"Hipster" as pejorative.

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i haven't read this thread but "hipsters", to me, are kids who are trying too hard. there's a difference between being hip and being a hipster.

― chicago kevin, Friday, 16 March 2007 18:54 (seventeen years ago) link

They try 'too hard' because they care what they look like

ie:::Fashion

― maricopa john, Friday, 16 March 2007 19:38 (seventeen years ago) link

Nah. You can care what you look like without caring how young/trendy it is. You can wear nice, pressed shirts and keep your shoes shined. That's not a hipster.

― kenan, Friday, 16 March 2007 19:39 (seventeen years ago) link

My friend was born with a white eyebrow...everyone accuses her of trying too hard. With a genetic eyebrow deal.

― Abbott, Friday, 16 March 2007 20:18 (seventeen years ago) link

i know someone who has eyebrows that curl up at the ends giving him a look similar to a demon or pixie or sprite or something with pointy curly eyebrows.

― chicago kevin, Friday, 16 March 2007 20:20 (seventeen years ago) link

I guess there's a subtle line between dressing young and trendy and feeling the need to put on a costume before you leave the house. And you can sense the latter. Maybe it's a personality issue more than a fashion issue? You can look cool as hell and still look unpretentious.

― kenan, Friday, 16 March 2007 20:39 (seventeen years ago) link

can people just not use the phrase "trying too hard" anymore

― s1ocki, Friday, 16 March 2007 20:41 (seventeen years ago) link

You're pushin' too hard, uh-pushin' on me
You're pushin' too hard, uh-what you want me to be
You're pushin' too hard about the things you say
You're pushin' too hard every night and day

― kenan, Friday, 16 March 2007 20:44 (seventeen years ago) link

ya! people should just sing that instead.

― s1ocki, Friday, 16 March 2007 20:44 (seventeen years ago) link

― chaki, Friday, 16 March 2007 20:44 (seventeen years ago) link

I hate that phrase too, slocki.

― Abbott, Friday, 16 March 2007 20:45 (seventeen years ago) link

No i think theres a sense here that people are looking down on people who care about fashion, rather than wearing some good clothes. In a way that others care about music, rather than just having some good cds

― maricopa john, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:12 (seventeen years ago) link

ie: subtext:people shouldn't spend too much time thinking about their outfits

― maricopa john, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:13 (seventeen years ago) link

What hipster didn't start out overdoing it and then mellowing out? You should see pics of me in HS. Like sitting in giant piles of peers in a puppy pal evolved into sitting alone on a barstool w/a gimlet.

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/igotabeefpastry/papes.jpg

Actually this is the closest I ever got to 'trying too hard' (and it should actually go on the secret goth shame thredd):

http://i45.photobucket.com/albums/f86/igotabeefpastry/BIGHEAD.jpg

Vainglorious me.

― Abbott, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:14 (seventeen years ago) link

subtext: people should stop dressing funny

― milo z, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:17 (seventeen years ago) link

"You can care what you look like without caring how young/trendy it is. You can wear nice, pressed shirts and keep your shoes shined. That's not a hipster."

it's not really fashion either, is it? i mean i'm sure you look good but you're missing the point.

― jed_, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:20 (seventeen years ago) link

"can people just not use the phrase "trying too hard" anymore"

http://www.ilxor.com:8080/ILX/ThreadSelectedControllerServlet?boardid=40&threadid=30843

― scott seward, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:22 (seventeen years ago) link

I like when people dress funny, like the old woman I saw dressed like an anthropology prof. w/the flowy dress & billion turquoise necklaces...paired w/neon orange chuck taylors. i like the kids who dress too much, they add some levity to my world.

― Abbott, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:23 (seventeen years ago) link

I like the sartorialist a ton but it everyone dressed like that what a dry world it would be. I'd rather eat ice than look at Vice, tho.

― Abbott, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:24 (seventeen years ago) link

can people just not use the phrase "trying too hard" anymore

i'll stop saying it when i stop seeing it. restraint is key, rarely is anything any good when it's over the top.

― chicago kevin, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:26 (seventeen years ago) link

But what attitude does it imply beyond dress sense and musical taste?

― fife, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:36 (seventeen years ago) link

Slocky OTM. In my experience, the phrase "trying too hard" is generally employed by self-conscious killjoys.

― Fluffy Bear Hearts Rainbows, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:38 (seventeen years ago) link

to me it screams "i want to belong accept me accept accept me" and i don't dig that.

