Hello beautiful people, my name is Blair, I’m thirty two years old and I’m a beanie hat designer, with my boyfriend, Blake, we’ve been running this business for two years now. We got a small shop at the Box Park in Shoreditch named after our ginger cat, Kafka. I’m a hipster, I admit it, I have to say, I’m not ashamed as most of us are, I’m a HIPSTER.
When I first moved to London my life was really different, I would say boring, I used to spend my life shopping in Primark, having my coffee at Café Nero and eating at Nando’s, my life was really mainstream, listening to the same bands as everyone else, working as a shop assistant at Topshop, boring and standard, but one day everything changed, I happened to buy my first beanie hat unaware of what would bring to my life, it open the doors to a new community, “The Hipsters”…
First things first, I met Blake at Oxford Circus station, he was a busker, our love was so unconventional, like the kind of indie film that you would love to see, girl gives money to busker, busker say thanks and smiles, girl smiles back and then, then they exchange numbers. It was so romantic, he had an amazingly well trimmed beard, lovely long wavy hair, was wearing a fedora hat, a suede jacket and some skinny jeans combined with a pair of leather ankle boots, a heartthrob. On our first date he took me to this lovely restaurant that looks like a launderette, they kept the machines and it has loads of underwear and clothes hanging on strings, the food was served in old china, like the kind my grandmother used to have, it was perfect, I wasn’t even bothered when some of the knickers felt into my organic falafel, nothing could ruin our moment together, Blake was so bright and well mannered, he knew all these bands and authors that I’ve had never heard of, he watches films in Japanese with no subtitles, because he speaks Japanese, he loves Turkish literature and Lebanese music, he is a vegan, he is very environmentally conscious.
After one month seeing each we decided moving in together, we now live around Vicky Park, Blake’s father bought us the house, oh, sorry, I forgot to mention that Blake is the son of one of the most important London attorney’s , he helps his father from time to time, but he is a real artist, a real bohemian artist, don’t forget that he is a busker. We have a little garden where we’ve been growing our own vegetables, of course I trust my corner shop to sell only organic food, but this way I make sure that nobody else has touched my tomatoes. We started doing this and then all friends followed, most of our friends are artist or pop up stores owners, our friend Jasper, sells the best coffee in London, you can get the best organic coffee in town for only five pounds, such a good price. Frank is the frontman of this band with no instruments. Jessica has an experimental theatre company, most of the time they are naked on stage, they feel is very important for people to get that sort of raw connection with the audience, so during an hour they just make sounds, no speaking , just contorting their bodies and guttural sounds.
My style is very casual, it only takes me two hours every day to decide what I wear, but it looks like it only took me 2 minutes, I once found my mother’s wedding dress and wore it just for a casual coffee with the girls, they loved it! said I was so Jackie O! I always wear high waisted jeans, my geeky glasses and my beanie hat, doesn’t matter how hot or cold is outside, I’ll feel naked without one. All our clothes are old, very old, like proper granny old, we find them in Beyond Retro or Absolute Vintage, you can get nice second hand jackets for only hundred pounds or jumpers for fifty pounds.
You would love to see our shelves, all full of old and second hand books from Kant, Kierkegaard, Kafka of course! We never read any of them as we need to preserve it in good quality, so they can look fantastic, giving the house that sort of arty vibe that we like.
We also own a property in Margate, which is the new Shoreditch on Sea, love it! Most of our friends have moved there to start new businesses, everybody should have a vintage shop around the corner, and Jasper is going to open a pop up coffee shop, so they can enjoy his coffee for only four pounds, Margate prices.
I love being a hipster and my hipster friends are the best, and my hipster boyfriend and my hipster cat, I still don’t get why people hate us so much, we only got love to share for the world, we are just trying to make ugly things and ugly people look better, we are making this world a prettier place where you want to live, of course is not going to be effortless or cheap, but you need us, we are the part your life was missing, so please, please don’t hate us, if you don’t like us just move somewhere else with your ugly clothes, your greasy style and your chain stores. We don’t need you in Hipsterland!
A writing exercise from a crazy mind 