As a student walks down the halls of Revere High School, a brightly-colored Christmas sweater stands out against the droves of students in more common apparel. This festive garb seems usual during the holidays, but is not the typical wear for a teenager. The person wearing this gaudy attire represents a growing movement, more prominent outside school grounds.
                Excessive use of irony defines the hipster culture. This is demonstrated through their clothing choices and general attitude. Through a rather off-beat style featuring clothing from nearly every counter-culture movement in the past century such as the flannels of grungers, the prep-school sweaters of indie-rockers, and the thick-rimmed glasses of the scenesters, hipsters gain their identity. Their clothing can also show irony by wearing purposely tacky or misrepresentative clothes, such as Christmas sweaters. Their frequent use of sarcasm helps add to the sense of irony. All of these elements combined define the movement that is called "hipster." 
                The hipster culture is not so much a unique culture within itself, but rather a selective blend of styles and attitudes handpicked by hipster individuals from previous counter-culture movements. Various clothing, music, and art styles as well as outlooks on life have all meshed together to form this trend with as much widespread appeal as possible. 
                One can trace the hipsters’ influences all the way back to the American Bohemians of the late 1800s. Bohemians were a gypsy-like culture and were highly influenced by art and music. They were the first American counter-culture group and are known for being un-materialistic. After the American Civil War, however, Bohemian prominence dwindled and has never quite returned to its full dominance. 
                Bohemians, accompanied by the Jazz Age, inspired the first hipsters in the 1940s, as well as the Beatnik (Beat) movement, which consisted of poets and vagabonds. 
                Ninth grade American History teacher Amy Fagnilli expresses a fondness for counter-cultures, especially the Beat movement. 
                "The Beat movement starts in the 1950’s and they’re kind of a reaction to the conformist culture. Beatniks were young people who were rebelling against the conformity of the American culture by not pursuing a career or not going to college, focusing on obscure art movements. Beatniks lived day to day," Fagnilli said.
                 Mainstream America did not regard these early rebels with respect. Society frowned upon hipsters because of their drug usage and lifestyle choices.
                "I think mainstream America isn’t accepting of it. . . . Mostly they were seen as giant losers by standards of the mainstream," Fagnilli said.
                The Beat movement has also influenced other counter-cultures.
                "It kind of is the predecessor of the hippie. Every time period has a counter-culture," Fagnilli said. 
                The Beat movement eventually died down in lieu of other counter-culture movements, not to reemerge until its resurrection by art students in 1997 Williamsburg. This was a movement of liberal art school dropouts that created their own spin on a counter-culture from the past. With this revitalization, hipsters were back.
                There are two predominant scenes that have influenced modern-day hipsters. They are the indie rockers and the scenesters. Indie rockers are credited for many of the political stances, arts, and music that hipsters enjoy. Scenesters shaped the hipsters’ attitudes and fashion sense. 
                The independent music scene started with primarily acoustic artists that were not getting signed to major labels. They began instead to distribute their music themselves or signed with small, independent record companies. 
                These artists then gained popularity for their non-mainstream sounds, and their music became known as independent rock or "indie." A good portion of these bands fell into the genre of "lo-fi" for their lower-than-standard recording quality. This caused vinyl to reemerge to supplement this type of sound, which allowed for a much grainier, gritty sound quality. 
                Matt Galey, an independent musician from Albuquerque, New Mexico, works with a variety of local independent bands, and is fond of the new-age vinyl movement.
                "Vinyl gives you a much more personal, grainy sound that I find a lot of the bands I work with prefer," Galey said. 
                With the coming of the digital age, however, distribution of many of these indie bands’ music became widespread—mostly through the internet—giving these artists the opportunity to reach a wider audience than they previously could. This and music retail stores, like The Exchange, allowed music that once could only be purchased locally to become available to listeners across the country. 
                The style of fashion that hipsters are identified by really has no set guidelines. Some trends originated in the Beatnik movement, but new trends are still emerging. 
                "[Beatniks started] wearing black, striped shirts, tight pants for women, berets, and goatees. A lot of style today . . . [originated from the Beatniks]…What annoys me about fashion trends is that the younger generations think a trend is brand new when it’s not. People should really spend a lot more time digging in the past to see where the trends even start and then become trend setters based on that," Fagnilli said. 
                Co-owner of the Revival boutique in Highland Square Robyn Yuratovac knows much about fashion. Thrift stores and boutiques like Revival supply different fashions from all eras.
                "It’s kind of trendy but clean and classic at the same time," Yuratovac said.
                Fashion that originated in counter-cultures is also found in mainstream fashions today.
                "Fashion, like many things in culture, is cyclical and things come in and out, era by era," Fagnilli said.
                Though the hipster movement may have started as a counter-culture, it is slowly making its way into the mainstream media in films like Juno and in bands like The Shins and MGMT. Soon, the Williamsburg hipsters of 1997 will be but a fond memory as society progressively accepts this unconventional culture more.