Emo. Jejemon. Cool kids.
These are just some of the words used to describe the ever-evolving trends in the local society’s youth. And now, the latest emerging trend: Hypebeast. The term itself has been used since the early 2000s to describe “trend chasers”: people, mostly young ones with ages ranging from 13 to 18 years old, who dress in streetwear but tend to “overdo it,” according to the fashion world. The distinction of wearing streetwear—shirt, jeans, sneakers—for comfort and streetwear for the sake of fashion is evident in these hypebeasts whose goals are to don themselves in the latest, often high-end and branded, clothes paired with a screw-all attitude. The bravado is what completes the outfit.
In the local scene, most especially in social media, hypebeasts are seen in a somewhat negative and derogatory light. In 2017, more than a couple of videos of hypebeasts going around malls, usually in groups of more than ten people, and other public places have spread in social media platforms. As shown by local news outlets, hypebeasts tend to group themselves in large numbers, and most of the time high school kids are in these groups. When asked what pushed them to join the trend, the kids would usually answer something along the lines of finding camaraderie and acceptance in such a large circle of peers their own age. The negative feedback these groups are getting from outsiders stems from the intimidation they pose when they gather in such large numbers in public. Not to mention the tension between different groups. The hypebeast society is composed of different groups, each having their codes and rules much like in gangs and fraternities. Although some of these groups insist that they are not gangs, but merely group of friends who like to indulge in playing dress-up.
Perhaps another more pressing reason why this trend is viewed negatively and receives a lot of backlash from netizens is because of social class. Kids who join these groups tend to come from the lower-income bracket, either coming from public schools or are out-of-school youth. From a psychological point of view, a certain lack of acceptance—from their peers, their families, their communities—are felt by these kids and, thus, they look to the upper class where acceptance seems to be handed out like free candy everywhere rich people go. The most accessible form of expression they can copy from the upper class is fashion, and so the trend begins. But due to the lack of money, resources, and the abundance of sellers that sell replicas and imitations of different high-end brands, the hypebeasts are seen as “second rate, trying hard copycats,” as that one popular line from an iconic soap opera goes.
An issue that goes deeper than mere fashion statements, social hierarchies dictate what is deemed acceptable and deserving of respect. These youth look up to celebrities and “influencers” who tell them how they should dress and behave in order to belong and not be shunned by the general public. The irony lies in the fact that when they do just that, they are ridiculed and called second-rate losers. For these kids, there is no easy way out of the prison that the social class they were born into has caged them in. Whether they dress up or dress down, the marginalized will stay marginalized, and what’s more, oppressed. The question now lies whether or not society will ever come to a point where human dignity is not measured by the the cost of a jacket or the karat of a necklace.
