Maybe it’s geography, maybe it’s my age – but what is with Hipsters in Canberra? When did they start popping up and who has been responsible for their surging in numbers?
Hipster Marketing – from: http://www.tv3.ie/3e/article/706/Caf-devises-anti-hipster-marketing-strategy…
Where’s the issue in this you might ask? Am I a hater of flannel? Well there’s nothing really wrong – we just want to know when and where was the meeting held that decided that a 1964 urban bohemian re-enactment was the next fashion trend that was going to stick and only 18-30s need apply. Is this another passing sub cultural fad or truly a real shift in our younger generation? So for those of you asleep, for the past 3 years here’s a very quick backtrack into ‘Hipsterism 101’ from that source of undeniable truth – urbandictionary.com
“Although “hipsterism” is really a state of mind, it is also often intertwined with distinct fashion sensibilities. 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.”
Just chopping wood.. from: http://memesvault.com/hipster-beard-meme/
And it continues…
“Anti-hipster sentiment often comes from people who simply can’t keep up with social change and are envious of those who can.”
A few things we have picked up on in this latest hipster insurgence in Canberra – stay with me and tick all that apply:
1. Has the new wave of gentrified car yards and over priced high rise box apartments in Braddon been driven by the Hipsters need to buy hand made goods and drink lattes on the pavement or has it simply been a smoke screen to develop a sidewalk culture during the development phase and once complete – the hipsters will disappear back into Haigh Park and be replaced by the people that can afford the $14 beers and over priced burgers?
2. Does riding a bicycle without gears, wearing shoes without socks and donning a beanie in summer (or any season) really make functional sense? Do hipsters even wear deodorant? I’d love to see a hipster giving Mount Stromlo or even Black Mountain some stick.
3. Can you really activate almonds and how do you cook every last bit of flavour out of Quinoa (Keen-wha) that makes wet cardboard seem appetising? And while we are on the topic of food – who decided that squeezing (** Pressing**) organic fruit while it’s cold makes it worth double the price?
4. Does an Instagram glamour shot of your smashed avocado on Rye (please – it’s Brown bread) with micro herbs and edible flowers increase the nutritional value of your breakfast or make you any more enjoyable to share a breakfast table with?
5. Do hipsters even know that op-shop’s exist (in general) to help support, feed and house the homeless and you can pay $5 for the same pair of old vintage converse sneakers that you have been following online via ebay for $280?
6. And don’t even start me on the deconstructed latte.
(**Breath out**)
So this list could go on for miles – but this is not an essay worthy of the Quarterly – it’s simply a firelighter for a debate that I would love to see continued over a few quite drinks and a steak (with veg or salad) in the club one day.
This RUC blog is also an open letter to those in need… Those amongst us that know and feel the need to de-radicalise a Hipster amongst them. A chance to bring someone back into the fray of inner north normality – whatever that even means or looks like.
The RUC is a safe place to bring a hipster and will also double as a great place for an intervention if you and your friends have decided to break your friend or loved one from their skinny jeaned shackles. Lure them with our tactically planted Hipster salad, get them to leave their fixie bike at the door and emphasise that they shouldn’t wear beanies indoor. Once they have finished snapping their salad on their 1980’s pentax, why not distract them with some light chat that doesn’t relate to blogging or selling bamboo sunglasses on etsy and slide in a ticket to a meat raffle (they need to up their protein).
Then, just as the sun starts to set and they start flicking through the filters on Instagram that will make the bowling greens outside look pensive and moody – buy them their first beer in a normal club style schooner glass. No handle, no jam jar, no burgers on paddles, no fancy post modern reproduction of a Melbourne bitter long neck ground down to resemble a schooner – just a plain old glass.
Sound difficult – it’s not. And remember this is just the beginning. Bringing someone down off their hipster high is going to take time. Small steps…
The hipster that ate CDo you know the best way to eat a Hipster? One slow, organic, activated, entrepreneurial conscious, latte drinking, mac book hauling, vintage, alternative, bohemian mouthful at a time.
STOP! It’s a trap… from: http://memesvault.com/sad-hipster-meme/