing so hard and of course were dancing and singing along like a normal show.

Now I'm sure The Killers are much too well-known and no longer appealing to the hipster sensibility.

[dylanite]

Aug 5, 2012 10:03:34 GMT -5 @kcpokergal said:

My best example of a hipster experience was going to a Killers concert 6 or 7 years ago where everyone looked like they were trying really hard to act like they were indifferent to the experience. My friend and I were laughing so hard and of course were dancing and singing along like a normal show.

Now I'm sure The Killers are much too well-known and no longer appealing to the hipster sensibility.

Funny you mention the Killers. Buddy of mine, of whom fits the preceding descriptions of hipsters, fell in love with them before they got really famous. I guess they are/were considered 'indie', but I hate that term because it doesn't really apply to a band's sound or style*.

*Unless I'm wrong on that. Heh.

[IIOY]

Indie = independent, meaning no record label. So you are correct that "indie" isn't actually a style of music. My feeling, however, grounded in precisely zero facts, is that it has sort of generally come to refer to what used to be called "alternative" music. Frankly I'm not sure there is any such thing as "alternative" these days.

[bqbride]

In my day, we just called them pussies.

***waves cane in the air***

[mx27]

zooey deschanel?

or is she just quirky?

ugh!

[ESF]

Aug 5, 2012 9:35:49 GMT -5 @publius said:

I stand by ESF's definition that she posted about a year and a half/two years ago...so I'm waiting for her to come back in here and post it.

LOL. I couldn't remember, so I did a google search for it. I still stand buy it.

Hipsters are like porn, you know them when you see them.

Think like a mix between grunge and Euro-trash. Too gritty to be Euro-trash, but too pretty and overly done up to be grunge.

They live and die by doing/listening/eating things that nobody's heard of. They gather around ratty neighborhoods and dive bars, until they become popular, then they complain about how life was better before all these people from some more established neighborhood discovered it, or until the bar cleaned itself up, or started serving Blue Moon or playing U2.

They drink PBR to be ironic and name their kids Milo and Gage.

ETA - I don't think there's a class warfare element so much as their is an anti anything mainstream element. So farmers markets and weird cheese made by a lady in Switzerland with 6 cows and organic quinoa handpicked by Peruvian mountain dwellers is right up their alley. As soon as Kraft buys it though, they will find new food to eat.

[dylanite]

Completely agree, IIOY. I feel the same way with 'alternative' music. However that doesn't have an objectively accurate definition like indie does with the record labels.

Kids these days. What we called hard rock/metal/death metal, they call 'screamo'. Wtf.

[meg]

my cousin is a hipster (based on ESFs definition). He is a good guy, and probably aging out of hipster-dom (28). We will be going to his wedding labor day weekend (at an urban farm in downtown pihlly... should be a VERY interesting event).

[JLN]

Aug 5, 2012 5:39:55 GMT -5 summer said:

Aug 5, 2012 5:35:31 GMT -5 fakejew said:

I discussed this with my best friend a few months ago.

We agreed it's essentially an urban hippie. Lives in a city center, uses a car minimally if at all, buys local, organic, etc. is generally "green."

Fashion really has nothing to do with it except that maybe hipsters have certain tastes. But liking the fashion they like doesn't make you a hipster.

Yup, check, check, check. That's me.

Basically, it's most of Portland.

We actually made #2 on the hipster list. www.portlandhipster.com/2012/04/best-cities-for-hipsters-2.html

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

Aug 5, 2012 5:49:03 GMT -5 IIOY said:

I've had the same confusion. As far as I can tell, it seems to be a catch-all for young(ish) snobs with an intellectual superiority complex and who dress with a sort of studied and purposeful casualness, if that makes any sense, LOL.

ETA: and Indie music. Gawd, the Indie music.

This, exactly. Lucky me I went out with one this weekend. He got drunk, peed on me, and then asked for money.

[JLN]

Aug 5, 2012 12:10:15 GMT -5 lyssbobiss, Command, B613 said:

Aug 5, 2012 5:49:03 GMT -5 IIOY said:

I've had the same confusion. As far as I can tell, it seems to be a catch-all for young(ish) snobs with an intellectual superiority complex and who dress with a sort of studied and purposeful casualness, if that makes any sense, LOL.

ETA: and Indie music. Gawd, the Indie music.

This, exactly. Lucky me I went out with one this weekend. He got drunk, peed on me, and then asked for money.

Oh you must share more of this story!

[IIOY]

CEP rumor mill: lyss does golden showers for money.

[seventeen]

and they drink PBR and pretend it's good beer.

[lyssbobiss, Command, B613]

Haha, ok. He is the total personification of hipster, down to the no-car, lives downtown, does community theater, and only shops at the farmer's market stereotype. I can literally hear my mother's eyes rolling right now. He asked me to meet him downtown at a local dive bar for karaoke. I was nervous, so I didn't eat dinner, which was a BAD CALL. I drank too much to drive (by that I mean I had one drink and a shot). He drank waaaaay too much, and smoked a joint, I think. So he invited me back to his apartment to sober up. Within 10 minutes I passed out on the bed. By "bed" I mean, mattress in the middle of the floor of a studio apartment downtown above a restaurant because of COURSE that's where he would live. Apparently he passed out at some point too. I woke up an hour later to a strange sensation on my leg and at that point I was like "OMG THIS MOFO JUST PISSED ON ME! WHAT IN THE NAME OF R KELLY IS HAPPENING!!??"
Realizing I was too drunk still to drive home, I grabbed a pillow and laid on the floor. Under a rug.
At some point he got up and tried to lay down next to me. No way am I spooning with a water sports risk.
So the next morning I'm trying to choke down some coffee (fair trade, natch) and get the hell out of there. As I am gathering my stuff he asks if he can borrow some money due to "some snafus in his bank account." But he offered to pay me back with interest on Friday! The answer to that was, sorry, I don't have any. Oddly I haven't heard from him since. While I was there he called his dad for money too. Why not start with your dad?
Ok, sorry to threadjack. I have GOT to stay away from the artistic types. They are nothing but trouble for me.