Hipster Glasses

2009Exploitable image / image macro accessoryclassic

Also known as: Hipster Shades · Wayfarer Glasses Meme

Hipster Glasses is a 2009 exploitable meme featuring thick-framed Ray-Ban Wayfarers photoshopped onto images, paired with captions mocking hipster pretentiousness like "I was into X before it was mainstream.

Hipster Glasses is an exploitable photoshop meme featuring thick-framed eyeglasses digitally added to images of people, animals, or fictional characters to portray them as hipsters2. The format emerged in 2009 alongside the Hipster Jesus and Hipster Kitty image macros and is almost always paired with captions mocking hipster stereotypes, most commonly "I was into X before it was mainstream"4. The glasses, modeled after Ray-Ban Wayfarers, function as a visual shorthand for pretentiousness in the same way Scumbag Steve's hat signals bad behavior2.

hipster memesphotoshop memesexploitable templatesadvice animals

Overview

Hipster Glasses is a photoshop fad built around a simple visual gag: take a pair of thick, black-framed glasses and slap them onto any face in any image4. The glasses are always obviously edited in, making the manipulation part of the joke rather than something meant to fool anyone1. Once the glasses are on, the subject is framed as a hipster, and the accompanying caption plays on hipster clichés about obscure taste, elitism, or being into things before they were popular2.

The format works as a modular accessory. Unlike memes tied to a single template image, Hipster Glasses can be applied to virtually anything: Jesus, Disney princesses, animals, historical figures, politicians4. This flexibility made the glasses one of the most adaptable exploitable images of the early 2010s meme era. The thick frames reference Ray-Ban's Wayfarer design, a style that cycled in and out of mainstream fashion for decades before becoming a hipster uniform in the mid-2000s5.

The thick-rimmed glasses first appeared in meme culture in 2009 through two advice animal image macros: Hipster Jesus and Hipster Kitty4. Both formats used the glasses to signal a pretentious, counter-cultural attitude. Hipster Jesus would make claims like having liked his father's work before it went mainstream, while Hipster Kitty applied similar ironic one-upmanship to cat behavior1.

The glasses drew on a real-world fashion association. Ray-Ban Wayfarers, first designed by Raymond Stegeman in 1952, had been worn by beatniks, musicians, and counter-culture figures since the 1950s5. After nearly going extinct in the 1990s, the frames surged back when celebrities like Chloë Sevigny and Mary-Kate Olsen started wearing vintage pairs in the mid-2000s5. Hot Topic began selling non-prescription thick frames, and the style became so linked to indie subculture that Urban Dictionary entries from the period specifically define "hipster glasses" as thick black frames worn for "indie cred"3.

The Museu de Memes in Brazil traced the meme's origin to Hipster Jesus in 2009, noting that while Hipster Jesus eventually faded, the glasses themselves broke free as a standalone exploitable element that could be grafted onto any other meme1.

Origin & Background

Platform
Various imageboards and humor sites (advice animal community)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2009

The thick-rimmed glasses first appeared in meme culture in 2009 through two advice animal image macros: Hipster Jesus and Hipster Kitty. Both formats used the glasses to signal a pretentious, counter-cultural attitude. Hipster Jesus would make claims like having liked his father's work before it went mainstream, while Hipster Kitty applied similar ironic one-upmanship to cat behavior.

The glasses drew on a real-world fashion association. Ray-Ban Wayfarers, first designed by Raymond Stegeman in 1952, had been worn by beatniks, musicians, and counter-culture figures since the 1950s. After nearly going extinct in the 1990s, the frames surged back when celebrities like Chloë Sevigny and Mary-Kate Olsen started wearing vintage pairs in the mid-2000s. Hot Topic began selling non-prescription thick frames, and the style became so linked to indie subculture that Urban Dictionary entries from the period specifically define "hipster glasses" as thick black frames worn for "indie cred".

The Museu de Memes in Brazil traced the meme's origin to Hipster Jesus in 2009, noting that while Hipster Jesus eventually faded, the glasses themselves broke free as a standalone exploitable element that could be grafted onto any other meme.

How It Spread

In 2010, the glasses format expanded significantly with the arrival of Hipster Ariel, which placed the thick frames on Disney's Little Mermaid. Hipster Ariel became popular enough that it spread into other Disney characters, a trend BuzzFeed branded "Hipster Disney Villains".

