Racial Identity And Its Influence On Young People Of Diverse Backgrounds

During our life we construct many different identities of who we want to portray ourselves as to the rest of society; fashion plays a vital role in generating who we are. With the ideas from Storry and Childs they state that “the way that we dress can either serve to confirm or to subvert various facets of our identities, such as our gender,

Originally, the term “hipster” referred to “a black subculture figure of the late 1940s” (Grief 7), and transitioned to, “The White Negro” (Grief 7) who listens to Jazz in the 1950s. This term went through many phases and transitions as time progressed. Dick Hebdige states, “Subcultures represent ‘noise’ (as opposed to sound): interference in the orderly sequence which leads from real events and phenomena to their representation in the media” (Hebdige 90). In the past the hipsters were localized and apart of a subculture; however, now, my perception of hipsters has developed to more of a worldwide “imagined community” with many localized subcultures within. Not only did the structure of their community transition, the characteristics of

The counterculture and hippies are becoming extremely popular in our society today. The hippie culture focused on outward signs of nonconformity. The counterculture promoted rock music, free love, and the use of psychedelic drugs. Haight-Ashbury is the place is if you want to be a part of the culture, and go to San Francisco and be a part of love. The counterculture is about new ideas, and going against the social norms. The bright colors, feathers, leather, and hair. There are pop art and rock music. Go have fun, and be a part of the

The American culture has had many different trends. Though older individuals have never quite approved of young men and women’s dress code, it has been excepted and never severely charged. Fashion trends have become an expression of one’s personal style among today’s youth. In some cases, it can be thought that a certain type of dress is directly connected to performance, attitude, and overall behavior in school, outside activities, and life in general. The continued argument between parents and their children over what is considered to be deceit has lasted since the beginning of time. A very popular yet rarely fashion statement among teenagers these have raised the question of indecency and criminal activity to

What was the hippie movement? The Hippie Movement began in the 1960s and was very influential on American politics, law and everyday life. The movement originated on colleges in the united states. Hippies were usually young people who wore sandals and had long hair. They often adopted vegetarian diets based on unprocessed foods. Hippies were often not directly engaged in politics.

Teenagers all across the country contain a fascination in determining who they are especially when shown through fashion. This passion to show who one is, is not racist or ableist, it's just an emotion that many teenagers face while learning who they are. From this passion they style their ideas and clothing choices off the magazines and stores they constantly see. From back to school sales to black friday shopping, advertisements that are posted influence what teenagers spend their money on. One of the most prominent teenager stores would be American Eagle. American Eagle might be a worldwide organization, having clothes on teenagers in every corner of the globe, yet its representation

The Hippie Counter Culture began in 1960. The hippie era was influenced more by personal happiness in which books, music, and fashion followed as result of their personification of a blissful society. Hippies did not care what others thought of them and their motto was “if it feels good, do it”. Hippies were seeking a utopian society. They participated in street theater and listened to psychedelic rock. As part of their culture they embraced more open sexual encounters amongst each other in their community and believed in use of psychedelic drugs which consisted of marijuana and LSD. The fashion choice that hippies dressed in was due to set them apart from the mainstream society. They choose to buy their clothing from thrift shops and flea markets (Haddock, 2011). Clothing choices are described as “brightly colored, ragged clothes, tie-dyed t-shirts, beads, sandals (or barefoot), and jewelry” (Haddock, 2011, para 7). Hippies also referred

This will make not only hipsters mad but also those who know enough about hipsters because they will realize hipsters are not all the way he expresses. One “fact” he states is that hipsters party all night, go home, blog and then party again. This makes the hipster seem very two-dimensional. Expressing and generalizing any group like this will upset them. Secondly, the examples of hipsters he used all come from one party, so obviously all hipsters don’t act like that. The examples he used also do not seem very credible because they seem drunk, but maybe that is the point. When getting quotes, readers would react more positively to named professionals, so it doesn’t seem like they were just taken off the streets. If he wants to get the unprofessional opinions he should have gotten more than a handful, rather get a statistic. He also explains how it is almost impossible to find someone who is a proud hipster, this is just yearning for attention because since hipsterdom is a counterculture people obviously call themselves hipsters and believe that hipsterdom should not be ashamed of. To gain a negative reaction he stereotypes hipsters, which causes those who are, support, or acknowledge hipsters to be angry or appalled by his

You’re such a hipster.” It’s a phrase heard everyday in school hallways across America, and its usage often operates as a conundrum that obscures teenagers’ perceptions of themselves and who they want to be. I, in turn, have struggled immensely with the paradoxical use of this label.

