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Old 07-15-2009, 02:43 AM
 
37 posts, read 127,466 times
Reputation: 15

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Hello,
I recently joined this forum because I'm considering moving to NY. I've been reading a lot of posts and I'm a little confused about the term Hipster... In Ohio, where I live, a Hipster is just someone that wears silly vintage clothing and listens to a certain kind of music and I've never heard of it having anything to do with social class or with anything else. In fact, I thought that Hipsters bought those clothes at thrift stores. I'm generally confused about how the term is being used by New Yorkers and about why there seems to be hostility against them. I don't really know much about it but I would've guessed that all kinds of middle class people moving to NY might prefer less pricey neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx over Manhatten... Do the majority of these people really wear silly clothes? If not, what is meant by Hipster? And, either way, why do New Yorkers seem to hate them? I read somewhere that "Hipsters are destroying New York." People wearing vintage clothing are destroying New York?? I am VERY confused!
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Old 07-15-2009, 06:05 AM
 
Location: The Ranch in Olam Haba
23,709 posts, read 30,602,879 times
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In the past they were known as Hippies, Beatnics, New Wavers, Punks (punk rockers), Rockabillies, The Me generation, grunge. So basically the same thing depending on what generation you reference it to. But to due to the economy (and mommy/daddy having less disposable cash) it may not last long. Also once this retro style goes mainstream (Macy's and the like), it will basically be over within a few years. Here is a link just in case: Urban Dictionary: hipster
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Old 07-15-2009, 07:57 AM
 
37 posts, read 127,466 times
Reputation: 15
So hipsters are rich?

I'm not sure where you live, but I've found that east coast styles are sometimes different from styles in the midwest. I found some pictures on some of the other posts of "hipsters" and they looked to me like fairly normal kids from my neighborhood in Ohio... I didn't know if that was because the photographer didn't know what a hipster was either, or if they were really hipsters. Those hair cuts and clothes look like typical white suburbia styles to me... stuff sold at Macy's, etc. Then again, I really don't pay too much attention to either fashion or to what's sold at Macy's so maybe I'm wrong there. My mom is a high school teacher, so I think I'll ask her if there are "hipsters" where she works and what they wear here. So why do people dislike them so much?
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Old 07-15-2009, 08:56 AM
 
Location: Staten Island, NY
8 posts, read 34,229 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 71196 View Post
Hello,
I recently joined this forum because I'm considering moving to NY. I've been reading a lot of posts and I'm a little confused about the term Hipster... In Ohio, where I live, a Hipster is just someone that wears silly vintage clothing and listens to a certain kind of music and I've never heard of it having anything to do with social class or with anything else. In fact, I thought that Hipsters bought those clothes at thrift stores. I'm generally confused about how the term is being used by New Yorkers and about why there seems to be hostility against them. I don't really know much about it but I would've guessed that all kinds of middle class people moving to NY might prefer less pricey neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx over Manhatten... Do the majority of these people really wear silly clothes? If not, what is meant by Hipster? And, either way, why do New Yorkers seem to hate them? I read somewhere that "Hipsters are destroying New York." People wearing vintage clothing are destroying New York?? I am VERY confused!
Mod cut: copyrighted material

This is what people mean...and this is what some people "hate". Main reasons for hate, hopefully stems from Gentrification of neighborhoods that once possessed New Yorkers that actually worked, paid taxes and represented something more than ironically chic, 20-something ignorance and bliss.

Here's a nice article about how "HIPSTER" is nothing more than TRENDY KIDS
: https://www.adbusters.org/magazine/7...#comment-15222

and if you're still interested...here's my blog response, defending the author amidst many comments that trash him: Jesus Christ! To those who are tearing down Haddow, consider "Hipster: The Dead End of the Western Civilization" merely as the contemporary truth by someone with the balls to speak it. Any time individual original thought popularizes with the reactionary masses, it becomes something entirely different…it becomes marketed. Thus, it must be destroyed through honesty and truth…my antonyms for the concept of MARKETING. And believe Haddow, Hipsterdom is a marketing force. So whether you consider yourself the purveyor of the archetypal outfit to be worn while riding “Fixie” through Downtown Oakland, or you simply enjoy banging borderline anorexic brunettes with laser fine pre-pubescent vaginas bought via trust funds at La Cita in Downtown LA, you know damn well that your swimming naked and diseased amidst nothing more than sex, drugs and violence. Contrary to the Philosophy of the Hipster that came before you, you have become trapped in perpetual decadence, adhering to this Media-Crazed Lie with the likeness of an adoring American Idol fan. The alternative is to vehemently denounce such nonsense and do what must be done to actually live a worthwhile life: stop considering yourself as the sole person that matters in your world. Otherwise your contributing to the rapidly expanding jib upon which we will destroy ourselves and our planet…yes you have arrived at and are paralyzed by self-importance: you are quantitatively an adult, yet qualitatively a child.

Last edited by Viralmd; 07-15-2009 at 09:28 AM.. Reason: copyright violation
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Old 07-15-2009, 09:23 AM
 
Location: New York City
4,035 posts, read 10,262,108 times
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New York hipsters (as well as ones in places like LA or San Francisco) are different from other so-called hipsters. Some are rich; most are certainly upper-middle class. They also tend to be very well, if not over-, educated. Usually in the arts/humanities from a very expensive private college.

