If you managed to take your eyes off of the music stages, carnie games, explosion of food trucks, and vendors, you couldn’t help but miss the hipster haven that was Sunset Junction 2010. Saturday and Sunday at the Sunset Junction Street Fair, a fashion show took place, and the runway models were the Los Angeles hipsters. I am by no means a hipster, I’m not cool enough to keep that up with trends, but walking around the festival I was taking notes (literally for my article but also for my next shopping trip). I’ve seen hipsters before and been in many hipster hangout areas, but I don’t think I can say I’ve ever been in an area so saturated with them. By pure observation and a few crazy conversations on the patios of bars, I learned all about what is currently trendy, what is over the top, and what I definitely would not be able to pull off.
First off, everyone at Sunset Junction had big sunglasses – multicolored and oddly shaped seemed to bring in additional fashion points. Dresses with belts were everywhere, the more vintage the better. Colored hair is in. I saw blue, purple, lots of burnt orange. Even Lee Scratch Perry graced the stage with a purple beard and colors galore underneath his hat. I give these folks credit for their hair-dos. Girls had adorable bobs that were longer on one side and strategically side-swept; guys had these great little spiky numbers. They all looked fabulous but the amount of hair gel and maintenance involved would so not work with my throw it back in a ponytail lifestyle. I’m assuming there must be a hat shop somewhere in Silver Lake and if not, that needs to happen stat. It would be a goldmine! Almost everyone had a hat on: a fedora, big leopard print hat, sun hats, hats with flowers on them, hats with feathers peaking out. Speaking of feathers, those long feather earrings were the “go to” accessory for many girls. I’m jealous of those that can pull them off. I think I’d look like Pocahontas personally but they really do look fantastic on the right people. Flowers in the hair were popular. I saw some girls in a rockabilly sort of get-up that rocked those quite exquisitely. Pumps and tall shoes, trendy strappy sandals, any other kind of footwear that looked adorable but terrible to walk in was in sight every time I looked down. Plaid, flannels, and striped shirts graced every corner – if only I had held onto my wardrobe from middle school days in Michigan. Tattoos covered everybody. I stood next to several people and could almost read their life story if I stared at their arm and went down to their leg and circled back around the base of their neck. I felt out of place with only two tats myself. Animal prints are apparently out of extinction, or did they ever really go away? There was an especially large amount of cheetah and leopard in attendance. A Sunset Junction specific was these flashy headbands with light up mouse ears. People wore them proudly, the perfect accessory to their already well-coordinated garments.
Some noteworthy hipster spottings:
One guy rocked a kilt, messy hair, heart shaped sunglasses, lots of tattoos, piercings, and some really cool eyeliner
A guy outside of 4100 Bar had a beer in one hand and a framed Justin Bieber poster under his other arm – not sure if that’s hipster but it certainly isn’t gangster
A girl in the crowd of Girls in a Coma had a tattoo on her arm of Michael Jackson’s signature (assuming it’s real or a really good knock-off) and on her neck it said: “Made for Dean”
A female duet got off a crazy spinning carnival ride in adorable tall shoes, skirts, belts, hats, and lots of jewelry. I noticed the jewelry because it was flapping around and clanging as they almost wiped out due to vertigo.
The crowd was great and each had their own individualistic style that they so proudly owned. Whether trying to out hip each other or just stand out from the crowd, the hipsters of Los Angeles definitely owned Sunset Junction 2010.
Words by Nicole Pajer. Photos by Sidney Bensimon