On August 22, 2010, Brooklyn-based artists JC and APK launched Hipster Hitler, a webcomic that put the signature glasses on Adolf Hitler and reimagined him as a fashion-obsessed, music-snobbing hipster. The comic attracted attention and controversy in equal measure.

By February 2011, Google search interest for "hipster glasses" and "Ray-Ban Wayfarers" began converging, reflecting how deeply the meme had embedded itself in the cultural conversation around the eyewear. Derivatives spread across Memebase, Tumblr, and DeviantArt, with users applying the glasses to everything from religious figures to Richard Dawkins. DeviantArt in particular became a hub for fan art incorporating the glasses, with users creating hipster-glasses versions of animals, original characters, and pop culture figures.

The catchphrases "you've probably never heard of it" and "I was into X before it was mainstream" became inseparable from the visual format. These phrases worked as a verbal version of the glasses themselves: instant hipster signifiers that could be dropped into any context.

The Museu de Memes analyzed the format as a case study in participatory culture, arguing that the glasses survived longer than Hipster Jesus because they were infinitely reappropriable. Each new application created a fresh joke while reinforcing the same core gag. The museum noted this was a textbook example of how meme elements can outlive their original context through continuous community remixing (translated from Portuguese).

How to Use This Meme

The Hipster Glasses format is straightforward:

1

Pick a subject. Any person, character, animal, or object works. The funnier the mismatch between the subject and hipster culture, the better.

2

Add the glasses. Photoshop or paste a transparent PNG of thick black-framed glasses onto the subject's face. The edit should look obviously artificial.

3

Write a hipster caption. Common templates include:

4

Post. The format works on any platform, though it peaked on Tumblr, Reddit, and dedicated meme sites.

Cultural Impact

Hipster Glasses sat at the intersection of two major early-2010s trends: the advice animal meme format and the broader cultural fascination with (and mockery of) hipster subculture. The meme coincided with Ray-Ban's real-world marketing revival of the Wayfarer, which saw sales jump 231% in 2007 alone after the company reintroduced the original design.

The glasses became a visual shorthand beyond meme culture. In the same way a fedora tip or a red cap carries instant cultural associations online, thick-framed glasses became code for a specific type of performative authenticity. The meme reinforced this association so thoroughly that wearing actual thick-framed glasses could invite "hipster" comments in real life.

BuzzFeed's coverage of Hipster Disney Villains brought the format to mainstream audiences who might not have been following advice animal trends on Reddit or Memebase. The ease of the format, just paste glasses and add text, made it one of the most accessible entry points into image macro creation.

Fun Facts

Ray-Ban Wayfarers were nearly discontinued in the early 1980s, with only 18,000 pairs sold in 1981. A product placement deal put them in over 60 movies and TV shows per year between 1982 and 1987, and Tom Cruise wearing them in Risky Business helped push annual sales to 1.5 million.

The Portuguese Museu de Memes uses Hipster Glasses as a teaching example of participatory culture, showing how a meme element can outlast its parent meme through community reappropriation.

Urban Dictionary's definition of hipster glasses specifically calls out Ben Folds, Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, and Johnny Depp as real-world wearers of the style.

The glasses became so ubiquitous in meme culture that Google search interest for "hipster glasses" and "Ray-Ban Wayfarers" merged around February 2011.

Derivatives & Variations

Hipster Jesus

— The original 2009 advice animal that spawned the glasses as a standalone element. Featured Jesus making ironic claims about mainstream religion[4].

Hipster Kitty

— A cat with thick-framed glasses making snobbish observations, part of the first wave of hipster advice animals in 2009[4].

Hipster Ariel

— Disney's Little Mermaid given the glasses treatment, launched in 2010 and expanded into other Disney characters[4].

Hipster Disney Villains

— BuzzFeed-coined name for the trend of applying hipster glasses to various Disney antagonists[4].

Hipster Hitler

— A webcomic launched August 22, 2010, by artists JC and APK, depicting Hitler as a trend-conscious hipster[4].

DeviantArt fan art community

— A large body of user-created art featuring original characters and existing properties with hipster glasses, including BJD doll glasses tutorials and Hetalia characters[6].

