Syl Tang is the founder of HipGuide and also a consultant for several fashion labels and companies. What’s even better is that Tang knows what is hip or rather the history of hip for that matter. Can we possibly involve movies in this history, then? Tang was kind enough to share her expertise of the hip with us to place this word (and its meaning) in the movie scene. From a bad remake of West Side Story to the latest hip hit Juno, here’s a trip back to striking hip moments in films and a trip forward to a trendy future.

“WHEN A WORD IS CO-OPTED, IT LOSES MEANING AND BECOMES CLICHE, WHICH THEN LEADS TO DEROGATORY CONNOTATION. THE TRUTH IS THAT NO ONE WHO ACTUALLY SETS TRENDS CALLS THEMSELVES A HIPSTER."- Syl Tang


*QUESTION: You have been a key person for discovering new and "hip" places from bars to clothing. In other words, you are a trend-setter, an important influence on many people who follow or are at least interested in the latest trends. In your opinion, is the film industry up to today's trends? From costumes to the restaurants and locations filmmakers choose to use in their films, is there a noticeable portrayal of the latest or once-upon-a-time trends in these films?

* ANSWER: Films are an incredibly important snapshot of history and life the way we led it (or are currently living it.) For example, if you look at the kitschy 1980s movie Desperately Seeking Susan, there is a superbly-set scene filmed at one of New York's legendary (and defunct) dance clubs, Danceteria. In that scene, one can see the graffiti in the dingy elevator, the old-style jukebox, the coloured fluorescent lighting, the tiny plastic bar cups that were so representative of nightlife in the 1980s and which no longer exist. Shown in the costume, there is also the wide range in characters that one might have encountered back then while out at a club, clad in the Bundeswehr German military tank tops, rubber bracelets, and big shoulder pad knit dresses that were popular at that moment - and no other time. This is true of any movie that pays attention to detail.

More now than ever before wardrobe has taken a role in filmmaking. If we go back to the early days of Hollywood, it used to be that stars often wore their own clothes and were responsible for doing their own makeup. It is very much the opposite now. Films which can afford it almost always have a costume designer, charged with creating a consistent message which can come across very strong, such as the style of Idlewild, or be more deliberately subtle such as how certain clothing choices in Superman Returns de emphasized the 31 year difference between the first and most recent Superman films.

Even when a filmmaker might not pay as much attention to trends, it is inevitable that subtleties will be captured on film whether it is the thickness of the brows of an actress or the choice of clothing in an independent film which may not have a large budget, or very simply the buildings in the background speaking volumes about when it was filmed. I recently saw quite possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen, a remake of West Side Story set in New York's Chinatown and Little Italy. I had insomnia one night and it was on some cable station and I couldn't take my eyes away for one reason only. It had been filmed in Nolita primarily on Mott Street between Houston and Prince and there was not one single store. It was back when the entire block was tenement style housing. The film was so unmemorable that I don't even remember the name, but for that it captured a lost moment in time.

*QUESTION: If I may turn this question the other way around – Do you get influenced or inspired by what you see in the movies? Have there been times you saw something entirely unique in a film, almost like a signal blinking for a new trend yet to arrive?

*ANSWER: Absolutely. Films are very inspirational. Breakfast at Tiffany's was responsible for me purchasing a pair of alligator kitten heel pumps from Isaac Mizrahi in the early 90s. I also advise companies on marketing consumer products (this is different than my editorial work where I don't write about product.) Many times to create a mood, I might refer say a beverage company to a particular period film, such as The Stork Club with Betty Hutton or The Sting, since speakeasies are so trendy right now. Often films don't herald a trend but are part of one. I wrote in the Financial Times that Daniel Craig's casting as Bond was very much a part of all the tuxedos shown on the catwalk these last two years. In that same regard, going back to Idlewild, André Benjamin and Big Boi's bowties have also been part of an ongoing trend.

*QUESTION: Juno is one of the most successful "independent" films of this year. While it's getting very good reviews, it's also being called "the hipster movie." My first question is whether the word hipster, these days, entail a positive or negative connotation? If it doesn't entail either one, then what does it stand for, and what does it take for a movie to be a hipster movie?

*ANSWER: It's a shame that the word hipster has become so overused. It has come to be applied to anything quirky, oddball or not mainstream. And all of those four words mean very different things. When a word is co-opted, it loses meaning. And as you pointed out, it also becomes cliche which then leads to a derogatory connotation. The truth is that no one who actually sets trends calls themselves a hipster.

More specifically within film, hipster has come to be used as a category for any film where they spent a little bit too much money to call themselves an independent film but where they know the characters are too odd to have wide, mainstream appeal. Or where the protagonists have done something which in real life might be called into question.

Is that harsh? Absolutely. Remember the movie Slackers? It was called hipster because it almost glorified, well, doing nothing. Does that generate respect in real life? Not so much. The same is true for Juno. Witness the real life reaction to Jamie Lynn Spears. What is appealing in film, not so much in real life.

"The hipster movie" also implies that going to see it makes the viewer hip. Me personally, I had thought that's what I was doing when I chose to see The Chipmunks. Guess I'm not hip.

Interview by Eren Gulfidan