Hipsters as Postmodern Creations

As I said before, there is a big amount of debate over the definition of postmodernism – when and where it occurs for example and what it really suggests. One way of understanding post-modernism is to look at the social, political and cultural values that were and still are prevalent at the end of the 20th and early 21st centuries.

I think this quote by Fredric Jameson really captures the ideals or the roots of the new hipster mainstream: "in a world in which stylistic innovation is no longer possible, all that is left is to imitate dead styles, to speak with the masks and through the voices of the styles in the imaginary museum”. This just makes me realize that hipsters are definitely a postmodenist creation.

Making a little research I found the perfect definition for "Hipster" where we can see the clear relation with postmodernism:

"While mainstream society of the 2000s (decade) had been busying itself with reality television, dance music, and locating the whereabouts of Britney Spears's underpants, an uprising was quietly and conscientiously taking place behind the scenes. Long-forgotten styles of clothing, beer, cigarettes and music were becoming popular again. Retro was cool, the environment was precious and old was the new 'new'. Kids wanted to wear Sylvia Plath's cardigans and Buddy Holly's glasses — they revelled in the irony of making something so nerdy so cool. They wanted to live sustainably and eat organic gluten-free grains. Above all, they wanted to be recognised for being different — to diverge from the mainstream and carve a cultural niche all for themselves. For this new generation, style wasn't something you could buy in a department store, it became something you found in a thrift shop, or, ideally, made yourself. The way to be cool wasn't to look like a television star: it was to look like as though you'd never seen television." - HipsterMattic, by Matt Granfield