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

[ElleMcFearsome]

... 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!

[Blu]

Is hipster the new yuppie?

It is used in a very derogatory context in discussions about gentrification on local forums in London.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Hipster is used as insult - try hard twat is usually what is meant.

[EstelleGetty]

I think Thrift Shop by Macklemore is a good indicator of how the term 'hipster' can be read.

He knows he's a hipster, with his big fur coat and wolf hat, because he does dress hipster in real life but is perfectly capable of taking the piss out of himself for it. While sincerely enjoying the fact that his T-shirt cost 99 cents.

The folk I know who play ukuleles, wear 'ironic' wolf t-shirts and ancient neon plimsolls know fine well they're perceived as a bit ridiculous. But they don't mind.

[LittleSporksBigSpork]

Blu - yeah, pretty much.

[Katiepoes]

Hipster is definitely an insult in these parts - once a word has been used in the TV guide my inlaws subscribe to you can be sure it is now an insult.

Wallpaper is a hipster magazine in that insulting sense, it's way too mainstream now, you can buy it in Tescos. It's all about Dwell, obscure gallery catalogues and Apartment now. I could tell you more but you would not understand my achingly pre-trend references. I am off to force myself into jeans that cut off my circulation and an ironic blouse once rejected as frumpy by my great-aunt.

(the currency thing btw - it's to allow the wannabe unironic hipster feel they are part of an international continent hopping in-crowd. An in-crowd that paid in GBP in the local Tesco Express)

[LittleSporksBigSpork]

Macklemore is almost the quintessential hipster, he's well aware of how he appears and puts effort into that image of not caring, can talk for ages about the world's problems and revel in the attention and accolades talking about it gives him, while still being part of the problematic system - knows that he gets him money and attention from the problems in the systems - and doing nothing to change it.

[EstelleGetty]

To be fair, LittleSporks, I'd say he's being pretty decent in his extremely vocal stance against homophobia in a deeply homophobic genre. There's a great video of him doing his pro-equality song Same Love with Tegan and Sara doing the rounds.

[FunnysInLaJardin]

now I like Hepcat limited Miles better than hipster. And funny thread. I would run a mile from the blissful friend that is referred to in the OP. Had a bellyfull of folk like that in my teens and some of them still lurk on my FB posting links to obscure art projects and the like and never seeming to actually do any paid work

[CoolStoryBro]

You can buy Dwell at my local supermarket. It's crap. Too many words and not enough pictures.

[TiffanyAtBreakfast]

Here, calling someone a hipster wouldn't be very offensive but it probably varies from place to place.

As someone else said, I think it means types that hang around wearing beanies and beaten up 'trendy' clothes and listen to underground music that nobody's heard of yet. Probably 20s-305s age group I'd say.

[wharrgarbl]

I think hipster is the noun, and hipsterish is the adjective - something can't be 'so hipster', it just sounds wrong.

I don't have the energy to put that much into my appearance. Too old and cranky for it. Then again, the coolest people don't work that hard at it.

[mignonette]

I like the Gentlewoman magazine, Lucky Peach, The Art of the Title, Selvedge and Caught By The River. I dearly hope they are not hipster.

I was led to believe that Dwell is pretty mainstream now by a close relative works for Margaret Howell. I have never read it. Np oictures of hipsters in their empty rooms with an ancient Dansette record player on the floor in the corner next to a pile of random -carefully selected-- vinyl albums and a battered old Glockenspiel.

God this is sounding bad....

[LittleSporksBigSpork]

Like a hipster, he talks a lot and taken a lot of accolades for being "the first rapper/hip-hop artists to discuss homosexuality". He says if he were gay, he wouldn't be welcome in hip-hop, which is disgusting erasure bullshit, there have been actual LGBT+ rapper and hip-hop artists discussing their issues for years, and many other hip-hop and rap artists have been speaking out on the issue and challenging gender norms. Is Macklemore bringing any of these hard working artists up when he's getting all this praise? Is he doing anything to broaden the discussion of LGBT+ and hip-hop beyond white cis straight men who thought they were gay because they can draw? He talks a lot about his privileges in hip-hop, is he doing anything with it? No, he isn't, he's doing a lot of talk, making a lot of money out of other people's problems, and doing no action to actually help.

[MarmaladeTwatkins]

"I know someone who turned up to an important sales meeting on a scooter. Not a Vespa, one of those children's things.

He didn't get the contract.

He's a hipster."

:(

[YouTheCat]

hahahahaha

[YouTheCat]

Grown men on BMX bikes makes me want to grab them and shout 'You aren't 12 ffs!'

[limitedperiodonly]

artexmonkey I live in prime red trouser territory and work in TV and film media. I grew up on an Essex council estate. Many's the time I've felt like a stranger in my own land.

I have a painfully hip friend who I really like who introduced me his great friend who I hated. He's a massive twatwad.

First time out he wore dungarees with the ankles rolled up cabin boy-style, a matelot t-shirt and children's plimsolls - the kind with elastic over the instep. He'd accessorised with an early '80s women's Gucci watch on a gilt bracelet.

He looked like a giant baby. It was fucking embarrassing.

He obviously found DH and I tragically unhip and could barely speak to us. He kept doing this narrow-eyed, pouty expression that was probably meant to be mysterious but looked like he was trying to hold in a highly liquid shit.

His name's Dan, but we call him Danigmatic because of that expression.

[FunLovinBunster]

Henry Holland
Alexa Chung
The Geldof Girls
Daisy Lowe
Agyness Deyn.
Yawn. Yawn. Yawn.

[limitedperiodonly]

Really don't like that whole knock-kneed Bambi look that Alexa's working.

[seventhchild]

I think that "Utter bliss" is a lot worse than "Hipster"

[ViviPru]

WELL Johnson.

[noddyholder]

Agree with limited the names are on the up. Have heard an Alan and a Sharon recently and I don't even live anywhere near Brick lane

[mrsjay]

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