WASHINGTON – What exactly constitutes a “hipster” college student? Skinny jeans, vinyl over mp3, access to $2 beer?
If that sounds like any 20-something you’ve ever come across, that’s because it basically is. Sure, fashion on college campuses still runs the gamut from preppy to sloppy to confused, but mostly universities are filled with young men and women just trying to figure out who they are and how to get to class on time.
Recently, Georgetown University was ranked the 10th-most hipster campus by CollegeMagazine.com. A close look at this honor yields some interesting findings, namely that the judging criteria cannot be applied to the school whatsoever.
Let’s start with this statement: “Georgetown kids build their hipster style at the vintage shops, thrift stores and cute boutiques just minutes from campus.”
Cute, maybe. But M Street is filled with big name brands that can literally be found in any other city. Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Cusp and Banana Republic are just some of the worldwide brands located in the shopping district.
Thrift store options are limited to few stores. Secondhand Rose of Georgetown is filled with used clothing but from mainstream names like the Gap and JCrew.
There is also Second Time Around, which prides itself on on the motto “resale goes upscale.” The consignment shop sells high-end designer labels, but most items are modern rather than true vintage.
Which leads us to the next statement: “But they aren’t your typical hipsters; many Georgetown students claim they’re hipster because their style is ‘ironic’ and errs on the side of preppiness.”
Interesting. So they are hipster because they don’t dress like hipsters, making them more hip than their compatriots at small liberal arts schools who major in things like sculpture and philosophy (and are not featured on the list at all). Clever.
Other schools that made the list — and make more sense on it — are New York University; Fashion Institute of Technology; Emerson; Rhode Island School of Design; Parsons the New School for Design; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Berkeley; Yale and Carnegie Mellon.
Do you think Georgetown is a hip campus? What other schools would you add to the list? Comment here or on our Facebook page.
