Nicholas Mir Chaikin is American and hails from Williamsburg, New York. He has witnessed first hand the rise of the modern hipster and is involved in their culture; as a visual artist, he has exhibited work at the Walker Foundation, the Palais de Tokyo, and the Meymac Center for Contemporary Art.
Nicholas is CreativeDirector at Spill, and has been at the forefront of web design since 1995, creating the vision of 1999 long before it ever arrived.
He was also listed by Taschen in 2003 as one of the five most influential web designers in the world, Nicholas has been the curator of fashion online - from magazines such as Purple Fashion Magazine and Self Service, right the way through to fashion heavyweights such as Chloé.
Here you go. My answers between the questions.
>While trying to come up with a definition of a hipster and the reason why this phenomenon is so >big and so special I put down internet as a social factor that leads to uniformity of tastes and >homogenization of certain-hip- kind of coolness and lack of authenticity. In this definition >photography is a kind of “translator” which helps hipsters express/share/exist in the online >reality (blogs, online social sites). And that might be a reason why photography (fashion photography especially) became a hipster attribute (photography as a fashion accessory).
What is your opinion on that? How would you define a hipster? How would you separate modern hipsters from snobs, fashion victims or other subcultures that's been always out there and only change with time? Do you think this phenomenon is new and characterizes 1999-present only?
I am not certain what the definition of a hipster is. I suspect
however that it might be something like: A trend amongst urban
youngsters (and not-so-youngsters) who strive to break from certain
prescribed mass-standards of behavior and fashion, while at the same
time embracing, and creating, certain elements of a mass-culture. The
nebulous definition of a hipster may be fed by what kind of products
and culture it consumes, differentiating it from a Goth, for example.
It may after-all only refer to a style of dress.
> Do you think hipsterism influences modern media/fashion photography. Can you
see it present in your
industry?
I'm not really sure I see any, except that like all trends, it will
inform the choices of artists, creative directors, stylists and other
"opinion makers."
> What does it mean to you as a professional? What does it mean to the
industry and current trends?
See above answer. I can add that many of our clients would be adverse
to outwardly accommodating only one slice of the population. It is
generally bad for business, unless your target is niche, and you hope
to hit that niche hard...
> Would you say that it is a positive phenomenon?
No, nor do I see it as negative. As cultural phenomena go, it is
probably fairly innocuous -- less transformative than a sexual
revolution or the Hippies, less nefarious than the rise of Fascism.
Again I see it as a descriptive word describing certain tastes in
fashion and culture.
> For how long do you think it is going to last and what is the next big step
from it? How can you see it
progressing?
Trends are in constant flux. Perhaps the notion of punctuated
equilibrium applies here, with its periods of relative calm and then
dense transformative moments (think: disco or the incredible growth of
meth users in the US). The punctuations in an equilibrium are almost
impossible to predict, they tend to come from some sort of upheaval
(e.g. social media in Egypt, or a meteorite vs. the dinosaurs).
> How do you think young creatives could keep/regain an authentic/original
style?
I think we are always subjected to the mores of our society. It is
silly to think we live outside of them, unless you live solo in a yurt
in the woods and eat berries and grubs. People are communal animals as
far as I can tell. Being within the boundaries of our society as a
hipster, a hooligan, a frumpy schoolteacher, or a transexual biker is
normal and practically inevitable. The pursuit of new ideas is perhaps
the best we can hope for.
> Can you see your self/your personal life/style being affected by hipsterism?
I suppose so. I think it would be more accurate to say that I am
influenced and affected by art, culture, music and ideas, and like
anyone else I've ever known or encountered, they inform my choices of
dress, behavior, consumption, language, taste, geographic location,
sexuality and the songs that get stuck in my head.
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