In Defense of Hipsters

August 17, 2009 - 4:00 pm By Desiree – Columbia University

in defense of hipsters

I want to propose the unthinkable:

I think hipsters are kind of OK.

Now, stay with me here.
Many, many people disagree – even some here at CollegeCandy – but if you can look past the obvious (like the mustaches and the outline of the boys’ genitalia through their super tight denim), I think our friends in Bushwick and the ‘Burg have some redeeming qualities. Below, I present a list of their good points:

1. Sometimes their clothes aren’t ridiculous: Just about everyone looks good in a v-neck tee, even if it’s not from American Apparel (sorry, Dov). And skinny jeans and Chuck Taylors may also be hipster mainstays, but let’s not forget, these have been the mark of style for a long time. (Yes, long before some people were rockin’ them out with Wayfarers and fedoras.)  Rock stars wouldn’t be sexy if their jeans weren’t so damn tight and Chucks are comfy with a 40-year history of cool. Everyone from Snoop Dogg to Sylvester Stallone has worn these kicks, and your plaid-clad friends aren’t going to stop now. Neither should you.

2. Cafe culture is fun: Sometimes you deserve to treat yourself to organic coffee grown by only six farmers in the farthest reaches of Kenya on the highest mountain. Savor that $8-cup o’ joe, even if it means sitting through open mic night. Cafes are great for people watching, and you might meet someone cute by the cream and sugar. Nice.

3. They’re sensitive types: Hipsters are devoted to art and many even think they’re good at it. Let a nice guy in glasses and a flannel shirt from Salvation Army write you a song, even if he plays it on a keytar for added “irony” or quirkiness. It’s the thought that counts, right?

4. Admit it–snark can be funny: A little bit of sarcasm goes a long way when it comes to laughing at our daily lives. Case in point: Christian Lander, author of Stuff White People Like (the blog and the book), has the beard, the glasses, and the attitude of hipsters everywhere. And he’s funny.

5. Once you’re in there, they’re…nice: Hipsters sneer at people who watch – and enjoy – reality TV, but after you get them warmed up, they’re just so darn friendly. They’re really liberal with their Parliaments and any other herbal substances you may need. And while you may not like Pabst Blue Ribbon, at least it’s free.

6. They throw great parties: At a hipster party, you know you won’t hear the same five T-Pain songs you heard on your way over there. It’s easy to laugh about hipsters’ taste in music, but I promise you won’t stop dancing as the DJ goes through everything from the oldest rap to the newest mash-ups. Also, see number 5 for hipster etiquette.

Keep this list in mind the next time you happen upon a bar filled with twenty-somethings in plaid and neon brights. You may enjoy it. And I don’t mean ironically.

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26 Comments on "In Defense of Hipsters"

  1. Dirk Diggler says:
    Mon, 17th Aug 20097:13 pm 

    This article is FAIL.

  2. Hipster hater says:
    Mon, 17th Aug 20097:51 pm 

    x2….Epic FAIL.

  3. Kelly says:
    Mon, 17th Aug 20098:04 pm 

    Hating on hipsters is the new trend, but people who hate on hipsters just seem… sad. I mean, really? Do you really not have anything constructive or worthwhile to do with your life that you spend your time hating on a group of people?

  4. Lisa says:
    Mon, 17th Aug 20099:20 pm 

    Thank you! I would definitely not classify myself a hipster, but I have a lot of friends who I would call hipsters and they are awesome people. Stop hating.

  5. Matt says:
    Mon, 17th Aug 200910:16 pm 

    I think hating hipsters can occur for two reasons. My beef is with the idea of the hipster faux-bohemian lifestyle, their excessiveness, band wagon liberalism elitism, and that they’re likely to be living off of someone else’s money.

  6. erin says:
    Mon, 17th Aug 200911:02 pm 

    Matt I agree, at one point they want to seem so free from main stream but really they are buying into another thing, personally I think thats fine but don’t shit all over other people while your being so hypocritical. As my lame parents used to say “it’s the pot calling the kettle black”.

  7. Regina says:
    Tue, 18th Aug 20095:14 am 

    Hipsters are pieces of shit who should be shunned in society. Oh wait, they already are. LMFAO. People just like to mock and ridicule them because they are so stupid. They all need to jump off a cliff.

  8. ashleigh says:
    Tue, 18th Aug 200910:04 am 

    i think this is a great article. since when is it ok to bash any social group? get a life if you have nothing better to do than stereotype someone by the way they dress.

  9. Ace says:
    Tue, 18th Aug 200912:53 pm 

    Hey man, can’t we all just get along? Hipsters, hippies, beatniks, punks, they’ve all been a trend going against the social norm and it’s always been shunned by the greater population. I’m no hipster, but I live in Brooklyn and I drink PBR(cause I’m poor guys, like most 20 somethings). I like art and music and literature and sometimes I even like to discuss them over a coffee, I don’t think that’s so wrong. I look good in skinny jeans and I’ve been wearing converse since I was a kid, how is any of this so offensive? Sure, I’m no fan of anyone acting broke then hitting up mommy’s credit card for a little shopping spree, but that doesn’t just include hipsters. I think what you really don’t like is fakes, and there, friends, I agree with you.

  10. Sarah says:
    Tue, 18th Aug 20093:56 pm 

    I’m sort of a hipster and I like myself and my hipster friends, so thanks for the props. :D

  11. Hero85 says:
    Thu, 20th Aug 20092:24 pm 

    Good opinion piece. I’m not a fan of hipsters per say, but I also think, like many have mentioned, hating hipsters has become a trend of its own. lol

  12. Michael says:
    Thu, 20th Aug 20092:52 pm 

    People who hate hipsters are usually not very hip. Fact.

