Top Ten Blog: Top Ten Reasons Why You Might be a Hipster

The term hipster has been thrown around much more commonly these days and some are still unsure if they should embrace the title or refuse it.  Is it a mixture of bohemian, punk, and hippie styles? Is it about what types of hobbies you have?  If you are one of the many still confused, here are some traits that might clear things up.

1. Tight Pants: We all see them around campus, mostly because they are hard to miss.  Whether they are colorful, patterned, or faded and ripped (and we know you bought them that way), you are fitting in with the “hipsters” as much as your tight jeans are fitting you.

2. Thick frame glasses: No prescription necessary.

3. Obscure music: I respect people for not going down the beaten path musically.  I respect them even more when their favorite songs span from indie to country to rock.  But a clear sign of a hipster is in the name of the bands they listen to.  If your answer to “What’s playing?” could very well be a combination of random words put together, you are a hipster.  Take a look at The Airborne Toxic Event. 

4. Instruments: If you are a true hipster, you go beyond playing the guitar in the garage – instead you strum your ukulele or banjo.  It’s an extra perk that these are smaller and fit much more easily into your knapsacks.  This way you are always prepared when the mood strikes to play some tunes.

5. Drastic Hair Length: This is more of a long-term commitment to the hipster scene.  Styles are typically past-the-navel long or chopped, most likely by your friends in your bathroom.  

6. No Shave: For men, it is no shave November all year round.  Scruff is just not enough, but it is where all hipster dudes begin.  Long beards mix in well with the collection of necklaces from foreign countries or a nice, plaid bowtie.

7. Hatin’ on the Mainstream: Likes and dislikes of hipsters fall in or out of accord with society’s likes and dislikes – sorry Beiber fans, you didn’t make the cut.  Bon Iver fans, you’re still good. 

8. Combat Boots: Formerly a dress code item of rebellious teenagers in classic 80s films, they have been adopted, like many other items, by hipsters.  Worn best when they are somewhat destroyed and paired with red jeans and a thin Fleetwood Mac t-shirt.  

9. Polaroids: When your Facebook profile picture is of you in your favorite Flannel shirt and edited as a black and white Polaroid, you know you’re a hipster.  When you have albums dedicated to nature shots in sepia and again, in vintage Polaroid style, you are a hipster.  

10. Denial: Hipsters do not identify as hipsters.  It is more of a state of being, per say.  In fact, hipsters are more likely to point out or mock other hipsters, maybe internally appreciating the irony.