Claude Monet Was a Hipster

There is a girl in one of my classes that is a hipster.  For those not in the know, hipsters wear skinny jeans, TOM's shoes (they are politically and environmentally correct, and even have designs by Dan Eldon.  She has no idea of who Dan Eldon is, but still wears the shoes), cardigan sweatery-things.  They have ethnic jewelry, hobo bags, know obscure bands- tend to be smart, have good manners in a beatnik kind of way  (like they are being nice to you, not because manners are nice, but because it is nice to be nice to people less smart and sophisticated as they are).  This girl is friendly and popular, was a homecoming queen nominee with enough gusto to ride a tricycle in the parade instead of a car, sneaks out of school constantly on Chinese food runs, makes excellent collages and is smart~  if I were to turn back time, she is who I would want to be like. Except I know who Dan Eldon is.

However, hipster I am not, even tho I have the hips and an abundance of vintage sweaters.  In skinny jeans...well, lets not go there.  Skinny and Me are oxymorons.  For example, take Claude Monet above.  A French painter who is highly thought of, by others and himself, Claude is right on the hipster fashion front line. He has the skinny pants, the TOMs type shapelessly stylish shoes, the odd hat, the creamy sweater with a vintage jacket.  (which may not of been actually 'vintage' but just 'old'.  Did people 100 + years ago use the word 'vintage' for anything but wine?).   And the cane- so there is a bit of the urban pimpin style mixed in, which serves to make him edgy in an ironic way.  

So...anyhoo, prom this year is yet another resurrection of the 'Paris' theme.  Once again the prom committee is struggling to build an Eiffel tower out of  a cardboard kit- over 100 pieces held together with hot glue to make a tower 17 feet tall.  Which will probably be thrown away (again) because who can store a 17 foot tall Eiffel tower?  I'm not doing that....I'm making the backdrops- a painting of a cafe', the Parisian skyline at night and something Monet-ish for a photo backdrop.  (Just had a thought that I might have to use pastels because of lighting and glare on paint...ew....).  So of course, instead of actually planning these, I found a photo of Monet and instantly recognized him as the hipster archetype, and collected him up in my sketchbook.  And now I am sharing him with you- so when people ask 'why do people wear skinny jeans' you can blame it on self-centric French impressionists, and at least *sound* like a hipster.