  13. JohnE says:
    Fri, 21st Aug 20093:53 pm 

    It isn’t what they do that makes it so bad. There are a few things I do that hipsters also do. It is the self righteous holier than thou attidtude of I am such a unique and special person not influenced by pop culture. Just because your are following a smaller crowd doesn’t make you less of a follower. Hipsters are exactly like all trend followers they are all interchangeable. If you have one hipster friend and he dies you just grab the closest hipster and you’re good to go.

  14. Kallie says:
    Fri, 21st Aug 20097:33 pm 

    Regina, why do you have to be so hateful of this group? What did they ever do to you? All the hipsters I know are super awesome people, and I don’t think they (or anyone else for that matter) should ever jump off a cliff because someone doesn’t like their choices. GROW UP.

  15. Kay says:
    Sun, 23rd Aug 200912:25 pm 

    Hipsters are not very hip. fact!…and they usually smell.

  16. Claire says:
    Fri, 28th Aug 20093:54 pm 

    What does reality TV have to do with being nice?

    Oh, I get it, they sneer at out-groups (people that enjoy consumer culture) and are nice to their own kind. How does this make them any different than, say, a sorority? A gang? That group of mean girls in middle school that spread rumors about the poor girl that lived in the trailer park and wore clothes from Goodwill? Wait, it makes them exactly the same.

  17. V says:
    Sun, 30th Aug 20099:45 pm 

    There are douchebags within every subculture and there are certainly many annoying, ugly, mean hipsters who will insult your taste, imply that you are stupid and yell at you over politics…However there are many who are sexy, smart (but not ostentatiously so) and super fun to hang out with.

  18. Liselle says:
    Mon, 31st Aug 20091:40 am 

    I want to be hipster so badly. But I know my limits. High waisted shorts are just never going to be seen on this body. ever. unless I randomly drop 15-20 pounds in which case the majority of my wardrobe will become strips of fabric

  19. Shannon says:
    Mon, 31st Aug 20094:36 pm 

    I-I didn’t even know what a “hipster” was until I read this article. In fact I still don’t know. I thought this was going to be an article about jeans…Really, what are you talking about?

  20. wtf says:
    Tue, 1st Sep 20096:01 am 

    What the hell is a hipster?? All these social groups sprouting up everywhere and I don’t even know who these people are or what they proclaim to stand for. E.g. “scene kids”…wtf?

    I’m not a hater, until you personally do something to me. I don’t care how you look, or what group you’re part of, or what brand of shoes you wear, or other useless shit like that. It’s stupid to dislike someone just because they’re different from you.

  21. Charlotte says:
    Thu, 3rd Sep 20094:02 pm 

    I love arty guys but I’ve found that a lot of hipsters have a really shallow and passive appreciation of art and like basically the clichés but never look beyond that. Which is fine, except that it seems a lot of them portray that they’re super into it and try and impress you with it It’s hard to think too highly of people so image-obsessed they go out of their way to be someone they’re not, or do a ton of stuff ironically. But I’m an ancient 24 and maybe I’m just losing patience for it.

    They do sometimes throw fun parties though, I can’t lie.

  22. Mollination says:
    Fri, 4th Sep 20092:48 pm 

    Hipsterism is constantly in a state of evolving flux. It’s the first to discover something, the first to hate the newly liked discovery, the first to “go against the grain” and like the newly-hated thing ironically, and so on and so forth. So you liking hipsters is simply the next step. Recognizing them for their ostentatious irony and deciding to like it for what it is. I just say whatever. Not liking or hating something is the only way to combat these people.

  23. Sarah says:
    Sun, 13th Sep 20097:14 am 

    I agree with a couple of the posters above…generally I have no problem with hipsters – I sympathise with them in some areas; I’m not exactly into a lot of “mainstream” stuff myself – but the holier-than-thou attitude that some of them have is just nasty. I don’t know whether I should approach them because of the constant snide comments about trivial things like what someone was eating or the type of bag they were carrying…

  24. Open Your Minds ! says:
    Sun, 13th Sep 20092:56 pm 

    Want to know why hipsters do not exist? The only way someone can be a hipster is if:
    1) They run down the street yelling, “I’m a hipster, look at me”.
    2) Through your own observation and your own reasoning you label a person as a “hipster”. Call it what you want; it’s still discriminatory.

    I don’t like this article for different reasons than most so far. I don’t feel like any person or groups of people should be classified as a “type of thing” regardless if they have a signed labeled “HIPSTER” taped on to their plaid flannel or not. Hey, some people just REALLY like plaid (me)! This article makes me feel like you’re giving me instructions on how to become friends with people who I might consider to be “hipsters” and that all the people who do fit that bill are one and the same. I think if you’re going to write an article that celebrates the paradigmatically open-minded, and “liberal” lifestyle that some young adults conform to then write about what it is all really about (eg. freedom of expression in art or politics, or whatever it means to you). Drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon has nothing to do with “being a hipster” and while I read that I felt like you really have no idea as to what you are writing about. In fact, I’d love to read an unbiased article that supports and portrays this type of lifestyle. But all being said, I just don’t like the way you took a demographic of people with common interests and called them a “type of thing” because of the x number of things they have in common. I love to drink wine, does that make me an alocholic? No. Then I cannot be a hipster for wearing a lot of plaid and enjoying cheap beer either unless I run around screaming, “I am a hipster”, or if someone else judges me by acknowledging that I must be a “hipster” if I talk the talk and walk the walk. I didn’t mean to get all metaphysical about the identity of a thing, and I’m not saying your article sucks, but what I’m trying to say is that I disagree with your reasoning. You did not properply defend “hipsters”; you just added more stigma for those who try to follow their own paths in life, and encouraged others to categorize people for what they are and not who they are.

  25. Grant says:
    Sat, 19th Sep 20096:47 pm 

    ^hipster

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