Where Have All the Hipsters Gone: An E-Mail Correspondence

On Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 11:25 AM, Amelia Diamond wrote:

Question. Where have all the hipsters gone?

On Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 11:33 AM, Leandra Medine wrote:

I think Portland. Either that or they’ve retired their plaid shirts and artisanal basement beer breweries for hair gel and $400 sunglasses.

On Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 11:54 AM, Amelia Diamond wrote:

Did they relocate to Portland, or originally come from Portland? I think you’re on to something re: the $400 sunglasses, though.

If 2011 saw the rise of the gentrified ironic Brooklyn hipster who just moved to NYC, had his first job at an indie record label, shopped at thrift stores, wore big plastic eyeglasses with sausage-skinny jeans rolled up like man-pris and collected vintage t-shirts, then in 2015 this hipster is still our guy! Just older.

Maybe he has a start up now.

On Wed, Jul 15, 2015 at 5:14 PM, Leandra Medine wrote:

With VC-money to spend on sunglasses! So you’re saying that the hipster is still among us, making his own shaving cream and all. His outfit has simply changed.

But maybe he doesn’t have a start-up, no? Maybe he just holds Entrepreneur mag under his armpit. I definitely think he was at Men’s Fashion Week in printed socks and a three-piece suit even though it’s 90 degrees out. He has a monogrammed handkerchief. He wears a monocle.

On Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 8:36 AM, Amelia Diamond wrote:

Yes!! Because he’s now a man but not The Man (aka corporate), he still had a beard.

I used to think of hipsters as being really ironic. At first they were so niche with their handle bar mustaches and mason jars but then those “novelties” became a thing. Less an expression, more an expectation.

Our new hipster is more earnest. Important to note! GUYS ARE MUCH MORE AWARE OF FASHION NOW THAN EVER BEFORE! If we did that video with you in Bryant Park five years ago, the responses would have been very different. Dudes would have been horrified.

On Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 9:50 AM, Leandra Medine wrote:

Right — “The New Hipster” understands fashion. He may be better at it than his sister. Definitely better than you. And because of this he’s harder to sartorially repel.

Meanwhile, the plaid-wearing, beer-drinking, Brooklyn-dwelling stereotype of the bygone aughts has become so pervasive in popular culture that we don’t even notice him and his pickling posse as a subset anymore. He’s the rule, not the exception and this well-kept guy, possibly with gel in his freshly shampooed hair is now who stands out.

On Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 3:46 PM, Amelia Diamond wrote:

Mental update: if ye old hipster of yore has gone to Portland, I think he shaved. Got contacts. Became a dad.

But I think you’re right, our supposed hipster-missing-in-action is not missing at all. He’s right here. He’s just no longer a novelty. He’s the norm. Core!

On Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 3:46 PM, Leandra Medine wrote:

Like a baby who became a toddler, whose nurse can’t get over the fact that he can now count to 10.

On Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 3:51 PM, Amelia Diamond wrote:

Okay, weirdo. I think that if Spirit Halloween stores are still around in 30 years they will sell a cheap, packaged, polyester costume of “The Hipster” right beside “The Hippie” and “The Greaser.”

On Thu, Jul 16, 2015 at 3:58 PM, Leandra Medine wrote:

Well that settles it. The hipster didn’t go anywhere. He just grew ^^^^.

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