Hello world.... What do you think about the term "Hipster" and the associated subculture???Some of you may have heard the term, some of you might have been called a hipster.... I don't think I have ever been called a hipster (to my face) nor do I think I associate with anything too "hipster" except for for my love and support of the "streetwear" brand Mishka... Apperently hipsters HATE being called a hipster..... Here in good old Santa Barbara CA (where fashion and trends usually fall at least a few years behind bigger cities like LA and NYC) I think people associate hipsters with fixed gear bikes, as people generally do in other cities, and I can say that while I would probably never ride a fixed gear bike I do like/wear/support clothing brands that fixie kids identify their culture with (Mishka, The Hundreds, Rebel 8)
I think I first heard the term hipster while looking at a copy of Vice Magazine... I always saw it a more of a look than a culture or sub culture.... Its funny how most other cultures don't mind being labeled what the identify themselves with, Surfers are surfers, Skaters are happy to be called skaters, Ravers, Goth kids, Punks, Metal heads, all usually don't mind hearing about how big of a "insert term here" they are.....
I would consider myself a ex candy-raver and junglist (do people even still use the term junglist?) because I will always have love for electronic bass heavy music ... but I also spent the majority of my youth going to raves, punk shows, breakdancing, doing graffitti, riding lowrider bikes, surfing, Skating at Powell Peralta skate zone,smoking weed, drinking 40oz', moshing and getting into all sorts of trouble....
But I still would call myself a raver, and anyone from my high school would agree...but I'm pretty sure all of these things are now considered to be hipster....
I still love the music but no longer consider myself and "active raver" do a lot of the drugs associated with the culture and no longer go to Massives every weekend because of the average age group.
Also, growing up in southern California I got exposed to (and sought out,long before the internet)so many different types of sub-cultures, and was able to pick and choose what I liked, listened to, and dressed like because all of the kids I hung out with all fell into one big clump of kids, the potheads and stoners... Pretty much the anti-preppy cast of kids/loners..... but no one then had even heard the term hipster.....Nor would anyone get offended if you called them Goth, Hesh, Punk, Edge, or anything else.......
back to the subject of Hipsters... Mishka, by far gets the most hate for being a hipster brand, and I think Greg Rivera actually even wrote a post about everyone who works for Mishka is a hipster..... Well here is what one Mishkateer (as he put it) named Toilet Cobra had to say about the whole hipster name calling thing..That in turn brought up a ton of comments from fellow hipsters, here are a few of my favs:
Aaron Says:
May 15th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
"I always thought the difference between hipsters and someone belonging to any of the myriad legitimate subcultures they’ve pilfered is that hipsters don’t actually DO anything (I mean besides cocaine), but look the part - whereas skateboarders, artists, photographers, whatever actually pursue a particular hobby and the lifestyle attached to it, believe in it, and support it, as opposed to simply buying into a certain look. When it comes down to it, “hipsterism” isn’t a subculture at all - it’s in fact the mainstream youth fashion, and that’s why you can shop at Forever 21 and come out looking like a hipster a couple hundred bucks later.
But what the fuck do I know, I’m probably just a stupid hipster."
NJ13 Says:
May 15th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
"beards and mustaches are hip as shit right now."
I also think its pretty lame that everyone lumps Electro, Day glow, Wayfarer shades, Steve Aoki and tight jeans with the term hipster...
Electro is house, end of story, Day Glow was a rave thing long before it was a hip thing, Wayfarers are pretty hip, and Steve Aoki is hardly DJ.... I remember when he lived in Isla Vista and I used to party with his brother Kyle. Steve Aoki didnt even like Techno or House music back in those days.... I blame thecobrasnake for spreading the hipster brand/look/trend to the world....
With that being said.... here are a bunch pictures of the most "hipster-ish" people I found on thecobrasnke or at least based on fashion choices alone, I would call these people hipsters......
