Why Harry Styles Is The World’s Biggest Hipster

Is Harry Styles of One Direction a great big hipster?

Urban Dictionarydefines “hipster” as “a subculture of men and women typically in their 20’s and 30’s that value independent thinking, counter-culture, progressive politics, an appreciation of art and indie-rock, creativity, intelligence, and witty banter.”

Don’t let One Direction’s mainstream appeal and chart success fool you. It’s true that those things are very un-hipster — in fact, the clarion call of the hipster is “I liked it before it was cool,” an expression of these people’s ability to never ever follow the herd while always being able to identify great music/fashion using their flawless independent judgement. Hipsters like it “before it is cool” so they are able to move on just as the fanbase is filling with douchebags, and the personality of the art/fashion/music is being filed away by dollar-hunting corporate types.

Yes, yes, One Direction was always a carefully managed brand. However, there is a massive body of evidence that suggests that Harry Styles himself is not just a hipster, but the hipster-est guy around. Here we collate the facts.

Correct age bracket? Check.

Just gotta get this one out of the way. At 22-years-old, Harry definitely falls into Urban Dictionary‘s stated age bracket. In fact, Harry sneaks in at the youthful end of the spectrum. Oh Harry, you fresh-faced and trendy young man! It must be Harry’s youthfulness that allows him to stay on the fringe and remain the most hipster-y member of One Direction.

He collects Art

Harry cannot get enough. In 2014, he dropped £20k on love and sex-related artwork, according to Daily Mail.

He recently “liked” an Instagram photo celebrating artist Damien Hirst, and he loves antiques too.

He dines at a restaurant inspired by revolutionary Cuba

Club Habana is the Malibu restaurant where Harry has been spotted, most recently with his mum Anne. The cafe is owned by Cindy Crawford’s husband, and is inspired by the cafe where Che Guevara and Fidel Castro plotted the Cuban Revolution.

“[Cafe Habana is] inspired by the Mexico City lunch joint where legend has it Che and Fidel plotted the Cuban Revolution, Café Habana is a mix of straight-shooter authenticity and nonchalant cool.”

Harry, Anne, Robin, Rande Gerber w Cafe Habana w Malibu, 22.01.16 #12 pic.twitter.com/QqbLuPittV

— Polish 1D Updates (@Polish1DUpdates) January 23, 2016

He has some far-out lifestyle habits

Daily Star reports that the other One Direction guys love to rib Harry about this. Between bullet coffees, kale, sushi, taking an ice bath after exercise, and generally trying faddish diets, Harry Styles is a health nut and lifestyle trend-hunter. He even asked for special dishes during the One Direction “Where We Are” tour.

“Alongside the normal menus, Harry has put in his own special request of one sushi meal and five cups of green tea a day.”

Sugarscape even reported that Harry cut out alcohol and ice cream last Christmas 2014, moaning that “I love [ice cream] so much.” Awww!

He’s politically progressive

He supports Emma Watson and #HeForShe. He is a vocal supporter of gay rights and celebrated the United States Supreme Court gay marriage ruling. He has called himself “pansexual,” he single-handedly destroyed SeaWorld when he urged fans not to go there, and he has declared “I lean to the Left,” according to the Mirror. Harry Styles is as politically progressive as they come and he would fit in with any group of bearded student activists at the most left-leaning campus you wanted to plop him in.

He pushes the fashion envelope

Harry Styles’ fashion choices are so gender-fluid and envelope-pushing they earned Harry praise from the left-leaning New Statesman.

“Enter Harry Styles: flared, floral and flawless. Harry donned a flared Gucci suit (in what looks to me like white, but several outlets are claiming is pink) covered head to toe in flowers and leaves, with a black shirt, and black necktie with a big petal-y rose…the overall look is unconventional, luxurious and decidedly feminine.”

The mag went on to call Harry “a breath of fresh air in a sea of boring male fashion choices” and praised Harry for “[moving] the mainstream of acceptable men’s fashion choices away from the centre, validating other young men and women who dress outside the gender binary.” Go Harry!

He is into Soul Cycle

Soul Cycle is not just about cycling, it’s about allowing Americans to find “new expressions of spirituality,” according to the Atlantic.

Harry is known to be a fan of the spiritual cycling, and has been spotted at the classes many times.

“How exactly are these classes spiritual?” you might ask. According to the Atlantic report, people are encouraged to cycle with a “performative badassery.” Grunts, ohms, theatrical muscle-flexes, costumes, headpieces and wails are encouraged, it seems.

“[T]he classes are designed to create a sense of self through exercise. The physical act of riding is a ritual…”

Sounds like the perfect environment for Harry. We imagine he would probably express himself on the bike with some hair flips and maybe a “Drag Me Down”-style high note when his thighs really start burning.

Working out seems to work for Harry. Remember how great his muscle tone looked when Liam pulled his pants down?

One attendee to a Soul Cycle class reported about her “ride.”

“The rules of the ride were painted on the wall of the locker room…”Talking during class is a major distraction for the spiritual folks around you” and “We ride close together so that we can feel each other’s energy. That being said your neighbor does not want to feed off your odor.” (This was filed under etiquette guideline #3, “laundry.”)

Harry Styles was in my soul cycle class this morning ? I didn't wanna say hi due to the circumstance but it was cool to see him

— Ricky Dillon (@RickyPDillon) February 15, 2016

[Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP]