# Hipster Glasses > 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[2]. 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 behavior[2]. ## Origin The thick-rimmed glasses first appeared in meme culture in 2009 through two advice animal image macros: Hipster Jesus and Hipster Kitty[4]. 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[1]. 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[5]. 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[5]. 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 meme[1]. - **Platform:** Various imageboards and humor sites (advice animal community) - **Creator:** Unknown (community-created from advice animal image macro culture) - **Date:** 2009 ## 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[4]. The glasses are always obviously edited in, making the manipulation part of the joke rather than something meant to fool anyone[1]. 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[2]. 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[4]. 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[5]. ## 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[4]. Hipster Ariel became popular enough that it spread into other Disney characters, a trend BuzzFeed branded "Hipster Disney Villains"[4]. 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[4]. 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[4]. Derivatives spread across Memebase, Tumblr, and DeviantArt, with users applying the glasses to everything from religious figures to Richard Dawkins[1]. 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[6]. The catchphrases "you've probably never heard of it" and "I was into X before it was mainstream" became inseparable from the visual format[4]. 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[1]. 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)[1]. ## How to Use 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[2]. 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[5]. 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[3]. 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[4]. 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[5]. - 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[1]. - 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[3]. - The glasses became so ubiquitous in meme culture that Google search interest for "hipster glasses" and "Ray-Ban Wayfarers" merged around February 2011[4]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Hipster Glasses? Hipster Glasses is an exploitable photoshop meme where thick-framed glasses are digitally placed on images of people, animals, or characters to mock hipster stereotypes[2]. ### Where did Hipster Glasses come from? The format originated in 2009 with the Hipster Jesus and Hipster Kitty advice animal image macros, which used thick-rimmed glasses as a visual marker for pretentiousness[4]. ### What does Hipster Glasses mean? Adding the glasses to an image signals that the subject is being portrayed as a hipster, someone who values obscure tastes and being "into things before they were mainstream"[1]. ### How do you use Hipster Glasses? Paste a transparent image of thick black-framed glasses onto any subject and pair it with a caption about liking something "before it was cool" or "before it went mainstream"[4]. ### Is Hipster Glasses still popular? The format peaked around 2011-2012 and is now a classic meme from the advice animal era. While no longer widely produced, it's recognized as a key format from early 2010s meme culture[4]. ### What are Ray-Ban Wayfarers? Ray-Ban Wayfarers are the real-world sunglasses that inspired the Hipster Glasses meme. Designed in 1952, they became associated with counter-culture fashion and were adopted by hipster subculture in the 2000s[5]. ### What was Hipster Ariel? Hipster Ariel was a 2010 spinoff that applied the thick-framed glasses to Disney's Little Mermaid, generating a wave of "Hipster Disney" content that BuzzFeed popularized[4]. ### Who created the Hipster Hitler webcomic? Brooklyn-based artists known as JC and APK launched the Hipster Hitler webcomic on August 22, 2010[4]. ### Why are thick-framed glasses associated with hipsters? The association grew from counter-culture fashion codes of the 2000s, when emo and indie subcultures adopted thick frames as a style statement. Hot Topic sold non-prescription versions, and celebrities like Chloë Sevigny popularized vintage Wayfarers[5]. ### How is Hipster Glasses different from Scumbag Steve's hat? Both are exploitable accessories that characterize a subject, but while Scumbag Steve's hat signals rude or immoral behavior, Hipster Glasses signal pretentiousness and cultural elitism[2]. ## References 1. [Hipster Glasses - Teh Meme Wiki]() 2. [Óculos Hipster (Hipster Glasses) – #MUSEUdeMEMES]() 3. [Search 'hipster glasses' on DeviantArt - Discover The Largest Online Art Gallery and Community]() 4. [Hipster Glasses - Know Your Meme]() 5. [Ariel (The Little Mermaid)]() 6. [Hipster Glasses - Urban Dictionary]() 7. [Ray-Ban Wayfarer]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/hipster-glasses Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library