Ossiana Tepfenhart

Ossiana Tepfenhart

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Ossiana Tepfenhart
Ossiana Tepfenhart
The Capitalist Rise And Fall Of Hipster Culture
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The Capitalist Rise And Fall Of Hipster Culture

As spoken by someone who was often mistaken for one.

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Ossiana Tepfenhart
May 26, 2025
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Ossiana Tepfenhart
Ossiana Tepfenhart
The Capitalist Rise And Fall Of Hipster Culture
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Photo by Ben Eaton on Unsplash

The late 2000s into 2010s were the golden age of hipster culture — and I was often in the center of the East Coast’s Ground Zero of it. Hipsters, for the uninitiated, were the artsy, alternative, trust fund kids who were famous for their pretension.

During the 2010s, hipsters were known for:

  • Being trust fund kids who lived in trendy areas like Williamsburg, Jersey City, and Seattle.

  • Having thick, plastic black rectangular glasses.

  • Being liberal, but in a pretentious way.

  • Listening to rock music like Asking Alexandria, listening to ultra-niche electronica, or listening to music that is indie just for the sake of saying that it’s indie.

  • “Rejecting” capitalism while selling their (often awful) art projects for a high price tag, often paired with the word “artisan” for weird crafts.

  • Coffee.

  • Being foodies that hopped on the most random trends possible, including (for a period of time) worshipping anything with bacon.

  • Having a blog, podcast, or heavy social media presence just because.

  • Loving Instax cameras and clothing from Urban Outfitters.

  • Men having handlebar mustaches, women being rail thin with knit accessories.

Yes, I’m aware that half of these things sound like me. But no, I am not a hipster. And I’ll explain to you why…

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