The science of being hipster

In my mind, there are two types of hipster:

1.) That kind of hipster who tries to hard. These guys will go out of their way to make their appearance look hipster and for them being hipster is an external thing - it's something for people to engage with and to notice. They'll intentionally seek out alternative clothes, hairstyles and glasses and they'll wear their indie music taste with an unfortunately heavy mix of arrogance to pride.

2.) Natural hipsters. Now before you all jump the gun and tell me what a massive cunt I sound for possibly believing there is something natural about a social culture, I note that the phrasing itself is unfortunate but it's as close as I can get to saying what I mean. This kind of hipster won't don a Smiths shirt because it makes them look hipster, they'll buy it because they love The Smiths.

And there lies the difference, I think. As with my outlook on morality it comes down to primary intentions. A natural hipster will never have the primary motive of giving off the image of being hipster; the image naturally attaches itself to them because they just end up fitting all of the labels that we tag along to what it is to be 'hipster'. The try-too-hard hipster will instead have the primary intention of being hipster; they treat it as a means to an end whereas the others merely treat it as the end itself. For the try-too-hards being hipster is fashionable - it's a vehicle from which they can achieve their ultimate goal of coming across as cool, indie or 'different'. Or, as I will perhaps more controversially propose now, to look like a massive twat.

The fact is that being a twat is a whole lot more appealing in society than we like to admit - perhaps it's because we're in denial that we can subscribe to such a science, but it's true. People make millions out of being nothing more than a massive twat - see Piers Morgan - and being a twat has traditionally always been an attraction to the opposite sex. It's that self-acceptance of being a massive douchebag, flaunting it and running it as your own that many people, whether they admit it or not, find so appealing. For the try-too-hards, the 'hipster twat' subculture is a fantastic opportunity to outwardly be a complete douchebag and for people to still find it cool.

I'm not a fan of the try-too-hards. I made a blogpost ages ago (http://adventuresofasuburbanstreetposse.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/on-hipsters.html) about my realisation of becoming hipster and it's the kind of people who don't try, at all, who make hipsters so fucking cool. Hipster came to me more than me going to it, so to speak. For the try-too-hards it's just an social vehicle, but there are many really fucking cool people in the world who listen to fantastic bands, have that cool alternative sense of humour and dress-sense and don't mean it solely with the intention of being hipster - it's just how they are. They're the ones who have the labels put upon them, whereas the others seek the labels out and put them on themselves.

I'm not saying that these 'natural hipsters' aren't aware that they're hipster - of course they are. It's become such a buzzword in society that there's no way they won't have been subjected to 'you're really fucking hipster' at least once or twice. They'll be aware of the premise, but they'll be comfortable or indifferent with it. Perhaps most fittingly it's that sense of indifference to labels that truly encapsulates what it is to be hipster.

This could be another attempt at my subconscious to reassure me that I'm not a massive twat, just like my last blog post on being hipster. But I'm recently seeing with a bit more clarity this whole hipster scene and this is how I break it down. Don't hate on hipsters - hate on the people who try to be hipster. The difference lies in that the true/more likeable hipsters will not go into a shop and buy those really tight orange trousers and buy them to look even more hipster - they'll buy them for the sake of it. Because they like them.