The term "hipster" has evolved over the years into a subculture category where men and women swing towards the edge of the road, escape the suffocating mainstream and ever so slightly sweep their purposefully forward bangs to the back of their perfectly, rugged hair while questioning the values and meanings of life as they begin sipping on the new frontier of dihydrogen monoxide. Also known as, water.
So trendy, so edgy, so different.
The cool shoes, colorful tattoos, and scruffy beards scream for attention and, of course, make them instantly cool. Why else would someone buy purposefully oversized glasses, listen to completely unheard of artists, and fold the ends of their jeans at the correct line that their shoes begin? Nothing screams awesome personality like exaggerated facial mustaches that dangle and reshape the lives of anyone who comes across it. The swirls and perfect curvature of every hair can make any person turn and examine the wondrous creature that is a hipster, a human who has decided to be different.
Now, don’t misinterpret me. Personalities come in all shapes, sizes, colors and styles. However, why does is seem to no longer be a shocker when we see someone drink American grown coffee, wear beanies on the edge of their hairline, or listen to off the grid artists and stop listening once they finally get popular? Could it be that because we see that so much in our culture, we have learned to accept it and yet still consider it different? Perhaps, we, as a social society, have embedded an idea of what normality is and anything that contradicts that is considered different.
If we think back a couple of years, the term hipster was not a common word in our vocabulary. Yet now we use it to define anyone who looks a specific way. It seems that whenever someone wears plaid, dark jeans, over sized cardigans, or drinks coffee from an overpriced coffee shop, they are automatically categorized as a hipster. If we call everyone who looks different a hipster, then doesn’t that mean that "hipster" has become a normal term and an overused trend?
Looking around campuses, I can see the homogenous effect where people begin to wear the same clothes, speak in the same tone, believe in the same things, and ultimately, end with the same personality. It seems like the saying "birds of a feather flock together" is an all too real idea around the hipster community.
Now, you can consider trends to be deciphered as different. After all, trends are always spotted when more than one person decides to follow the new clash against normality. However, how can we call something different if, in fact, it seems to have become a trend? The answer is simple. You can’t. If the clash has become a trend, it then can be considered normal. Ergo, the trend is no longer associated with a subculture category that seeks a different outlook, but rather with normality. It has become something that everyone does.
Yes, I said it. Hipsters have become normal in our culture. They are no longer the outside group.
The clash has ended.