Hip

What is considered hip?  Is being hip dictated by what you wear, what you say, or your mannerisms? Who decides what is hip and what hip is not?  I think any of these questions can be answered, but the answers can change depending on the person who gives the answer. 

For me, hip is what is popular at the time.  I remember back in middle school if you had a pair of Converse All Star shoes on then you were cool, or hip.

My question is, was it hip for schools all over the meridian school district to wear Converse shoes, how about all the schools in Idaho, or the North West Region of the US, or was it hip all over America, other countries?  Who decides if it is hip or not?

I would submit that hip in a middle school level is dictated upon outside sources, that some big brother or sister was wearing the Converse shoe, and so the little brother or sister decided to wear it to school, and the “hip trend” is started.  Instead of a big brother of sister, perhaps a celebrity of an idealized figure.  I think most cases hip is determined by outside sources at a young age, and the children who want to be hip, follow in the way of the hip.