Hipsters: A Pathology

"Members of the subculture typically do not self-identify as hipsters, and the word hipster is often used as a pejorative to describe someone who is pretentious, overly trendy, and effete, or a stereotypical term, that has been reclaimed and redefined by some as a term of pride and group identity."

The French have the great abbreviation BoBo for 'bourgeois bohemians'; people who oh so carefully cultivate the look of the bohemian whilst having a ton of cash and a well appointed pad in the Septieme. Clearly Paris is a particularly great place for this type of lifestyle but London isn't far behind and the spread of the hipster is a well observed phenomenon extending even to sleepy Highbury. 

The cafe down the road is now hipster central in N5; hoardes of them hanging out inside or out, crowding the pavements and generally flaunting their hipsterdom. 

I admit to finding this both amusing and annoying but it's a phenomenon which says a lot about what is happening in society and in London in recent years. 

The great Grayson Perry perfectly captured the two classic traits of the middle classes. One type wants to know exactly what is considered tasteful and then be obsessive about securing it. The other wants to flaunt their individual taste obtained though individual development, travel etc. 

In either case they are all about emphasising difference, particularly from below.

These signifiers help you to identify people who are your in group. So the coteries of hipsters clustering around the cafe down my road emblazon the signifiers to secure and consolidate acceptance in the desired group and exclude those who are not desired. This is all about reinforcing difference and the ties that bind are now increasingly found in small differences.

Recent manifestations of the hipster, particularly the male variety had extensive facial hair (although peak beard has now clearly passed some time ago); flannel shirts, brogues (preferably sans socks); some tweed accoutrements; flat caps or hats and the occasional waist coat.

The overall effect was to look like a slightly trying too hard Victorian handyman who hasn't actually had to get his hands dirty and certainly wouldn't recognise one end of a wrench from the other. But at least there is a fit with the period of the local housing so it's not all bad.

There's a major emphasis on authenticity which informs the whole look. This may be an understandable if somewhat overstated reaction to mass marketing and consumer manipulation which seems widely shared amongst millenials. On the other hand the peculiarities of the DIY maker mentality assembling new things from old were accurately and hilariously mocked in the film While We're Young in which obsessions with mechanisms and mechanical objects are a central feature. One can see it in the obsessions about everything from the perfect cup of coffee to craft beer; from vinyl records to reusing outdated electronics. 

So the hipster really is a highly developed form of Grayson's second type of middle class person: rigorously flaunting their individuality and their own creativity and style. 

There's also a wonk version of the hipster; bit intense; slightly fey; cycle close by ready to ride to the nearest think tank and think great thoughts after spending time with, you know, actual people in the local social housing, (prisoners or addicts even better if you can manage it), before writing great thoughts for the next seminar at which they can talk to each other on the basis that they have all spoken to real people. It's a bit of a badge or a rite of passage because the  wonk version of the hipster desperately needs the real world bit on the CV. So a couple of years teaching in the local community school goes down an absolute treat. 

The basic point here is that they mostly come from rarified, privileged backgrounds and have gone through the same school and university routes and then into the hard end of wonkery. In other words it's still all about the in group.

Other aspects of lifestyle hipsterdom most certainly include yoga. As has been pointed out to me this is a classic piece of “stuff white people like” because it gives us a taste of exoticism which might otherwise be absent from our lives. Don't get me wrong. Yoga is not a bad thing! But here it is a major cultural signifier. A perfect one because it originates in a different culture but also reflects middle class obsessions about well being and health. Which are of course also signifiers. So what better than to turn up at the cafe with your yoga gear ready to drink your carefully prepared coffee after an hour of striking an impressive asana.

There is an infuriating sense of privilege about the whole enterprise. The BoBo concept captures this so well because the whole thing is so carefully - and often expensively - cultivated. Indeed curated. 

And that's the central irony: something that flaunts authenticity comes across as screamingly, transcendentally inauthentic. 

What, however, is even worse than the solo hipster is the hipster couple. Then not only does one have the preening self obsession, one has shared self regard. If, heaven forfend, there is also a child full solipsism ensues. Exaggerated parenting places said child as the simply assumed centre of attention. The parents almost as a matter of pride fail to observe their effect on anyone else because they are only really concerned with being observed themselves. This can even extend to treading on you and then rather expecting that you apologise. 

After all what could be a greater expression of curating then a child.