from my limited understanding a hipster is a person who deliberately uses unpopular, obsolete, or obscure styles and preferences in an attempt to be “cooler” than the mainstream.
Not to argue over definitions, but your use of “hipster” seems overly-narrow. As I understand it, it refers to those who deliberately appropriate styles used by old / other subcultures with concern for aesthetics rather than signaling (or, if you prefer, complex signaling rather than mere group-membership). Obviously some of those folks are doing it to try to ‘be cooler’, but it’s not nearly a necessary condition.
There is certainly a notable sub-culture of “hipsters” who are known for being pretentious about aspects of their particular style. This should come as no surprise to anyone who’s studied any other subculture.
Not to argue over definitions, but your use of “hipster” seems overly-narrow. As I understand it, it refers to those who deliberately appropriate styles used by old / other subcultures with concern for aesthetics rather than signaling (or, if you prefer, complex signaling rather than mere group-membership). Obviously some of those folks are doing it to try to ‘be cooler’, but it’s not nearly a necessary condition.
There is certainly a notable sub-culture of “hipsters” who are known for being pretentious about aspects of their particular style. This should come as no surprise to anyone who’s studied any other subculture.