A rather thorough and objective characterization is available at http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/how-to-live-without-irony/ http://opinionator.b

A rather thorough and objective characterization is available at http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/how-to-live-without-irony/ http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/17/how-to-live-... A personality affectation characterized by the adoption of outmoded fashions, faux nostalgia for things and eras the hipster never themselves experienced, ostentatious self-awareness and histrionic introspection designed to showcase the hipster's own moral superiority relative to mainstream society, and above all irony as the sole mode of existence, the denial of the possibility of authentic non-referential experience, and the pervasive implicit and explicit ridicule of those who think that authentic, non-ironic, non-referential experience is possible.