― chicago kevin, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:39 (seventeen years ago) link

"I'm cooler than you"

not saying that's the INTENDED projection of attitude - sometimes yes sometimes no

― dmr, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:40 (seventeen years ago) link

xpost to fife

― dmr, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:41 (seventeen years ago) link

kevin mostly OTM

― milo z, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:46 (seventeen years ago) link

oh man high school... that's where it's ok to try too hard, i guess, but man. I was like the girl in... what's that movie?... who keeps coming in wearing totally different "looks" (i.e. beehive)? Anyway, I was like that. I went from band geek in polo shirt to wannabe surfer to metal guy with boots.

Today I am dressed not unlike Kumar.

― kenan, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:46 (seventeen years ago) link

I do look down on people who care about fashion. As a midwesterner, it's my birthright to do so.

― Granny Dainger, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:50 (seventeen years ago) link

well, there's no shame in being a provincial boob, I don't guess, but there's no pride in it either.

― kenan, Friday, 16 March 2007 21:56 (seventeen years ago) link

I like hipsters. hooray people who make an effort - however misguided, self-conscious, or obnoxious it may be - to make their lives strange or unusual or interesting.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:03 (seventeen years ago) link

*flees from shower of stones, rotten garbage*

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:04 (seventeen years ago) link

I do look down on people who care about fashion. As a midwesterner, it's my birthright to do so.

This might explain why midwestern thrift stores beat the shit out of anything on the coasts-- y'all throw away all of your cool articles of clothing! I mean, clothing designers from Japan fly into Cleveland all the time just to buy tons of shit at the thrift stores and then re-sell them to young hip types in Tokyo.

― the table is the table, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:11 (seventeen years ago) link

That's where definitions begin to differ, I guess. 'Hipster' as I hear it used (and the people I see) really doesn't refer to someone who is making their life strange, unusual or interesting.

Hipster means they're taking their cues (fashion, music, etc.) from a certain pool of resources that just happens to be a different pool than Stripey-Shirt Frat Bro or Redneck Woman use.

― milo z, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:12 (seventeen years ago) link

key word is "different", methinks

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:17 (seventeen years ago) link

if caring about fashion is wrong, i don't wanna be right.

― lauren, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:17 (seventeen years ago) link

Redneck Women can also be quite entertaining/idiosyncratic in their own ways.

Fratboys I have an inherent aversion too, however.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:18 (seventeen years ago) link

chicago kevin otm upthread.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:22 (seventeen years ago) link

self-conscious killjoy that i am.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:22 (seventeen years ago) link

what i mean about midwestern thrift stores is that not only can a "hipster" or whatever find all sorts of stupid-ass clothing to astound and amuse their friends, a normal person can find nice clothes (sometimes couture) for very cheap. case in point: the halston suit i bought for $4. perfect condition.

― the table is the table, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:24 (seventeen years ago) link

that's kinda true of any thrift store anywhere.

― scott seward, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:28 (seventeen years ago) link

how is that different from non-midwestern thrift stores?
kenan are you saying that thinking that those who care deeply about fashion are silly makes one a provincial boob?

― Granny Dainger, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:32 (seventeen years ago) link

caring about fashion isn't wrong, i just find it silly. just like you most likely find people who wear stretchy pants and tweety t-shirts silly. yin to the yang.

― Granny Dainger, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:35 (seventeen years ago) link

You can't get a Halston suit for $4 in the NYC area!

― tokyo rosemary, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:35 (seventeen years ago) link

you definitely can't get any kind of suit for $4 in SF, I don't care where you're lookin. Not even at the "Clothes by the Pound" place.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:37 (seventeen years ago) link

you can if you get up early enough!

― scott seward, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:37 (seventeen years ago) link

you guys sleep in too late! cuz yer slacker hipsters!

― scott seward, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:38 (seventeen years ago) link

hey I get up every weekend at 7am to cook breakfast for the wife!

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:43 (seventeen years ago) link

If Freud had replaced Marx in the 50s intelligentsia, hipsters were his bolsheviks, the murderous revolutionaries of the psyche as opposed to the menshevik bohemian-liberals.

holy shit.

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:48 (seventeen years ago) link

I think some people want to seem above fashion because it's so personal. The same amount of talent, work, creativity and historical reference can go into a beautiful dress as some glorified painting or black and white still. Making and designing clothes is fucking hard. Is it because it goes on your body and not on the wall where you can be detached from it that some people hate fashion. I don't know why people who obviously care about creative processes and art are all down on presenting themselves with clothing that is thoughtful. Like, I seriously wish I could try harder to dress nicer, even if I don't have the perfect body or height for most clothing that I think is amazing.

― Yerac, Friday, 16 March 2007 22:58 (seventeen years ago) link

it probably has something to do with the general vapidity and over-inflated value of the fashion industry.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 16 March 2007 23:01 (seventeen years ago) link

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