People can understand someone who's interested in money, like a Yuppie. What makes hipsters confounding is that's it not about money. It's young people from comparatively privileged, white-collar backgrounds who more interested in working in an ultra-elite, creative field (media, journalism, fashion, design, publishing, the arts, etc.) than making a lot of money, per se.

The challenge is that making it the those fields it so difficult (requiring lots of contacts, internships, and simply waiting around) that you almost have to be independently wealthy to have a shot.

It used to be that the son of a lawyer wanted to go to Harvard and then go into investment banking and move to Connecticut. Now he wants to live in Manhattan and write screenplays for HBO.

People resent Hipsters not because they have money but because they have options. They have the education, lack of debt, personal contacts, and some money to pursue certain dream-lifestyles that other people simply don't have the resources to pursue.
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Old 07-15-2009, 10:41 AM
 
Location: Bay Ridge, NY
1,915 posts, read 7,965,753 times
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This is not my opinion, but I've gathered from reading many posts over the years here that hipsters are disliked because (all generalizations): their parents are rich and provide them with money, they tend to move to poor places, they tend to raise the property value by making someplace 'trendy', they don't like people who aren't also hipsters, etc.

I really don't know how much of this is true, if any of it at all, since I don't hang out in those areas, but that's what I've gathered from being around this forum.
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Old 07-15-2009, 10:53 AM
 
Location: Beautiful Pelham Pkwy (da Bronx)
966 posts, read 2,437,044 times
Reputation: 565
Quote:
Originally Posted by 71196 View Post
Hello,
I recently joined this forum because I'm considering moving to NY. I've been reading a lot of posts and I'm a little confused about the term Hipster... In Ohio, where I live, a Hipster is just someone that wears silly vintage clothing and listens to a certain kind of music and I've never heard of it having anything to do with social class or with anything else. In fact, I thought that Hipsters bought those clothes at thrift stores. I'm generally confused about how the term is being used by New Yorkers and about why there seems to be hostility against them. I don't really know much about it but I would've guessed that all kinds of middle class people moving to NY might prefer less pricey neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the Bronx over Manhatten... Do the majority of these people really wear silly clothes? If not, what is meant by Hipster? And, either way, why do New Yorkers seem to hate them? I read somewhere that "Hipsters are destroying New York." People wearing vintage clothing are destroying New York?? I am VERY confused!
In NY, it's definitely not about the clothing they wear. In many cases it's about the snarky, judgmental, rude attitudes they use, possibly to mask their own insecurities, fears, or goodness knows what else--especially those who live in "ethnic" or "working-class to poor" neighborhoods. On my end, I say it's a free world. Wear what you like. Listen to who you like. Only, please please please dispense with the snarky "hipster-than-thou" attitudes. Just my take on it.
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Old 07-15-2009, 11:04 AM
 
Location: Beautiful Pelham Pkwy (da Bronx)
966 posts, read 2,437,044 times
Reputation: 565
Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilVA View Post
In the past they were known as Hippies, Beatnics, New Wavers, Punks (punk rockers), Rockabillies, The Me generation, grunge. So basically the same thing depending on what generation you reference it to. But to due to the economy (and mommy/daddy having less disposable cash) it may not last long. Also once this retro style goes mainstream (Macy's and the like), it will basically be over within a few years. Here is a link just in case: Urban Dictionary: hipster
Interesting point. All trends do eventually fade out. But, with all due respect, hippies were focused on issues of peace, love, equality, and justice (the one's who didn't burn themselves out with drugs and other excesses). The beatniks were in large part literary artists (poets, etc.), or those who enjoy the literary arts. They spoke out from the fringes of society for social justice and personal freedom. These are of course generalizations. The general populace copied their outward clothing styles minus the rest. Some anyway. What do hipsters stand for?

Last edited by Nala8; 07-15-2009 at 11:54 AM..
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Old 07-15-2009, 11:41 AM
 
2,160 posts, read 4,944,669 times
Reputation: 5527
Hipsters in NYC are giant hypocrites. They rail against the mainstream, yet they are the biggest, most hardcore conformists I can think of. They think they are so enlightened, but they are as narrow-minded as anyone else. They think they are so authentic, but they are dishonest pretenders. They think they're so original, but everything they do, everything they wear, everything they consume is hijacked from another culture, sub-culture, movement or era. They claim to do this ironically, but very few of them have an accurate grasp even of REALITY. How can they possibly derive any IRONY? I doubt that they could, even with their expensive college educations, give you the correct definition of IRONY.

Lastly, they can never just admit that they are hipsters. This denial just might be their most annoying, and tragic, quality. If you call a hipster a hipster in NYC they will either vehemently deny allegiance to the group, or they will coldly feign nonchalance and be totally blase about it because they are just too cool to care.
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Old 07-15-2009, 01:48 PM
 
15,488 posts, read 15,468,958 times
Reputation: 21796
Interesting group of responses. My impression of the word "hipster" is that it basically just referred to people who were "hip." But not to be confused with hippies. Certainly nothing to do with vintage stores. Nor have I noticed any hostility, except insofar as any group can attract hostility, e.g. yuppies.

Reminds me, though, of the movie scene - was it in The 25th Hour? - with a progression of characters viciously insulting other ethnic/professional/social types.
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