I find trends to be rather fascinating things. I've never been on top of them, being a little too poor and too uninterested to truly keep up, but seeing the rise, the mild decline, and what manages to stick around is always interesting. I think that the trends of the last couple of decades are certainly among the most intriguing. Not because there are truly unique elements to them but because of the cherry picking from the previous decades' trends. There were the bell bottoms and mini skirts from the 60s and 70s in the early 2000s. Neons, statement jewelry, and shoulder pads from the 80s made a brief appearance at one point. It seems like we are currently reliving the 90s grunge and girl bands with the resurgence of flannel and crop tops. Now obviously we have toned things down a bit, in an attempt to make it fresh and new, but you can clearly see where the influences came from.
Tonight's sticker I think exemplifies the one trend that has been captivating and dividing the country, the Hipster. I often wonder if the Hipster is a result of the cherry picking from the previous decades or if the trend really is the counter-culture it claims to be. Since Hipster is often a divisive term I thought I would look it up in the dictionary. Apparently it just means a person who is unusually aware and interested in new and unconventional patterns. This can definitely be seen as a key element to the trend, although it can be taken to the extreme some days. What I found to be truly captivating is that the word actually originated in the 40s. Reading over the Wikipedia page it apparently was used to describe the middle class white youth who wanted to emulate the popular and still underground Jazz culture of the time. Now I can't say how true this is, since it is a Wikipedia article, but I find this to be truly fascinating. A large part of the current Hipster movement is to re-appropriate forgotten elements and vintage trends to exert their unique style. Refusing to conform to what society claims to be cool but at the same time having common style elements that can be grouped together. There is also the fact that along with finding those retro and vintage pieces, Hipsters are generally known for embracing different ethnic influences and gentrification. So if the negative connotation that the Wikipedia article implies is true, today's use of the term certainly keeps up with tradition. Whether you actually define yourself as a Hipster (which seems unlikely) or despise the trend, Pittsburgh does have one of the bigger congregations of the group. Back in 2014 Pittsburgh's neighborhood Lawrenceville was named as one of the biggest Hipster cities in the world. With the large number of artisan shops and restaurants just along Butler it's not hard to see how it earned its ranking. Obviously the influx of interest in the area brought a much needed revitalization to the neighborhood but I do occasionally have to wonder about what the long term effects will be. Granted there are a fair amount of elements to the Hipster culture that I like; the pieces of the 20s and 50s fashion that have come back into the public eye as well as the influence jazz and soul has had again in music are certainly up my alley. Some of the creative re-purposing of business ideas to create truly unique spaces like Row House Cinema is also a large appeal of the movement for me. But until we see where the trend ultimately heads, it will certainly remain a fairly turbulent journey. Oh and here's the full list of Hipster cities from Business Insider for the curious.
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Maggie Ondrey
An amateur photographer and writer capturing a small portion of the city. Archives
August 2017
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