Frequently Asked Questions

Hipster Glasses

2009Exploitable image / image macro accessoryclassic

Also known as: Hipster Shades · Wayfarer Glasses Meme

Hipster Glasses is a 2009 exploitable meme featuring thick-framed Ray-Ban Wayfarers photoshopped onto images, paired with captions mocking hipster pretentiousness like "I was into X before it was mainstream.

Hipster Glasses is an exploitable photoshop meme featuring thick-framed eyeglasses digitally added to images of people, animals, or fictional characters to portray them as hipsters. The format emerged in 2009 alongside the Hipster Jesus and Hipster Kitty image macros and is almost always paired with captions mocking hipster stereotypes, most commonly "I was into X before it was mainstream". The glasses, modeled after Ray-Ban Wayfarers, function as a visual shorthand for pretentiousness in the same way Scumbag Steve's hat signals bad behavior.

hipster memes photoshop memes exploitable templates advice animals

Overview

Hipster Glasses is a photoshop fad built around a simple visual gag: take a pair of thick, black-framed glasses and slap them onto any face in any image. The glasses are always obviously edited in, making the manipulation part of the joke rather than something meant to fool anyone. Once the glasses are on, the subject is framed as a hipster, and the accompanying caption plays on hipster clichés about obscure taste, elitism, or being into things before they were popular.

The format works as a modular accessory. Unlike memes tied to a single template image, Hipster Glasses can be applied to virtually anything: Jesus, Disney princesses, animals, historical figures, politicians. This flexibility made the glasses one of the most adaptable exploitable images of the early 2010s meme era. The thick frames reference Ray-Ban's Wayfarer design, a style that cycled in and out of mainstream fashion for decades before becoming a hipster uniform in the mid-2000s.

The thick-rimmed glasses first appeared in meme culture in 2009 through two advice animal image macros: Hipster Jesus and Hipster Kitty. Both formats used the glasses to signal a pretentious, counter-cultural attitude. Hipster Jesus would make claims like having liked his father's work before it went mainstream, while Hipster Kitty applied similar ironic one-upmanship to cat behavior.

The glasses drew on a real-world fashion association. Ray-Ban Wayfarers, first designed by Raymond Stegeman in 1952, had been worn by beatniks, musicians, and counter-culture figures since the 1950s. After nearly going extinct in the 1990s, the frames surged back when celebrities like Chloë Sevigny and Mary-Kate Olsen started wearing vintage pairs in the mid-2000s. Hot Topic began selling non-prescription thick frames, and the style became so linked to indie subculture that Urban Dictionary entries from the period specifically define "hipster glasses" as thick black frames worn for "indie cred".

The Museu de Memes in Brazil traced the meme's origin to Hipster Jesus in 2009, noting that while Hipster Jesus eventually faded, the glasses themselves broke free as a standalone exploitable element that could be grafted onto any other meme.

Origin & Background

Platform
Various imageboards and humor sites (advice animal community)
Creator
Unknown
Date
2009

The thick-rimmed glasses first appeared in meme culture in 2009 through two advice animal image macros: Hipster Jesus and Hipster Kitty. Both formats used the glasses to signal a pretentious, counter-cultural attitude. Hipster Jesus would make claims like having liked his father's work before it went mainstream, while Hipster Kitty applied similar ironic one-upmanship to cat behavior.

The glasses drew on a real-world fashion association. Ray-Ban Wayfarers, first designed by Raymond Stegeman in 1952, had been worn by beatniks, musicians, and counter-culture figures since the 1950s. After nearly going extinct in the 1990s, the frames surged back when celebrities like Chloë Sevigny and Mary-Kate Olsen started wearing vintage pairs in the mid-2000s. Hot Topic began selling non-prescription thick frames, and the style became so linked to indie subculture that Urban Dictionary entries from the period specifically define "hipster glasses" as thick black frames worn for "indie cred".

The Museu de Memes in Brazil traced the meme's origin to Hipster Jesus in 2009, noting that while Hipster Jesus eventually faded, the glasses themselves broke free as a standalone exploitable element that could be grafted onto any other meme.

How It Spread

In 2010, the glasses format expanded significantly with the arrival of Hipster Ariel, which placed the thick frames on Disney's Little Mermaid. Hipster Ariel became popular enough that it spread into other Disney characters, a trend BuzzFeed branded "Hipster Disney Villains".

