What is hipster?

[firecat]

There is a company that sells printed magnetic sheets the size of your whole refrigerator*. This one depicts 35mm cameras, Converse basketball shoes, round glasses, something that looks like a cassette tape, and something else I can't parse. This particular magnet is called "hipsters set."

http://www.kudumagnets.com/hipsters-set

I thought I had an idea of what hipster is. But this makes me think that hipster is nostalgia for the 70s, and that's not what I thought it was.

*If you ask me, that takes all the fun out of refrigerator magnets.

Comments

[firecat]

I don't know about Monkee lunchboxes, but there is a clothing company called Monkee Genes that makes clothing they're labeling hipster (although I suspect what they mean by that is "low-rise").

Female people can be hipster by wearing fake moustaches, can't they? There's even a whole blog devoted to it:
http://hipstergirlsinmustaches.blogspot.com/

[graymalkin13.livejournal.com]

Oh right, fake moustaches! The first time I encountered the concept was on the facebook page of someone I don't like very much but who is definitely a Cool Person and possibly a hipster. The fake moustache trend is not something I'm into, but I thought it was clever for about 10 minutes. (God, I'm a nasty old woman.)

I think if you buy clothing that's labeled Hipster, you're probably considered just a wannabe by "real" hipsters. It's the same in every subculture that's been coopted and turned into a commodity. Like hippie, punk, and "gothic" cultures. "Gothic Elders" regard kids who buy their clothes at Hot Topic as the worst kind of poseur -- consumers of a mass-produced, commercially labeled imitation of people who were actually creative with their appearance. Then again, hipsterism is so ironic that maybe buying Hipster Brand clothing is totally hipster.