12 Hipster Types – The Comprehensive Breakdown

UCLA recently held a sociological discussion on the hipster. The 1-hour Q&A panel of hipster experts (including Tao Lin, Gavin McInnes, Mark Hunter and Alexi Wasser) came to very few agreements. Collectively, they did raise questions worth considering. When outsider style becomes mainstream fashion, when does it stop being style and become costume? Is hipster derogatory? Do all youth culture groups boil down to clothing and music? What is the contemporary hipsters idealism?

Some on the panel mentioned hipsters being electronic-dependant, unprejudiced, liberal, informed, mirror-glancing, art obsessed, peace seeking, covert fashion-addicts. But when most people want to be casually, yet noticeably, different, very few are.

There are two camps. Youre a hipster, or youre not. If youve ever called anyone a hipster, youre a hipster. Non-hipsters dont have a clear concept of what in the hell a hipster is exactly, much less care to have an opinion on them.

Ill be riding my green bicycle, wearing a skirt, lipstick, my messenger bag and headphones. My sketchbook, vegan food, yoga mat, farmers-market flowers, and iPhone will all be in my basket. Im a hipster. Whatever.

There are, however, different sects of hipsters. Scroll through the slide show for the complete breakdown.

Mara LaFontaine is an actress, filmmaker, painter and community-collective artist, based in Los Angeles. Please visit Life is a Word (check back soon) to view her current projects, and find out how to be directly involved in Group Art Projects with like-minded strangers from around the world.