One thing the Internet is particularly good for is unnecessarily offering labels to populations that do not fall neatly into one of our existing categories. However, once in a blue moon, someone makes an astute observation about modern culture worth discussing. Over the last few years, the previously pejorative term "hipster" has become first and foremost associated with a bohemian, I-just-threw-this-on look, music festival attendance, and home décor from Anthropologie. Almost paradoxically, it has been adopted by individuals with decidedly mainstream tastes in music and art and has thus become mainstream itself, the proverbial snake eating its own tail. So, what is born out of the fiery death of hipsterism?
Like a phoenix from its ashes rises a new classification: the yuccie.
The Young Urban Creative, or Yuccie, is the more grown up, more nuanced lovechild of the yuppie and the hipster. That is a fancy way of saying that yuccies want to get paid for being creative, to have a creative outlet in their work while simultaneously accumulating enough wealth to continue shopping at Anthropologie like they did when they were simply just called hipsters. Of course, however, they will tell you they buy their clothes and home goods at trendy thrift stores. Yuccies buy their groceries at Whole Foods, or Trader Joe's if they very vocally tell you that Whole Foods is overrated. They drink craft beer and have attempted to brew their own but failed miserably. They come from wealth and either went to liberal arts college or will tell you at length why they opted for a large university instead. They have no visible tattoos, or maybe none at all because nothing means enough to them to permanently mark their bodies, you know?
They have mixed feelings about Lena Dunham because she is "super problematic" but still watch "Girls" on their parents' HBOGO. They are fiercely passionate about guacamole. They have suffered through unpaid internships with ample help from their conservative parents but they refuse to work for the capitalist machine. They read their Twitter feeds from their up-to-date iPhones for their news and they pay for Spotify premium so they can listen to as much Arcade Fire as their hearts desire.
They will absolutely not stop talking about the semester they spent abroad and encourage everyone to go do soul searching immediately despite the financial unfeasibility for most people. They sell their crafts on Etsy. They are just really into pilates right now. They don't eat red meat because it's awful for the environment but ignore that the western world eating such exorbitant amounts of quinoa is literally starving farmers in Bolivia because "it's seriously a superfood." They will passionately argue that Chipotle is better than Qdoba and Moe's and get offended when you disagree. They believe that there is objectively good music that everyone with any taste should like. They try to give off a cool, laid back vibe, but only actually relax when they're somehow inebriated. They vocal fry. They relate to Vampire Weekend lyrics "on a spiritual level," and oppose cultural appropriation but still call things their spirit animals.
Is the yuccie label here to stay for a while, or will it go the way of the hipster before it? Only time will tell. But no matter what we call them, Young Urban Creatives will continue to exist and you will continue to hear about it.