On August 22, 2010, Brooklyn-based artists JC and APK launched Hipster Hitler, a webcomic that put the signature glasses on Adolf Hitler and reimagined him as a fashion-obsessed, music-snobbing hipster. The comic attracted attention and controversy in equal measure.

By February 2011, Google search interest for "hipster glasses" and "Ray-Ban Wayfarers" began converging, reflecting how deeply the meme had embedded itself in the cultural conversation around the eyewear. Derivatives spread across Memebase, Tumblr, and DeviantArt, with users applying the glasses to everything from religious figures to Richard Dawkins. DeviantArt in particular became a hub for fan art incorporating the glasses, with users creating hipster-glasses versions of animals, original characters, and pop culture figures.

The catchphrases "you've probably never heard of it" and "I was into X before it was mainstream" became inseparable from the visual format. These phrases worked as a verbal version of the glasses themselves: instant hipster signifiers that could be dropped into any context.

The Museu de Memes analyzed the format as a case study in participatory culture, arguing that the glasses survived longer than Hipster Jesus because they were infinitely reappropriable. Each new application created a fresh joke while reinforcing the same core gag. The museum noted this was a textbook example of how meme elements can outlive their original context through continuous community remixing (translated from Portuguese).

How to Use This Meme

The Hipster Glasses format is straightforward:

1

Pick a subject. Any person, character, animal, or object works. The funnier the mismatch between the subject and hipster culture, the better.

2

Add the glasses. Photoshop or paste a transparent PNG of thick black-framed glasses onto the subject's face. The edit should look obviously artificial.

3

Write a hipster caption. Common templates include:

4

Post. The format works on any platform, though it peaked on Tumblr, Reddit, and dedicated meme sites.

Cultural Impact

Hipster Glasses sat at the intersection of two major early-2010s trends: the advice animal meme format and the broader cultural fascination with (and mockery of) hipster subculture. The meme coincided with Ray-Ban's real-world marketing revival of the Wayfarer, which saw sales jump 231% in 2007 alone after the company reintroduced the original design.

The glasses became a visual shorthand beyond meme culture. In the same way a fedora tip or a red cap carries instant cultural associations online, thick-framed glasses became code for a specific type of performative authenticity. The meme reinforced this association so thoroughly that wearing actual thick-framed glasses could invite "hipster" comments in real life.

BuzzFeed's coverage of Hipster Disney Villains brought the format to mainstream audiences who might not have been following advice animal trends on Reddit or Memebase. The ease of the format, just paste glasses and add text, made it one of the most accessible entry points into image macro creation.

Fun Facts

Ray-Ban Wayfarers were nearly discontinued in the early 1980s, with only 18,000 pairs sold in 1981. A product placement deal put them in over 60 movies and TV shows per year between 1982 and 1987, and Tom Cruise wearing them in Risky Business helped push annual sales to 1.5 million.

The Portuguese Museu de Memes uses Hipster Glasses as a teaching example of participatory culture, showing how a meme element can outlast its parent meme through community reappropriation.

Urban Dictionary's definition of hipster glasses specifically calls out Ben Folds, Rivers Cuomo of Weezer, and Johnny Depp as real-world wearers of the style.

The glasses became so ubiquitous in meme culture that Google search interest for "hipster glasses" and "Ray-Ban Wayfarers" merged around February 2011.

Derivatives & Variations

Hipster Jesus

— The original 2009 advice animal that spawned the glasses as a standalone element. Featured Jesus making ironic claims about mainstream religion[4].

Hipster Kitty

— A cat with thick-framed glasses making snobbish observations, part of the first wave of hipster advice animals in 2009[4].

Hipster Ariel

— Disney's Little Mermaid given the glasses treatment, launched in 2010 and expanded into other Disney characters[4].

Hipster Disney Villains

— BuzzFeed-coined name for the trend of applying hipster glasses to various Disney antagonists[4].

Hipster Hitler

— A webcomic launched August 22, 2010, by artists JC and APK, depicting Hitler as a trend-conscious hipster[4].

DeviantArt fan art community

— A large body of user-created art featuring original characters and existing properties with hipster glasses, including BJD doll glasses tutorials and Hetalia characters[6].

Frequently Asked Questions