Short History of Hipster and Where are Indonesian Hipsters Now
Hipster phenomenon in the world is not foreign to our ears, even in our country, there are people who talk about the phenomenon that is quite dramatic and sometimes irony. As we already know that Hipster explanation is as follows:
“A subculture of men and women… [The which are] broadly associated with indie and alternative music, a varied non-mainstream fashion sensibility, [have] a Generally progressive political views, [eat] organic and artisanal foods, and [have an] alternative lifestyle… of a generation Y. “ — Wikipedia (Altered)
Based on the above definition, we can see that the Hipster can be characterized by the following criteria:
- Have a tendency to listen to music indie and alternative music.
- Have a sense of fashion or fashion that is different from the style that is a trend at the moment.
- Political views are constantly changing and evolving.
- Have a tendency to consume food — organic food and food that artistic.
- Have a different lifestyle than the community at large.
If we look at the history of this Hipster, we go back to 1940, where the origin of the word hipster came from. Starting from the hip word meaning “[the ability to] know the complete information one merging scene” and the definition of the strongest appeared long before the use of the hip as a slang word that is often used, in 1902, which is where the hip has meaning “ in the know “or understand [1]. Then slowly more acceptable and with the addition of the suffix -ster which means “someone who did certain things” [2], the presence of hipster began to explore, and especially after the second world war, where hipster especially in the Americas and Europe began to develop [3] .
Can be seen from the above that the magazine spread began in the Millennial Era, this hipster phenomenon already shows its existence. A detailed explanation will be the image above can be seen here . Picture above shows that the existence of hipster will continue to grow and evolve, following the era, with an expression as well as its own uniqueness, which makes it different than the other lifestyle.
And what about in Indonesia? Are hipster ever in the history of our country? And how are they now?
Around circa 2005–2006, where many Friendster profile photo and newly breed Facebook users from Indonesia were using goth style, or commonly referred to as Gothic here, with long, straight bangs over one eye, and very capable of alerting you to group band Good Charlotte. One of A-list celebrity who wore double-layered t-shirt with mix match color and hat, just like a pseudo-Kutcher. Harajuku style also could be considered a trend at that time. Not to mention Emo kid, Baggy shirt and baggy cargo pants influenced by hiphop stars and B-boys, once had their golden moment here.
The presence and existence hipster phenomenon was once entered into our culture, especially in the area of Jakarta, which can be said as the driver for the new cultures that will be adapted by the regions other areas. Maybe it could be I am wrong, but I remember the existence of Goth, Emo and The Ashton (double-double dress + hat) was victorious in his time. There may be other style lines that had entered Indonesia, but maybe only three generations of successful this phenomenon to be accepted and adopted by the majority of the urban in Indonesia, especially young people.
And what about now?
At the end of 2014 up to 2015, Indonesia appears to have a new culture that is quite dominant implemented and acted by many parties, but can still be said to be very segmented. Many call it the Indie scene or in Indonesian’s pronunciation “skena indie”. Where it is, just like hipster, they have different lifestyles, different playground with most people, behavior and preferences are different, and of course, the key differentiator is the kind of music they listen to.
With South Jakarta as the main center of activity and considered Mecca of Indonesian’s Gate of Culture, where the number of artspace, secret gigs and locations of hanging increased, South Jakarta become a major barrier to perform filtering to new cultures from the outside to be absorbed into and turned into a new culture. I.e. the return of vinyl and analogue music, style of dress in the style of Vogue is trendy and very, very artisanal, style rock-a-billy and vintage, the existence of Vespa increased because of the incessant Mod’s Day, and it’ll go on and on and on until to the point where culture can no longer be explained clearly and simply inwardly alone.
Thus, the conclusions derived from this random post is a culture will continue to evolve, and ceteris paribus, where all other aspects being equal. Culture will continue to change, the style of the new styles will continue to change, preferences, requests, needs and so on will also contribute to developing and changed. So learn from this people…
What ever they go, what ever happens .. A gig is a gig, once one of my hipster’s friend said.
*This article has been published on my personal blog and rewritten here with some alterations to make it more readable by foreign readers.
Source:
[1][2][3] Wikipedia, Hipster (contemporary subculture). Accessed June 1st, 2015.
