Where did all the Hipsters go?

Those lovers of the moustache, unkept hair and thrift store finds.

Those originals that encompassed self expression and creativity, those lovers of artisanal hand made products that not only fostered a sense of community but sustainable lifestyles - the original rejectors of mass-produced fast fashion.

With their distinctive fashion and eclectic tastes, hipsters curiously become both an object of fascination and a subject of mockery. (Think man bun and manicured beards) But, those were the nuances of the movement.

The most hipster thing I saw was a hand drawn sign outside a shop in Berlin - the Capital of Hipsterness - stating:

“No hipsters allowed”

As no hipster would ever define themselves as such, it ending up attracting the very people they were trying to bar in the first place. Brilliant in its simplicity of unintended marketing genius.

I look back at this time when the phone camera hadn’t yet been widely released so it was an era free of influencers and content creators as we now know them. This was the era of Blackberry messenger and Mxit. This was pre social anxiety.

And then, by the mid 2010’s, hipster aesthetics had started to permeate into the mainstream - rendering it obsolete.

Mainstream was never hip.

And through a combination of individual evolution, cultural saturation and mainstream adoption, Hipsters with their own subculture of Indie Sleaze, was side-walled by expensive craft beer and barista coffee.

Now all that remains from that zeitgeist are the tattoo’s. The fixie has been traded up to an e-bike and the plaid shirt only comes out for Octoberfest.