Hipsters: Scourge or Irrelevence

C

comelately

Wild Horses
http://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2015/mar/17/nu-lads-on-the-block-post-hipster

"Nu-lads are the opposite to hipsters – they’re about looking young and real "
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The lol thing about that is that being a hipster also used to be about looking young and real - "looking real" especially, but hipster skinny jeans and such was also a way of keeping oldies away. Are the nu-lads really just the new hipsters, and although there is some veneration of SportsDirect in the scene, isn't this really the creation of a trend that is very label and money focussed? The hipster look can be bought, but it certainly doesn't have to be expensive. The whole point of sports luxe is that it costs money to wear - for all the moaning about hipsters (and I've done my fair share), isn't a token, superficial rebellion against consumerism bet better than no rebellion at all? I don't know.

Of course, sports luxe never really went away in the towns and cities that aren't London, so really this is a very Londoncentric thing. And actually, Copenhagen hipster females have been pretty sports luxe the whole time. So what's being presented as a reaction looks suspiciously like a capitalist refinement of the existing hipster culture.

In the meantime, I just wear my jogging pants to the gym now whereas before I would have worn trousers and changed. LOL.
 
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mistersloane

heavy heavy monster sound
IdleRich said:
I would love to know what the cool kids do where you are now.
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Cool kids here, move. They go to boarding school (bit different from in UK). They come back with dyed hair and sit around looking bored at Bank Holidays, thinking, how did I ever live in this fucking shithole. Then they get married and move back here with their first child, thinking "But it's such an amazing place to bring up kids". Cycles of abuse never end.
 
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NOAT

Member
mistersloane said:
Cool kids here, move. They go to boarding school (bit different from in UK). They come back with dyed hair and sit around looking bored at Bank Holidays, thinking, how did I ever live in this fucking shithole. Then they get married and move back here with their first child, thinking "But it's such an amazing place to bring up kids". Cycles of abuse never end.
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hahaha
 
N

Numbers

Well-known member
I'm very late to this discussion, but could hipsterism be an evident outcome of youth culture in times of global economic crisis? I know that sounds very close to material-determinism, but observing this stuff with Bourdieu, it seems like hipsterism 'done right' (ie not bought at H&M) is very much a rehash of typical middle class behaviour where the lack of economic capital is masked and capitalised on in order to maximise cultural and social distinction profit.

A bit similar how to recycling and green habits resonated with middle class, because usually it is just cheaper to re-use stuff, then became noble ambition and means to distinguish from lower social classes.
 
IdleRich

IdleRich

IdleRich
I don't disagree with the first part but surely "lower" (poorer) classes have at least as much incentive to reuse stuff and make it a virtue. Or does it become shameful when it's a necessity?
 
N

Numbers

Well-known member
IdleRich said:
I don't disagree with the first part but surely "lower" (poorer) classes have at least as much incentive to reuse stuff and make it a virtue. Or does it become shameful when it's a necessity?
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Absolutely, even if the shame needs some form of cultural mediation (through education, for example) in order to reach the whole of society, including the lower classes.

The determining factor though, is that you need some cultural capital to recognise and appropriate even these (mostly) low-cost symbols. You can't be ironic, if you lack the baggage to observe/reproduce/... the difference between ordinary and playful use. That cultural baggage does not need to be much, but it needs to be there. Think of the fascination for vintage stuff: it's a middle class dream. Contrary to straight-forward antiques, for example, it's not too expensive and not too difficult to learn. But it still offers distinction profit and some aura of authenticity.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Not at all convinced by this argument. Reusing articles is one thing but if we're talking recycling, it's surely more effort to separate your rubbish or drive to the bottle bank than just to chuck everything in the same bin?

Is it impossible that some people recycle for no other reason than that they want to produce less waste?
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Also you have to bear in mind that the twee(d)-tartan-gingham, all-organic, all-local, all-artisanal, faux-rustic, (re)cyclist hipster is very much a product of the last 5-7 years. OK, so this period has coincided with a huge global recession but if you cast your mind back to the turn of the century, the stereotypical hipster was all trucker hats, '70s porno moustache, gak and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Nathan Barley, in more London-centric terms. You know, like Sugar A-, I mean Vice was back in the day, when giving a shit about organic food or recycling was for sad wankers rather than what the kool kids did.
 
slowtrain

slowtrain

Well-known member
Mr. Tea said:
Also you have to bear in mind that the twee(d)-tartan-gingham, all-organic, all-local, all-artisanal, faux-rustic, (re)cyclist hipster is very much a product of the last 5-7 years. OK, so this period has coincided with a huge global recession but if you cast your mind back to the turn of the century, the stereotypical hipster was all trucker hats, '70s porno moustache, gak and Pabst Blue Ribbon. Nathan Barley, in more London-centric terms. You know, like Sugar A-, I mean Vice was back in the day, when giving a shit about organic food or recycling was for sad wankers rather than what the kool kids did.
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I think that it may also be the case that there have always been a number of different types of people, who have only recently started to get unanamiosly lumped together as 'hipster' due to a few similar characteristics (cultural middle class youth affectations i guess)
 
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