Too indie to be a hipster?

We are the indie generation. We are too indie to go with the flow, too indie to follow any trends and just so indie that we class ourselves as insane.

Anyone hipster enough to have a Tumblr (guilty as charged) will find themselves scrolling down a dashboard only to discover copious amounts of posts dedicated to how insane they are, how much they don’t fit into society, and how much they simply don’t care about life. Yet why is it such a popular way of life? It is everywhere – American Apparel, Urban Outfitters, thrift shops…yet the lifestyle still has a surreptitious aura surrounding it. You know you are a hipster, but would never dare admit it to anyone else, and God forbid the day your friends find your Tumblr page.

Coming from a school that was saturated with hipsters, creepers, Tumblrs, Polaroids and every single item of American Apparel clothing ever manufactured, I didn’t think I’d see much of it at Warwick – but boy was I wrong! The indie lifestyle seems to have seeped its way from New York and London into Coventry, as I don’t think a day has gone by without seeing high waisted acid wash jeans or a pair of creepers.

And you know what I find ironic? The entirety of the hipster fashion trend is simply styles taken from decades such as the 90’s; I could raid my mothers closet and put together a hipster outfit! I think people should wear whatever they want and blog about whatever they want, but when this indie lifestyle begins to spew out phrases such as “I listen to bands that you don’t even know exist” or “I’ve tried to stop thinking, but it doesn’t work”, it all gets a bit humorous.

When trying to look up a definition of indie I really didn’t get much (probably because definitions are too mainstream). It seems on the surface to be a lifestyle that entails the stark opposite of following the trend, and trying to fit in, which is seemingly the norm of our teenage years – but by trying to be indievidivual, doesn’t that make you mainstream? It’s quite a complicated way of life if you ask me. I love Urban Outfitters, I own a pair of creepers, and I occasionally use Tumblr, but I can guarantee you that I am not a hipster, because you cannot regard yourself as a hipster, it just doesn’t work that way I’m afraid.

It’s hard to know whether this is just a phase, or if we really will be identified by future generations as the kids who wore skinny jeans and platform shoes with Polaroid cameras hanging from our necks. Either way – it’s an identity, and slowly forming into a clique. It’s quite interesting to observe the transformation of social groups, and it’s mostly brought on by social media such as Tumblr and Instagram. Who knows? Maybe the next High School Muscial-esque film won’t have the nerds and the populars, but the Indies, the Artsies, and the Mainstreams…