Hipsters and the Consumer Culture of Cool
by Kelly
Urban Outfitters skinny blue jeans. Thick, white plastic-framed glasses (prescription-less). American Apparel buffalo plaid shirt. I-phone. Skullcandy headphones.
If you hadn’t already guessed, the above outfit is classic hipster attire. But what, you say, is a hipster?
According to Urban Dictionary, the hipster
“listens to bands that you have never heard of. Has hairstyle that can only be described as “complicated.” …Probably tattooed. Maybe gay. Definitely cooler than you. Reads Black Book, Nylon, and the Styles section of the New York Times. Drinks Pabst Blue Ribbon. Often. Complains. Always denies being a hipster. Hates the word. Probably living off parents money – and spends a great deal of it to look like they don’t have any. …Has a closet full of clothing but usually wears same three things OVER AND OVER (most likely very tight black pants, scarf, and ironic tee-shirt). Chips off nail polish artfully after $50 manicure.”
This definition is full of generalizations, yes. It’s also slightly insulting to so-called hipsters. However, this description is instructive as an example of our generation’s obsession with achieving “coolness” through material means. Want to be popular, edgy, fashion-forward? For many, it’s about the music you listen to, the literature you read, the television you watch (or don’t). However, if you examine this culture of cool more closely, you’ll notice how much stuff has to be purchased in the pursuit of peer acceptance.
Let’s take music as a prime example. Sure, any twenty-something worth their mettle knows how to build an impressive music collection for free using Bit-torrent. However, to go with their 40 GB of mp3’s, they “need” the latest I-pod (Do you have the video? The shuffle? The limited-edition U2 version? The 30 GB? The 60 GB?), the most stylist headphones (the aforementioned Skullcandy being a favorite), the speakers, the subwoofers, the I-pod speakers, a stereo system, and a sweet laptop with loads of memory. Not to mention the band t-shirts, the insanely expensive concert tickets, the CDs (because you love the band so much you want to support them monetarily).
What does it take these days to seem cultured? Subscribing to the right magazines, drinking the right beer, doing the right drugs. Popping Adderrall for those moments of writer’s block during finals week. It costs so much to be cool, and yet we barely bat an eyelash when shelling out all of our cash.
What is particularly ironic is that going “green” is the ultimate trend these days. Cheap, trendy stores like Forever 21 sell cute multi-colored re-usuable bags. Tee-shirts are sold at your local Hot-Topic proclaiming “Save the Earth” and other environmentally-friendly phrases.
However, do any of us stop for a second and ponder the irony of purchasing more crap in order to promote our “green”-ness? If you’ve seen the Story of Stuff, you know that the production and distribution of all these goods are costing the environment plenty. The water used in manufacturing your cell phone is contaminated for several thousand years. The cellophane and packaging covering your cell-phone, tossed in your trash can, will be added to the alarmingly huge pile of trash polluting our many dump sites. The money you spend will go into the pockets of fat corporations and not the factory workers slaving away to create the crap you didn’t really need in the first place.
When you shop at American Apparel you are ignoring all of the shady business practices that have been splashed across the media (sexist and racist ad campaigns, sexual harassment charges against the CEO Dov Charney — among other issues). When you start smoking your American Spirits cigarettes – (don’t ya love looking so disaffected and nonchalant flicking the ash off the end of your cigarettes?) – you are overlooking the fact that RJ Reynolds bought out American Spirits in 2004. The very same corporation that, like Phillip Morris and other major tobacco corporations, has spent millions of dollars on targeting women, minorities and youth in their advertising. The very same tobacco industry that knew its cigarettes caused cancer and instead of releasing the information, put more money into engineering tobacco with twice the amount of nicotine.
We must re-think our consumerism, and fast, if we really care about the environment. As Americans (and this goes for anyone living in a capitalistic society), we seem to think we are so entitled to the latest product, the trendiest clothing. I admit it myself, I’m a big fan of fashion and one of my guilty pleasures is reading fashion blogs like Sea of Shoes, Fashion Toast, and Bleach Black. However, I try to temper my love of fashion with a heavy dose of reality. I fully recognize that Sea of Shoes is a blatant display of the excesses of wealth. Sure, the blog owner is a sweet girl who has loads of style. But if I had that kind of disposable income, believe me, I would have that kind of style too. It’s so easy to be envious of the wealthy who can afford to purchase all the trendiest items. However, in that same vein, it helps to keep things in perspective. Would I really be happy if I could spend all my money on clothing? No. Wouldn’t I feel even more guilty about wasting the environment’s resources if I were purchasing a greater chunk of the crap ending up in the trash dumps? You betcha.
