Hypebeast, una nueva dinámica de consumo de productos de lujo

Abstract

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo realizar un primer acercamiento académico a la cultura Hypebeast desde un punto de vista sociológico. La moda ha ido ganando cada vez más relevancia dentro de las dinámicas de consumo de la sociedad contemporánea, en este contexto aparece la subcultura urbana, en la que se ha popularizado el streetwear, un estilo de vestir y pensar asociado al hip hop, el skate y el surf. Recientemente ha aparecido una nueva forma de relacionarse con las prendas streetwear, el movimiento hypebeast, cuyos seguidores se centran en consumir productos caracterizados por su exclusividad y alto precio. Así, se pretende identificar el perfil de los “Hypebeasters” así como analizar su discurso y hábitos de consumo, intentando prestar especial atención a la relación de los influencers con el movimiento, qué papel jugaron en su surgimiento y qué papel juegan en la actualidad. Para ello se ha hecho uso de una metodología cualitativa, realizando cuatro entrevistas a informantes que se sienten identificados con este término.

This essay have as it main objective to make a first academic contact with the hypebeast culture, from a sociological point of view. In the last 40 years, the fashion world have been winning more relevance inside the intake dynamics of the contemporary society. In the urban subculture, the streetwear have gained a lot of popularity, a way to think and to to dress linked to the hip hop, skate and surf. Recently, it have appeared a new way to relate with the streetwear clothes, the Hypebeast movement, which followers usually focus on consume products distinguished by it exclusivity and for having really high prices. In this essay is pretended to identify the profile from the “Hypebeasters”, aswell as to analyze their speech and consume habits. Everything was done trying to keep the focus also in the role played by the influencers in this movement, what role did they play in the birth and what role are they playing nowadays in the hypebeast. For achieving this objectives it was used a qualitative methodology, doing and analyzing four interviews to informants who felt described by the word “Hypebeaster” and related with the movement.