@ www.theotherpress.ca

Because the hipster style of frumpy
sweaters and skinny jeans can be
bought at Urban Outfitters and
American Apparel, it has become
conventional. Part of hipster style is
trying hard to look like you’re not
trying hard, and it’s fashionable.

“T think it’s a way people go
back in time and remember the ’80s
and ’90s, especially people ages 20
to 30,” said Concordia University
political science graduate student
Juan Diego Santa. “People go
back to old fashion to remember
everything about the culture, from
TV shows, fashion, music. I like the
hipster style. I think it’s original
and it reflects people’s appreciation
for art.”

Indie music, which is a hipster
trademark, has also turned into an
increasingly popular genre. Bands
such as Foster The People and The
Black Keys are crossing over to
Top 40 radio stations. Indie and
alternative music can even be heard
playing at Hollister, a clothing
brand at the height of becoming
mainstream. The style, music, and
mindset of hipsters have become so
common the purpose is defeated.
The hipster counter-culture began
because people didn’t want to
conform, but it’s used so frequently
that it’s ordinary.

Arsel believes being a hipster
has no point anymore. “One thing
that baffles me is that by looking

at the definition of hipster, you
can basically categorize anyone
as a hipster. If you have a funky
haircut, you’re a hipster. AmIa
hipster professor because I wear
band T-shirts? Everybody that is 18
to 35 could be hipster. That’s why
I think the category is no longer
meaningful.”

Concordia student Sabrina Patti
agrees. “It’s been really overused.
I think everyone has something
they can relate to the hipster style.
I wouldn’t even call it a style
anymore. It became such a general
term,” she said.

Arsel has seen The New York
Times use the word many times,
and even apologize for using the

Feature

word so many times.

“Tt ceased to be meaningful
because anyone can be categorized
into the term. We talked about it so
much that we contaminated it,» she
said.

Googling “Hipster” produces
6.7 million results. Magazines and
newspapers have used the word
excessively. Hipsters are imitated,
borrowed from and laughed at like
it’s second nature. The retro fashion
and underground music have
become meshed into our personal
tastes to the point where they are
common. The exclusivity of the
counter-culture is gone.