When non-conformity becomes chic — you have conformity

This morning my brain died in the middle of report writing. Latte and a muffin helped. They stopped me twitching.

I am an AirSpace-oholic — a sucker for “reclaimed wood furniture, industrial lighting (and) faux-Scandinavian minimalism”. I’m quoting Kyle Chayka who uses the expression AirSpace to refer to the globally ubiquitous hipster joint — coffee shop, bookstore (serving coffee) or office-for-artists replete with designer espresso maker. You know what I’m talking about, the places where non-conformists hang out.

In ‘No Logo’, Melanie Klein explains how big brands started appealing to non-conformity. (If you can’t beat them, join them.) However, even those who go to lengths to subscribe to a no-logo / authenticity / anti-corporate ethos are shafted. When non-conformity becomes chic, you have conformity. Non-conformity as a movement (a deliberate lifestyle choice or small business mission) is conformity.

True hipsters know this (although aspirant hipsters may not). Arguably, ironic knowingness and sardonic commentary are part of the hipster thing. It’s recognizing the pointlessness of trying not to conform within a non-conformist movement that gives hipsterism its delicious twist.

It’s reported that Robert Burns, the Scottish “people’s poet” traipsed around high-society Edinburgh (the “Athens of the North”) in filthy boots and ploughman’s garb. Being himself? Hardly. He was as much a performer as Oscar Wilde and just as flamboyant in his way (ale-houses and love poems to barmaids). Burns — like Wilde — was big on self-parody. He conformed to the role - poet of the ordinary people — but sure as hell was not going to be earnest about it.

In ‘Through the Looking Glass’ the Red Queen provides the following advice — “Speak in French when you can’t think of the English for a thing — turn your toes out when you walk — And remember who you are!”

And remember who you are. Be an individual on the basis of how I’ve just defined your role. Wilde and Burns relished the type-casting. They could see that as soon as a name had been created for the phenomenon they’d created, their individuality was compromised.

Next time you are in AirSpace check the joint for self-parody. If there is none, the owner is no hipster. There is no place for earnestness in hipster-land nowadays.

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