Lately, as I shuffle from class-to-class, I have begun to spot a growing number of fashionistas who sport carefully created unruly locks and who toss about words such as "kitschy" and "deck." Who are these trend-setting people? Meet the hipsters.
So often, I sit in class and see those around me dumbfounded while overhearing conversations among me and my friends. Therefore, I am going to break the hipster code (yes, there is an unspoken and unwritten code) and recognize my journalistic duty to give insight into the hipster realm.
First off, we must decipher the hipster lingo.
As opposed to saying something is "cool," a hipster would say "deck." We're not really sure why. "Kitschy" is perhaps one of the most commonly used words in a hipster's vocab, and believe it or not, it can be found in the dictionary. Webster's will tell you it means "pretentious bad taste," however; describing something as "kitschy" in the hipster world is a good thing. The word is used to describe something "ironically deck." For example, a checkerboard tablecloth has a kitschy feel to it.
More popular verbiage includes: "flubber" (breast implants), "Hilfiger" (having no fashion sense), "shellacked" (drunk) and "midtown" (uncultured or unhip).
Now that we've cleared up what the hipsters are saying, let's move on to the actual hipsters themselves. Hipsters are usually politically left-leaning artists. They take the protection of the First Amendment very seriously and tend to take action whenever it is threatened. While they love social causes generally ignored by the right, most hipsters have one Republican friend, who is referred to as "my one Republican friend."
Although, having the one Republican friend is not the core of hipster-dom. One of the driving goals of hipsters is to be ironic. When shopping for clothing, a hipster would buy something generally considered very "not deck" in order to be ironic.
The irony works best in certain situations and hipsters spend lots of time calculating this precisely. For example, wearing a vintage AC/DC shirt at a theSTART (or fill in any other hipster band) show in an attempt to be ironic would be the perfect case of a hipster at his/her best. The question here: is the hipster doing this solely to be ironic or to pay homage to his youth when he was an avid fan of Beavis and Butthead? One may never know.
Next up, hair.
Hair is important to the hipster, even though they want to you to believe they put no effort into it. A rolled-out-of-bed look with numerous cowlicks is ideal, especially for the hipster male. If you choose to adopt this look, it is best to position your head on the pillow to maximize the cowlicks. That way, you aren't lying if someone asks if your do is really a straight-from-bed look.
Another key part of a hipster "look" is reflecting musical preferences. If you look at one who likes electroclash and another one who's into punk, it shouldn't be too hard to tell which one is which; their clothing tends to tip off what they are into.
All hipsters take their music collection very seriously. Music effects wardrobe, personality and which hipster hangouts are their favorites.
Most Tempe hipsters love the Rouge, on Scottsdale and McKellips Roads, no matter what. However, there are three major types of bars accepted by hipsters: the dive, the lounge and the beat.
Dive bars are always dark, musty and have stickers and sharpie scrawlings covering the walls. Lounges are bars filled with comfortable yet "kitschy" couches and easy chairs with lamps from decades before they were born. Lounges are made for those wanting to have philosophical discussions while getting "shellacked." Finally, the beat is a hipster dance club. These tend to have small dance floors, low ceilings and play electroclash, hip-hop and trance music.
One of the most important things about a hipster trend is once it hits the mainstream, it will no longer be accepted as "deck." However, many hipsters still listen to Radiohead, despite its mainstream success.
If you want to learn more about this cultural group, pick up a copy of The Hipster Handbook by Robert Lanham. It delves into greater detail and will generate more than a few laughs.
Now you have the basic ability to spot and understand hipsters within the ASU community. It is important to remember, most hipsters will not admit to being hipsters, so it is best not to call them on it.
Reach the reporter at chelsea.ide@asu.edu.
