Have you spotted any of these yet?

[civilservant]

*Bob* Wrote:

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> I think it's something called 'fashion', Huge.

> Some of it may be a touch ridiculous, but - on

> balance - it's makes for brighter world than one

> populated solely by pot-bellied thirtysomething's

> in chinos and one-size-fits-all pastel-coloured

> tees from Uniclo.

Oh, I don't know - does this look really involve much effort?

It looks like it's about fagging up to Gap instead and chucking away the razor, non - but happy to be educated otherwise

[Annette Curtain]

???? Wrote:

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> Have to agree, it's a bit of an old look, *bob*

> and MrBen have been banging on about these types

> since at least April....keep up Nettie

I know, I really must keep up ????'s

(mind you - the last time I saw ????'s he was evolving a beer/nicotine stained Hobo look, with a greige-beige-just-outta-the-bookies-thinning-hair combo BUT that was way back in the fashion land oblivion of March)

Of course the generic "hipster" is old hat now. However, I am interested in the evolution of said look and the "Urban Woodsmen" even in its terminology is a brilliant conceit.

I regularly work in the epicentre of Hipsterville (Hoxton- in case you were unaware) where a newer version of the look is constantly being developed.

Right now the Captain "I am just going outside and may be some time" Oats vibe is tres outre.

Oh and beards are BIG. Gals are mostly sporting the Scooby-Doo Thelma look.

I have noticed that Bellenden Road has it's fair share of affectionados, though the Pastel Uniqlo look holds firm on LSL.

Keep 'em peeled and report back please.

[*Bob*]

Effort and cost are often associated with fashion, but I don't think they're at the core of it.

When I was fourteen, there was certainly little effort or cost involved in tucking a chunky-knit jumper into my trousers and strutting around like a bell-end trying to look vaguely cool - whilst sweating profusely and not getting served in pubs.

[red devil]

*Bob*'s the one sitting down...

http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/27175665/Haircut+100+WA3534691FBHaircut100GrahamJon.jpg

[Annette Curtain]

Second to last is David Carnell, to a tee.

[Jeremy]

Huguenot Wrote:

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> woodsmen try and pass themselves off

> as capable and manly. Twerps.

I thought it was ironic.

Everything's ironic these days, isn't it?

[Huguenot]

Possibly, everyone I've met with that look has been American, so it's likely that they didn't realize it.

[MrBen]

Nope, it's safe to say they realise it.

This is the evolution of the hipster. More specifically it's the colonisation of once undesirable inner urban neighbourhoods by essentially middle class arty types rejecting mainstream capitalist culture etc and laden with irony.

I was banging on about this look because from an aesthetic perspective I reckon its significant because it's SO distinct and goes beyond mere fashion. The beard. The checked shirt. The distressed workboots. Not much variation there and I can't remember such a prescriptive uniform in British counter culture since say the late 70's skinheads, 60's hippies or 50's teddy boys/mods.

As a mid-30 something I can recall 80's casuals (Stone Island, Fred Perry etc) but not anything in my lifetime this distinct and widespread. My only regret is not opening a vintage plaid store in Portland, Orgeon oh about 5 years back. But that capitalism is everything that this look shuns. On reflection I rather like it.

[maxxi]

Of course if you want to look a little meaner/tougher or if plaid just aint your thang you could go this way - an Amish/Clockwork Orange kind of deal...

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/120828-amish-beard-cutting-910a.photoblog600.jpg

[Salsaboy]

They always look so grubby, like they need a good wash and haircut/shave.

[red devil]

Why waste weeks growing a beard trying to become 'trendy' when you can have one in an instant...and keep warm at the same time!..

http://s7.thisnext.com/media/250x250/Beard-Head-Winter-Caps_867B2D46.jpg

[david_carnell]

Annette Curtain Wrote:

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> Second to last is David Carnell, to a tee.

An outrageous slur. Maybe.

Yeah, I occasionally rock a toned down version of this with Dee Woffaz's "Young Fogey" tweed/brogues things thrown in for good measure. But as *Bob* says, it's this or chinos and pastel t-shirts.

And I couldn't grow a beard if my life depended on it.

I like the following description:

Like some kind of next-generation emo skateboarder who entered adulthood vaguely aware that his masculinity was missing, the Urban Woodsman is the resultant placebo effect - an ineffectual imitation of the real thing. While facial hair and plaid are great short-cuts, he may also pay lip service to the simple life - cafe talk about one day owning a farm or maybe getting a chicken - but no amount of faux-redneck homesteader-styled beard bands on ye olde iPod is going to change the fact that he wouldn't even know how to change a tire on a car, let alone build a super cool smokehouse.

