Hipsters

I moved to New York City about 4 years ago.  And ever since I moved here the word "hipster" has come up in conversation over and over and over again.  Flat Rate movers had subway ads that poked fun at "hipsters", Youtube features funny sketches like the hipster olympics (check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAO4EVMlpwM).  All this time, I kept asking repeatedly "what is a hipster?  And despite the many conversations about hipsterdom, i still don't get it completely get it.

Here's what I've gathered from the stereotypes:  A hipster wears way too tight jeans (be it a guy or lady), converse shoes, trucker hats, big vintage glasses, and tight flannel shirts.  They tend to have vinyl record collections, sport sleeve tattoos, listen to indie bands and party hard.  Guys tend to have some form of facial hair.  Hipster's "reject" popular cultural things like fashion, TV, celebrity gossip, etc.  

Why hipster's get such a bad rep: 1) The idea that they are "rejecting" popular culture and conformity is a little backwards considering the popularity in hispterism itself.  2) All hipsters seem to deny that they are a hipster.

#2 is interesting... based on what my friends and coworkers claim defines a hipster.... many of them seem to be hipsters themselves.  However none of them admit to being hipster, and may even possibly take offense to the label.

Some people believe hipsterism is dying.  Other's believe it is the up-and-coming counter-culture turns mainstream story that our country has seen repeatedly over the last century.  The beatniks of the 40's were ostracized only to become mainstream in the 50's.  The hippies of the 60's were shunned, but an overwhelming cultural force by the 70's.  In the 80's the punks were the outcasts of society, and by the 90's mall stores were dedicated toward their mainstream style.  Are hipsters the next chapter in this repeating pattern?  Shunned today only to be the majority tomorrow?  Who knows!  Frankly, I'm still trying to figure out just what makes a "hipster".

Time Out New York totally bashed hipsters!  Check out their article, it's totally from a hater's perspective but gives quite a detailed analysis of hipsterism: 

http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/features/4840/why-the-hipster-must-die

Gnovis Journal is a blog dedicated to understanding and or participating the hipster counter-culture: http://gnovisjournal.org/blog/what-we-can-learn-learning-about-hipsters