We all know who the 'hipsters' are. The occasional one is our friend and the others provide hours of priceless people watching.
For those who don't know what a 'hipster' is, here is part of the of the urban dictionary definition:
Hipsters reject the culturally-ignorant attitudes of mainstream consumers, and are often be seen wearing vintage and thrift store inspired fashions, tight-fitting jeans, old-school sneakers, and sometimes thick rimmed glasses. Both hipster men and women sport similar androgynous hair styles that include combinations of messy shag cuts and asymmetric side-swept bangs. Such styles are often associated with the work of creative stylists at urban salons, and are usually too "edgy" for the culturally-sheltered mainstream consumer. The "effortless cool" urban bohemian look of a hipster is exemplified in Urban Outfitters and American Apparel ads which cater towards the hipster demographic. Despite misconceptions based on their aesthetic tastes, hipsters tend to be well educated and often have liberal arts degrees, or degrees in maths and sciences, which also require certain creative analytical thinking abilities.
(I would have included the whole thing but it was the longest definition I have encountered...)
Hipster is definitely the new hot trend. Secretly everyone wants to be "effortlessly cool" but some of us will never succeed. However, there have been those in the past that unknowingly set the trends. Meet my favorite 'unintentional hipsters' courtesy of Huffington Post:
This last one brings me into the unintentional hipster phenomenon. My most recent home furnishing purchase: One hifi courtesy of Savers for only $39.99
I may have just purchased my first record player, (even though I have a plethora of cds, an iPhone, and iTunes on my computer) but to my defence, I have been purchasing records for years before it was effortlessly cool. Two of my brothers have hifis that they have refinished (and look gorgeous) so therefore I am buying this to be more like them and not a hipster.
Now I just need to decide what my top albums are to slowly purchase. Thrift stores are pretty picked through these days since the influx of kids being cool has gone up.
The albums I am currently on the search for:
The Format-Dog Problems, or Interventions and Lullabies
Sufjan Stevens-Illinois
The Arcade Fire-Funeral
Stars-Five Ghost or In Our Bedroom After the War
The New Amsterdam's-apparently all of their albums are ridiculously expensive...
then there are those other bands that i would be happy to obtain but aren't at the top of my search:
Modest Mouse, The Shins, Rilo Kiley, The Annuals, Nico Stai, The Anniversary, The Get Up Kids, Badly Drawn Boy, Coldplay, The Killers, Elliot Smith, oh and the list just keeps going and going.
Hopefully I will run across some magical thrift store that has the classics like: The Cure, The Clash, Queen, The Beatles, The Carpenters and of course some Rachmaninoff and Mozart. I know, my taste is interested and all over the place.
Perhaps when I move to my new apartment I could have a hipster themed housewarming party and everyone can wear their tightest jeans, ugliest over sized sweaters, and most importantly bring a record to leave at my place.