You've probably seen this effect—perhaps you are a victim of it. You feel alienated from mainstream culture and want to make a statement that you are not part of it. You think about wearing different clothes, experimenting with a new hairstyle, and listening to music that will get you "weird" looks.
And yet when you finally reveal your new look and taste to the world, it turns out you are not alone—millions of others have made exactly the same choices. Indeed, you all look more or less identical, the exact opposite of the counter-cultural statement you wanted to achieve.
This is the HIPSTER effect—the counterintuitive phenomenon in which people who oppose mainstream culture all end up looking the same. Similar effects occur among investors and in other areas of the social sciences.
How does this kind of synchronization occur? Is it inevitable in modern society, and are there ways for people to be genuinely different from the masses?
We don't have the answer but it is why we formed Creative Studies.
Part think tank, DJ collective, sticker artist commune and cassette mixtape collectors, Creative Studies is a network of MFA graduates and dropouts from the underground influenced by subvertising, culture jamming, cyberpunk fiction, 90s rave + hip hop culture, analog technology and class politics.
We design artivism not found on most streetwear: with themes questioning the growing economic inequality in the world.
Creative Studies is dedicated to remaining independent and underground, like all authentic art, design, music and culture. One of our designs is probably stuck on a wall right in your city.
Creative Studies. Masters of the fine arts.
Join us.
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