“Two Hipsters Angrily Call Each Other ‘Hipster,’ ” is one of the headlines of an article on the satirical news site The Onion ("Two Hipsters”). before even reading the article, the first thing most people picture is two pretentious, twenty- somethings, wearing way-too-tight American Apparel jeans and lens-less glasses, and their favorite nameless brand or “vintage” shirts, upset that the other has discovered an unrecognizable band before they did. That word “hipster” has grown enormously since that article was written in 2006. Now everyone has that one friend—or group of friends—who says everything is “too mainstream”, and gloats about how they “knew about that before it was trendy.” The term is plastered across tumbler headers and splayed across the titles of articles in major magazines such as; The New York Times, Rolling Stone and Fortune. It seems like everyone is trying to be a hipster, calling others hipsters, or denying that they are a hipster.

One day I was sitting on the couch with my friend acacia, and as always, she was complaining about how her Instagram photos weren’t getting enough likes. I tried to help ease her distraught thoughts about her social media woes by looking up trending hashtags to get her picture the attention she was looking for. In one of the top spots was the word “hipster”. The first thing I thought of was a twenty- something year old, wearing way too tight American Apparel jeans and lens-less, glasses, complaining about how some recently unknown band is so mainstream or how their local coffee shop doesn’t know what at “flat-white” is. Everyone has that one friend who says everything is “too mainstream”, and Acacia was that friend. I brought up my suggestion and she got oddly offended, saying: “I am not a hipster” with pure disgust. I didn’t understand why she was so put-off; she fit, what I thought, was a stereotypical hipster. Then I thought, what exactly is a hipster?

Each group defies mainstream culture through the way they look, their philosophy, and their art. The beatniks were present in a time where conformity was most prevalent. Although what they did doesn’t seem like a big deal today, back then it was very taboo. They rejected the idea of “normal clothing.” They dressed all in black and recited poetry in underground clubs. (Guzman) They looked for a deeper meaning to life through poetry and jazz music. The hippies also defied mainstream culture by how they looked. They grew out their hair and for the seldom times they actually wore clothes, they were often loose and colorful. They read poetry and listened to folk music. As I said, they both looked for a deeper meaning to life but the hippies did this through their spirituality. We see this same trend going on with today’s hipsters. There are a few hipster fashion staples such as tight jeans for men and women, plaid shirts, and big sweaters. The hipsters defy mainstream culture by their love for indie folk music. They search for a deeper meaning of life through spirituality much like the hippies. Although they all did it in a different way according to the time, the beatniks, hippies, and hipsters, all defied what was considered mainstream by the way they looked, their philosophy, and their art.

The hippies of the sixties and seventies are one of the most recognizable groups from counterculture in American history. They decided to disregard materialism and greed and sought to live full of self-awareness (Macionis 49). Counterculture always seems to be viewed negatively, even long after that culture’s peak popularity. Mainstream cultures tend to belittle the countercultures, from reducing hippies to weed-smoking tree-huggers, the ‘90s grunge scene to a bunch of angsty and dirty teenagers, and today’s hipsters to pretentious upper-class kids with way too much time on their hands. This belittling doesn’t end once the trend has passed. Those in the mainstream still have fun complaining about those who aren’t, running the joke into the

“It’s where it all starts, from the ground up; street is the seed to all other fashion” says Kenta Goto from Brknhome, a now defunct Canadian t-shirt brand (Vogel 37). There are many voices that speak of the streetwear culture: what it is or once was, how it all started and where it is heading. Streetwear is not just some fad or a passing trend. It is nothing but pure talent and passion, and the vision to stand out from the rest. It is a fashion movement, primarily for the youth who roam the streets expressing their interests, cultural identity, and common scenarios that take place in their urban catwalks. For the youth, streetwear can be the most effective form of self-expression.

The Years between the 1950’s and 1960’s was an explosive time in fashion. The 50’s represented an out coming of the new generation. People began to gain their own personal style and appearance, influenced by films and singers (“Vintage Fashion”). Their styles incorporated leather, jeans, corduroy, and the ballet shoes for the girls. Men’s wear began to drastically change. Men would wear a leather jacket, with jeans that narrowed at the bottom, and a simple t-shirt (Peacock 210-211). This was the first time in history that jeans were not just worn by the working class but by all men (“Brief History”). The man’s lust for flesh grew during this time, so women’s skirts began to get shorter and the bikini was invented. Clothes were made to glorify the female body and emphasize every curve. It wasn’t until the Barbie doll was created in the late 50’s that young girls began to have a separate fashion from their mothers. Young girls would wear sweaters with full skirts or pants