The last Strand editorial is usually a space reserved for outgoing Editors-in-Chief to reminisce about the past year. They talk about the ways they’ve grown during their time at The Strand, usually beginning with how they got started (in my case, as an associate editor for the Arts section) and ending by thanking all of the friends they’ve made along the way. More specifically, they thank their predecessors for getting them to this point (Ally, Erik, Anthony, Rhianna, Holly—this one’s for you!), they tell their co-editor how much they mean to them (Elena—I love you with all of my heart, and I couldn’t have done this without you!), and, lastly, they wish their successors all the best (Ainsley, Sabrina—I have the utmost faith in you two!).
While all of those things are both valid and important, I thought I would dedicate my last editorial to hypebeastery (not to be confused with hypebeastiality). I’ve isolated the following Urban Dictionary definition of “hypebeast” for our readers who might be unfamiliar with this term:
A Hype Beast is a kid that collect clothing, shoes, and accessories for the sole purpose of impressing others. Although the individual may not have a dime to their name they like to front like they are making far more then everybody else. Equipped with mommies credit card the Hype Beast will try his hardest to make sure he has every pair of Nike’s he saw Jay-Z wearing on 106 & Park [sic].
Rebecca (our Stranded Editor), Elena, and I happen to have an affinity for this term. As we were assembling this issue, Elena sent us the following Cole M. Sprouse tweet, with the caption “hello this has to go in the Joke issue”:
Could you imagine meeting the love of your life and then finding out they’re a hypebeast. My god. The world is terrifying sometimes.
— Cole M. Sprouse (@colesprouse) March 29, 2018
In a different conversation completely unrelated to this issue, Rebecca and I were trying to decide whether or not we were Savage Queens or Loyal Queens. Rebecca, most definitely, is a Loyal Queen. Unsure about my status, we decided to brainstorm all of the ways in which I may qualify as the Savage Queen to her Loyal Queen. The only thing we could think of, however, was that time my frosh issue almost wasn’t included in the Vic Orientation Kits.
In a lot of ways, I think being a Savage Queen goes hand in hand with hypebeast culture. To illustrate my point, I’ve put together the Venn Diagram above.
In all seriousness, I’ve spent a lot time in the Strand office over my past three years at Vic and I can’t begin to express how meaningful this experience has been to me. It’s easy to feel lost in a campus as large as U of T’s, but no matter where my future takes me, The Strand will always feel like home. I will look back on my memories here very fondly, and student media will always occupy a very special place in my heart.
Anyway, if you’ve gotten this far in this chaotic mess of an editorial, my advice to you is this: if they can’t handle you at your Savage Queen, then they sure as hell don’t deserve you at your Hypebeast.
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