Accidental Chinese Hipsters

Sneers, raised eyebrows, confrontational poses, nonchalance, Mom’s sunglasses, advanced color coordination, killer hats: these Canadian siblings know what they’re doing. One’s even got a tiny messenger bag! This reminds me of how I sometimes also want to run up and pinch adult cool kids on the cheek for their (however solemn) cuteness.

Pictured here are Derek (the submitter), Sandy and Peter in Hamilton, Ontario, sometime in the early ’90s.

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Beverage pride is another sign of early hipster-like behavior.

Remember the Magic Eye Puzzle Granny? This is her American counterpart, Color Blindness Test Granny. If you can’t read the backwards number seven in the above photo, then you have to go to the doctor. Here again is abundant proof that older Chinese folks can be our fashion mentors.

Hughster got this photo in NYC’s Chinatown and noted that while it’s hard to see, she is in fact wearing a “Football Is Life” hat.

Let’s start from the right and work our way over:

1. Tropical Buddha with bread-offering necklace. Respect.

2. Military toilet cleaner (way too happy).

3. Wh… WHAT?! Androgenous topless nun without nipples?

4. It’s the Flying Pig from Kids in the Hall! Only he’s also a toilet cleaner.

5. Product mascot or super hero maybe. Clearly too invested in being the most attractive guy in the group to have a good costume.

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André from Germany met these guys on the way to his hotel room in Shenzhen in 2007: “Fun at a company party, as far as I recall it.”

This week I was interviewed for an article on public pajama wearing in the Global Times. I can’t say that I understood the subject fully before I read the completed piece (which is very enlightening), but it definitely comes with the territory of writing this blog. I mean, there are people out there, tattooed people, who are squatting on the sides of busy streets, smoking and broadcasting a steely death stare to the passersby, all while sporting their favorite patterned silk pajamas. These people often fall under the jurisdiction of Accidental Chinese Hipsters.

Stephanie Krings photographed our man in Shanghai, on the Puxi side of town.

Do you believe in the concept of “The One,” as in a single meant-to-be person for another whom they may tragically never unite with and yet are inexplicably connected to by Fate? Having recently been trapped into watching the Katherine Heigl vehicle (Angry Babble Clown Car) “The Ugly Truth” ON A LOOP in a crowded women’s health services waiting room, I can tell you that it is one of the most asinine ideas of all time, that will, for reasons that are likely chromosomal, never go away.

Well, this might be my one. Last September @Pablovex sent me a photo taken the year before of a gentleman riding a bus in SF. The deeper I looked into his shirt collar area, the more my heart was dazzled. To layer so much and so well is a fine art skill oft only attributed to the young women of Harajuku. He was wrapped in an air of mystery and refinement. Perhaps, Pablo suggested, he was on his way to the Asian Prom. Then, months later, another picture of a man on SF public transportation wearing red pants came my way via Intentional.

Be still my heart!

Happy birthday, Niki! You are 22, but once you were 2 and this is what you looked like at your home in Melbourne, Australia. I think you were going for the classy lady thing, with the twist of ironic 80s shades and a crop top because it was probably hot outside. The oversize shoes are the only real clue-in that you were not yet old enough to go to shows or hang out at coffee shops. Your sister Jessi didn’t tell me if you turned into a real hipster when she sent the picture in, but judging from that knowing pout I would have to say that the chances were good. Best wishes to you.

The backlog that I have right now of great, unused submissions is perhaps unethical. Nicolo saw this guy on top of the Eiffel Tower. He sent the photo to me last September. I give it to you now, having looked at it with great fondness not infrequently since then. Like a selfish hoarder I feel almost reluctant to see him go from my folder of gems to the big wide web. But then again, someone once told me that a ship has to leave the harbor to succeed in life. Or something like that. I was moving to a new city at the time and it was good advice even if I can’t remember the metaphor. Anyway, fly free little guy.