It’ll be hard, for sure. I’m not saying I’m the model of eco-friendly perfection, but if we care about the world that our children will be born into, it’s necessary to change our consumer habits. Hopefully someday “hipster” will mean someone who is defined by the causes they support rather than the clothing they purchase.
- Dollface
Thank you thank you for articulating every issue I have had with the whole “hipster” thing. The American Apparel issue is one that I find truly disturbing. Why do people continue to shop there?! I can’t wrap my head around it.
I really appreciate this post.
Although…I must be the epitome of lame since I RARELY spend money. I prefer to horde it.
@ Fay — I just don’t get it. On top of all the crap that is wrong with American Apparel (gonna do a post on it soon), I have friends who tell me American Apparel is soooo affordable. Ummm $48 bucks for a plain t-shirt?? No thanks!
@ Jackie — Glad you like the post…you’re definitely not lame. I spent all yesterday quizzing my mom on savings accounts, IRAs and other financial stuff. I’d rather save money than spend it.
I love that you brought up the whole “green” thing. I don’t understand that either.
Back when “green” was an up-and-coming trend, I thought that it was all about reducing consumption — which was a very good thing. At first, it was — it was all about minimizing energy usage, avoiding littering, eating more sensibly, and limiting the number of things you throw away. However, some very business-savvy people in a conference room somewhere figured out that “cut your consumption” isn’t what people wanted to hear — so they found a way to let people buy more stuff (which everyone seems to want to do these days) while allowing them to enjoy the thought that they’re doing something good for the planet. Now, the “green” movement has become an excuse for companies to raise prices (it may not fall directly in line with environmentalism, but a good example is the regular Kraft shredded cheese and the “natural” cheese; the one marked “natural” is supposed to involve less manufacturing and all of that, but costs twice as much!) and for consumers to justify buying a whole bunch of crap under the guise of supposed environmentalism.
This was a great article.. although I am now thoroughly convinced that I am mightily uncool, as I’m ridiculously frugal (particularly when it comes to shopping.. I’ve had a massive seismic shift in the area of frock buying), completely technologically inept (when I needed to buy a new phone six months ago, the salesperson showed me multiple phones offering camera services, internet use and unique ring tones.. I baulked at all of them and said ”just show me your cheapest model.. as long as it rings, and can make calls, I’m a happy girl!” and have no idea about any of the latest bands, as I’m stuck in a tragic 60′s/70′s/80′s time warp developed from my parents.. and I’m 21!
Thank you for this. My sentiments exactly.
i think you’re right to focus on the evils of consumption; if anything, capitalism is the real culprit — everything gets touched by it. our obsession with acquiring coolness is just one example of a much larger and more pervasive problem.
your post also gets to one of the problems that most annoy me about human beings: this desire to wear our coolness/individuality/alternative-ness on our sleeves — literally! it’s as if personality isn’t enough. honestly, people who play into the dream of hipsterdom (or any other-dom — country club-dom (i shudder at lacoste) is just another example) are afraid they aren’t worth anything other than their looks. it’s sad to me; i can’t decide whether i want to give them several big hugs or run away from them as quickly as possible.
p.s. i think you might like this: http://vimeo.com/3846269 . it gets to the problem of what we might call ‘postmodern orientalism,’ though it’s smart in factoring in — in a large way — the evils of capitalism (and the way in which the people who are most hurt by cultural commodification are simultaneously the ones who need to support it in order to subsist.)
the thing that bugs me about the whole hipster thing is it’s a completely shallow movement. its all about the clothes and the “things” and trends opposed to youth movements of the past that were actually about belonging or creating an identity based on personal beliefs and similarities. never before has a “counter culture” youth movement been so mainstream, trendy and similar to the kinds of cliques most of us remember trying to avoid in high school.
[...] at American Apparel to be ridiculously overpriced (and fueling the consumer habits I discuss in “Hipsters and the Consumer Culture of Cool”), there are other reasons AA is a toxic [...]
@ xCorrine…thanks so much for posting. I thought I was the only one out there. ;)