Perhaps a distant, more now-baby cousin of the Mid-Afternoon Rambler, this city-dwelling play-actor now finds an entire world springing up around him to provide a stage and to support the illusion. Knick-knack shops sell branches and enamel camping ware, reclaimed barn wood and scratchy blankets. Bars, cafes and restaurants approximate rumpus rooms and log cabins, lifestyle magazines are encrusted with plywood and taxidermy, while the net slops over with all manner of preciously rustic how-to hominess, from pot pies to chicken coops. The Urban Woodsman probably digs that whole Amish scene - it's so DIY.

Now insert some palaver about a subconscious response to the opressively modern world here, some stuff about lost values, getting back to basics and all that bluegrass. In fact, there may have been some irony here at some point, but as with so many things, the winking simply becomes blinking.

Worrying I do want a farm and chickens. But I can also change a car tyre and have built a smoker so ner.

[Annette Curtain]

Salsaboy Wrote:

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> They always look so grubby, like they need a good

> wash and haircut/shave.

A rather sweeping generalisation there SB.

I see many a well groomed (but hairy) Hipster, some not quite so I admit, but a good balance.

Maybe the look upsets your sensibilities.

[Atticus]

it's the irony of the rugged look I love. These guys spend hours planning and preening with meticulous attention, all to achieve that, 'just don't care' look. These are as big victims of fashion as those craving designer handbags etc..

[ianr]

> I like the following description:

> Like some kind of next-generation emo skateboarder who entered adulthood vaguely aware that his

> masculinity was missing, the Urban Woodsman is the resultant placebo effect - an ineffectual imitation of the real thing.

So I take it there's no danger, through mutatation or crossbreeding, of their becoming some subspecies of survivalist and acquiring heavy firepower?

[Salsaboy]

I was talking about the Amish.

Annette Curtain Wrote:

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> Salsaboy Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > They always look so grubby, like they need a

> good

> > wash and haircut/shave.

>

> A rather sweeping generalisation there SB.

>

> I see many a well groomed (but hairy) Hipster,

> some not quite so I admit, but a good balance.

>

>

> Maybe the look upsets your sensibilities.

[Annette Curtain]

The day I see someone sporting the "ironic" Hoxton-Amish vibe, i'll eat my i-phone.

(after filming them and posting it on you tube)

I would love to see it though.

[Annette Curtain]

http://logcabins.co.uk/latest_news/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Floatingcabin.jpg "Dreamsville-on-Thames"

[David A]

I'm in Toronto at the moment and had great hopes for a place here called 'Urban Amish', but it's turned out to be a shop selling sturdy furniture for new condos rather than somewhere for bearded blokes to buy ?Phat Farm? dungarees and bearded women to buy 'Juicy Couture' bonnets.

The 'Urban Woodsman' look is done without any irony here, but it does look like there?s an international 'Bear Bash' going on.

I?ve got a re-wiring job on in the Jewish area tomorrow and it's cold, so I'm fully expecting to see the 'Hasidic Construction Worker' look: Carharrt jackets; plaid shirts; trucker hats; big beards and payots.

It?ll be like a Grandaddy concert on a West Bank settlement.

But very, very cold.

[RosieH]

David A Wrote:

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> It?ll be like a Grandaddy concert on a West Bank

> settlement.

Poetry.

[Michael Palaeologus]

I saw many of these in Berlin over the New Years, indeed there were some on the plane coming back to the UK.

A worrying development.

[Help-Ma-Boab]

Berlin Bears?

Michael Palaeologus Wrote:

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> I saw many of these in Berlin over the New Years,

> indeed there were some on the plane coming back to

> the UK.

>

> A worrying development.

[RosieH]

I done seen a comely wench wearin er skirts above er knee, shameless as an ore of babylon, she were.

I do think it eralds the end of all things and the dominion of beelzebub, and all will be new-fangled metal and pooters, and what-they-call "fashions" and fornication, mark me.

[Huguenot]

Surely a beard is such an impractical act of vanity that it sits alongside binding your feet and belladonna eye drops?

[maxxi]

Huguenot Wrote:

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> Surely a beard is such an impractical act of

> vanity that it sits alongside binding your feet

> and belladonna eye drops?

I think you have that the wrong way 'round Huge given that lazy bums who have lost interest in their appearance are rarely clean-shaven - but then I always had you down as a Jacob amongst Esaus.