

To think that describing someone as 'hipster'...

(200 Posts)
ElleMcFearsome Wed 07-Aug-13 09:45:41

... Is not remotely as derogatory as describing them as 'chavvy'?

Had DHs long term friend and his wife over recently. A mutual friend asked how they were and I said words to the effect of 'oh X (male half of the couple) is utter bliss as ever. I adore him, he's so hipster!' She recoiled in horror and told me that I couldn't use 'hipster' to describe someone as it was as bad as saying someone is 'chavvy' (though, obviously with completely different meanings). FWIW it would never cross my mind to describe someone as 'chavvy' as for me it has unpleasant connotations.

X is in his 40s, I'm late 30s. X works in tech, is v stylish, wears clothing brands that will be fashionable in a years time, is a real muso, can talk for whole minutes about which coffee he prefers, is off beat and cool and adorable and good fun... which equates to hipster in my mind.

MN - am I using the word wrongly? Has 'hipster' acquired a derogatory meaning? Help!

mrsjay Thu 08-Aug-13 09:58:42

We still have C&A in Europe mrsjay, its a blast from the past

No way that is brilliant is it filled with batwing jumpers grin

MissMilliment Thu 08-Aug-13 10:04:18

How many hipsters does it take to change a lightbulb?

It's a really obscure number, you won't have heard of it.

ShatnersBassoon Thu 08-Aug-13 10:06:40

OP, your utterly blissful friend must surely have been a Guardian Weekender at some point. Does he sport an unusual moustache? He'd be described as "Crispin Urquhart, 44, Civil Servant and mixed media artist", and he'd wear his quirkiest plus-fours for the photo.

I know these people exist, but they're like nothing I've ever encountered in real life. I'd be like someone at a zoo if I found myself in one of London's hippest corners.

janey68 Thu 08-Aug-13 10:14:17

I wouldn't equate hipster with Chav, but I would assume it wasnt complimentary. Most people use hipster as a bit of a put down don't they?
(Genuinely confused now!)

curlew Thu 08-Aug-13 10:38:56

Certainly my teen and her friends would never use it as a compliment. Not a killer insult- more affectionately mocking.

YouTheCat Thu 08-Aug-13 10:41:18

That's it. Affectionately mocking. grin

We see loads of them in the town, trying so desperately to be different that they all end up looking the same.

mrsjay Thu 08-Aug-13 10:42:24


Thats what my teen and friends do dd says Hispters are all around me I cant cope grin

BlingBang Thu 08-Aug-13 11:21:25

feeling more hip as i knew what hipster and muso meant and i've never been cool in my life.

this thread has been hilarious - thanks op! heading down to Shoreditch to sit and giggle.

mignonette Thu 08-Aug-13 15:54:30

I have seen the ultimate Hipster disgrace. Leather/Pleather leggings for a toddler here. You may need to scroll down a little to see this abomination.

limitedperiodonly Thu 08-Aug-13 16:05:23

Those leggings are so wrong.

There was a thread on here about whether you should dress a small child in a Ramones t-shirt that got quite heated.

Personally I think Peppa Pig's the way to go until you can develop your own musical taste.

DH's musical taste is so dodgy I'd keep him in a Peppa Pig t-shirt permanently.

SlowlorisIncognito Thu 08-Aug-13 16:18:05

It's not really on the same level as chav to me, because being chav implies worse things about the person and their background. Hipster is basically shorthand for "pretentious wanker", which isn't exactly a nice thing to call someone. They take themselves too seriously, and look faintly ridiculous, whilst thinking they're cool. Everything is "too mainstream" for them.

I think it's both an adjective and a noun, i.e. someone is a hipster, but you can also have hipster clothes, and so on.

Although your friend does sound a bit like a hipster. Sorry. =/

limitedperiodonly Thu 08-Aug-13 16:24:58

When I was 15 I used to moan about bands who sold out. When I got old enough to have to pay my own bills I completely understood the appeal of selling out.

I think the same goes for teenage hipsters and the sad 40-something ones.

mignonette Thu 08-Aug-13 16:28:18

Limited It makes me sad to think how constricted in movement a child in those is going to be. Poor little sods.

limitedperiodonly Thu 08-Aug-13 16:46:18

I think those leggings will squirm their way off and be sent to the charity shop after the first wear grin. Small children don't have the bums to be able to keep them up.

Don't know who'd buy them from there. I might if they were in the 50p bin and I'd cut them into 100 small squares to use as glasses cloths.

I'm steering from from the sexualisation argument of tight leather on children because I think they look more ridiculous than provocative. But who the fuck wants their child to look either?

ArtexMonkey Thu 08-Aug-13 17:00:34

Those leggings shock

That site is hilarious though: "The new line mimics a downtown mom’s dream wardrobe, only shrunken. As founder/designer Colleen Crivello pulled piece after piece in her Tribeca showroom, the only appropriate response to the exquisite tailoring and sweet but sophisticated fall styles was, “Stop it right now.”"

Stop it right now, indeed.

mignonette Thu 08-Aug-13 17:02:15

If a shrunken wardrobe is the latest thing Artex then I'll ask my DS to do the next load of washing then.

Absy Thu 08-Aug-13 17:20:42

Cosmo Kramer (in Seinfeld) was the original hipster in my opinion - Jerry even refers to him as a "hipster doofus"!

The evidence:
penchant for vintage clothing
trousers pulled up showing his socks
"goofy" hair

Absy Thu 08-Aug-13 17:27:59

A friend was visiting London from another country, and arranged to have drinks in Shoreditch. I lasted about 20 minutes before I had to get out of their- my skin was CRAWLING from all the hipsters. Poor friend didn't realise what he'd made us go to sad

limitedperiodonly Thu 08-Aug-13 17:40:53

I did a piece on the price of childhood if money was no object and you were mad.

At the time there wasn't a hipster way to spunk money on baby clothes.

I concentrated Bonpoint and Baby Dior which are shock. I prefer Bonpoint to Baby Dior, but that's because I tend more towards trad than bling, which further marks me out as tragically unhip. Unfortunately I'm poor as well.

I found a Clements Ribeiro cashmere cardi for £150 (we're talking at least 15 years ago) that was lovely but hot and destined to get ruined in a horrible back-of-the-nappy shit incident.

I'd rather buy a cashmere cardi for myself. Happy mum, happy baby and all that wink

mignonette Fri 09-Aug-13 09:47:30

What Brooklyn Hipster kids take for These are the packed lunches of the twins belonging to former NY Times Food editor Amanda Hesser. She poaches tuna for them to take. There are no words. And I thought the stacked sandwiches my kids took were the bomb grin

mignonette Fri 09-Aug-13 09:48:44

Bonpoint is very cool now Limited and I love Clements Ribeiro...on me.

TobyLerone Fri 09-Aug-13 09:50:42

It's not an insult! How ridiculous.

DoJo Fri 09-Aug-13 23:10:35

It is when I say it TobyLerone!

wharrgarbl Fri 09-Aug-13 23:19:16

Re hipsters in general, I'm not sure anything that calculated can be cool.

BlingBang Sat 10-Aug-13 08:19:29

calculated is exactly right and pretentious. it's not cool when you have to try so hard. but they make life interesting.

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