More yakking about hipsters and fashion blogs

[twoheaded_boy]

Actual discursive content x-posted from Tumblr:

That thing about The Sartorialist that always bugged me but couldn't quite figure out...

standardgrey:
…then Marxy at Neojaponisme nailed it

Comments

[grahamshem]

"it’s as a grassroots community of mostly middle-class creatives whose political values may not be strident or even well-articulated, but at least gesture towards a liberal ideal of an equal and participatory society

[grahamshem]

oh, I realise the problem with my first thing is that if you follow that refinement then we'd get into authenticity battles (real vs. fake hipsters) which we all know are lame.

[twoheaded_boy]

I think the deal is that there is no such thing as a "real" hipster since the terms that define it are so slippery and elusive. Or rather, since it's based on disavowal ("I'm not a hipster; it's that guy, that irritating guy, he's the hipster"), the "real" hipster is kind of a fantasmic figure that nobody wants to be.

To put it differently, in the past, the opposition was between good/authentic and bad/superficial, but now, since the hipster is a priori superficial and inauthentic, the opposition kind of fizzles out. Authenticity becomes really elusive. The only solution (if you're invested in the argument to any degree) is to hang in an artifical non-space where you're "above" hipsterdom.

[twoheaded_boy]

key points! this idea of "intimate publics" sounds interesting, I should look up this lauren berlant.

[martropolitan]

Small point - "industry professionals" may be shitty hipsters, but they're not at all rich, necessarily - especially in the Tokyo context of that Neojaponisme piece, a lot of them were hired for their cheekbones and the outfit they wore to the interview and are subsisting on ramen to keep the hits coming, like Marge Simpson with her one mangled chanel suit. I basically agree with what you're saying, but I hate to see that pejorative "rich" tossed around at people who don't deserve it.

[dorywithserifs]

...and I've been thinking about Hipsterism as it relates to geography. I moved to New York, to Brooklyn, to Williamsburg, and I feel this need to roll my eyes when I tell people what neighbourhood I live in because I didn't move here because I felt like I needed to be in this epicentre of art, vintage dresses, $1 PBRs, and bicycles, it's just where I had a friend who needed a roommate. I suppose this is about the authentic/inauthentic thing--to me, williamsburg is the Expo 86 t-shirt my mom got at Expo, not one picked up for $45 at a vintage store. It just happened, but I am really happy to be here...

My favourite reaction, though, when I tell people where I live, comes from those who don't really have preconceptions of this 'hood as hipster central. They say things like "oh! I hear that's a really up-and-coming neighbourhood!" and I think it's really cute.

[dorywithserifs]

Okay, sorry to blather, but I think that these hipster neighbourhoods get a bad reputation for gentrification and homogenization, but in reality, I am impressed everyday at how all the small organic bakeries and little bars and comic shops are clearly just wonderful small businesses. It's impressively entrepreneurial, and really authentic or earnest or genuine.

I feel the same way about the ventures in Portland and Toronto that create these "scenes." And I guess that there are lot of leeches that just come and take from others' hard work and don't participate, but if people didn't do that the ventures wouldn't last.

[anonymous]

I find it kinda funny that, in all this fuss about hipsterism, no one has brought in the original meanining of hipster. According to Burroughs, a hipster is someone who can score drugs on the street corner of any city. Any thoughts on how this term has permutated into something so different from it's original meaning? Might be something to think about when writing the "hipster article", Saelan.

Mark E Rich