What is Hip?

Being that, more often than not, I've earned my living shooting film I've been no stranger to what passes for trends and fashion... A reluctant observer and participant if you will.

One thing I have learned, is as far back as elementary school trends and fashion are something of a primal force and as a primal force I have always been surprised how no one seems to notice that those who set fashion or start trends are seldom (if ever) the ones who profit from them...

Just like in Jr High... Remember how the folks who started wearing certain stuff and were ridiculed for their fashion sense at the time had already moved on to the next coming thing when everyone was now wearing last months fashion faux pas which was now Hip (with a capital "H" of course)?

So it does go...

The same thing, of course, is part and partial of yacht design as for those of us of a certain age remember building cats and tris and being told by sailors, experts and the dreaded yachting press that multihulls were unHip, unsafe and a social faux pas of gargantuan proportions...

A lot of people think that trends and fashion are the stuff of rich folk and I could go into a long and multi-faceted argument as to why the wealthy, when it comes to common street smarts, simply don't have a clue. But, rich people are really boring so I won't bother except to mention that fashion and trends are a thing of the streets and with no street smarts the only way you are going to get your Hipness is second hand by buying it...

So, the fact is I don't pay much attention to what is fashionable but I do try and keep a weather eye out for what some folks are doing... Especially those folks who people make fun of and heap disdain on at the moment as they really are the true fashion and trend setters.

Right now I'm seeing a lot of people downsizing and simplifying  who are not being forced to by the economic wonderfulness that is life in the US of A in 2011. While the rich (always one step behind in the Hipness ting) are buying bigger and bigger megayachts those with their ear to the ground are downsizing and looking to do more with less...

Kind of makes you think...

I've also noted a trend in some of my readers who write and apologize or make excuses to justify their choice of having a larger than needful boat  or replacing their engine and not going electric without any prompts on my part. If these folks feel the need to justify or apologize not going with something it is already a trend and it is something you may wish to to factor into the game plan. I should also point out that fashion and trends are not always trivial pursuits akin to mullets and hula hoops but can be simple survival instincts kicking in...

So it goes...

Listening to Tower of Power...