Clearly the cultural pressure to achieve a unique self is old, strong, and not unique to hipsters, so why did the authenticity drive spin out of control after CE 2000? One possible reason is that the hundreds of studies on authenticity in tourism and subcultures have also been read and in many cases sponsored by business thinkers who directly... See more

We live in an era where personal style is increasingly indistinguishable from brand strategy. The aesthetic codes that once belonged to subcultures, regions, or craftspeople have been flattened into algorithms—optimized for compatibility, trend velocity, and frictionless aspiration. When everything looks good, originality becomes the only risk... See more

Still, I think something more fundamental has been lost for all of us as social media has evolved. It’s harder to find the spark of discovery, or the sense that the Web offers an alternate world of possibilities. Instead of each forging our own idiosyncratic paths online, we are caught in the grooves that a few giant companies have carved for us... See more