Storied Theology

How do you know a hipster when you see one? In light of this morning’s post, I thought I could do a little public service announcement. Living in San Francisco, I might see more hipsters per capita than many of my good and faithful (or bad and faithless) readers. Thus, in the spirit of sharing what the good Lord hath given unto me, I offer this photo tour.

My main word of advice is to think, “Intentionally, and thus fashionably, out of date, and therefore up to date and cool”. Note the hat. Also, the tight jeans, which of course we can’t call tight and therefore refer to as “skinny jeans”, are a good tip-off:

If you see a woman who’s a hipster, you might notice the bangs, which may or may not be cut in a straight line:

If you see a hipster scooting around town, it will likely be on a bicycle specially created to induce pain and suffering into the rider. It is known as a “fixie” (one fixed gear that turns exactly with the wheel–it doesn’t coast like a free wheel, the pedals are always moving when you’re moving, stopped when you’re stopped):

And, as often happens in such movements, there are often the “glasses that make you go ‘hmmmm’”:

And if you see someone wearing a bike cap in public or even a trucker’s cap, and it looks like they’re someone who should know better, then you might be in the presence of a hipster:

Flannel and tatoos (thanks for this, commenter) are a couple of final pieces, and really, this guy holds it all together like a champ:

The most important take-away from this is that you never fall into the trap of confusing “Hipster” with the more generic label “Hip” (meaning generically cool).

Brad Pitt may be hip, but he’s not a hipster.