Today, a Hipster is defined as a person who follows the latest trends and fashions, especially those regarded outside of the cultural mainstream.
Before, Hipsters were weird kids who attended no-name band shows, in no-name venues, in no-name parts of town and were deemed the outsiders.
But that was the point was to be an outsider.
It was my generation’s form of angst to battle against the norm and be unique and an individual.
This all changed when it became popular to be a hipster.
But… being a hipster is about… not being popular?
It’s a modern day oxymoron.
Today, wearing worn vintage-styled clothing, going to overpriced coffee shops and listening to abstract music from abstract artists is deemed cool and what is in. I believe the shift happened when artists like Los Angeles based indie rock band, No Age, and New York based indie rock band, Matt and Kim, made the leap from having their videos just on YouTube to MTV. With indie music hitting a mainstream media outlet, it opened the indie culture to a larger audience.
But the hipster culture hitting the mainstream has not been such a bad change.
It has sprouted awesome music and music festivals like Fuck Yeah Fest, giving the world too many different types of Indian Pale ales to try and our new favorite brunch spots.
The culture also encourages and almost challenges you, to be your truest self. Whether it’s new trends to design personalized clothing, wearing your hair in a certain style or color or trying things out of the ordinary.
The modern day hipsters are also some of the newest and hardest working entrepreneurs.
New coffee shops, breweries, clothing boutiques, food trucks and restaurants that serve some form of trendy food that we all saw on Buzzfeed are opening everyday.
It has become such a socially accepted norm to be hipster, so in a way, we have all become a little hipster. Although it may have lost sight of its original meaning, the term itself has changed into something that will continually evolve over time.