’Cause lookin’ cool ain’t easy.
Name: Melissa Allen
Age: 33
Occupation: freelance graphic designer
Residence: Cleveland Park
Spotted: Dupont Metro, Q Street entrance, waiting for her husband
Destination: Tabaq Bistro on U Street NW
Style Definition: “I hate to be so vanilla…but…eclectic. I love boutique-y and thrift stores.”
Hipster Giveaway: Looking like you're a starving artist when you're actually loaded. Allen's tunic is [...]

’Cause lookin’ cool ain’t easy.
Name: Khalid Larkin
Age: 25
Occupation: Cafe Saint-Ex employee
Residence: Shaw
Spotted: 7:45 p.m., 14th and S Streets NW
Destination: Barnes & Noble in Georgetown, to read
Style Definition: “Small T-shirts, tight [Levi's] jeans. [My style] is first-wave punk. That's the music I listen to, so that's the look I go for.”
Hipster Giveaway: He looks like a [...]

’Cause lookin’ cool ain’t easy.
Name: Janelle Zara
Age: 18
Occupation: student, waitress, newspaper intern, salon receptionist, soon-to-be Slovakian English teacher
Residence: Dupont Circle
Spotted: 11:05 p.m., 2400 block of 18th Street NW
Style Definition: “H&M whore,” with “Karen O and D.C. schoolgirls” as inspiration
Hipster Giveaway: multi-colored shag, layered tees—one plain, one animal print
Ironic Footwear: black-cotton Mary Janes
Prep Time: 45 minutes, [...]

’Cause lookin’ cool ain’t easy.
Name: Mara McLaurin
Age: 16
Occupation: junior at School Without Walls
Residence: Brightwood
Spotted: 11:30 p.m., 18th and D Streets NW
Style Definition: “Eclectic. Just, like, comfortable. Kinda bohemian-indie. Fun.”
Layers: 4: flannel, hoodie, striped Forever 21 shirt, camisole
Hipster Giveaway: black footless leggings underneath a denim skirt with thrift-store belt
Found Objects: “My friend Dana's bag.”
Ironic Footwear: “I [...]

’Cause lookin’ cool ain’t easy.
Name: Justin Kielsgard
Age: 24
Occupation: manages local hip-hop band Panacea; plays the "typewriter and xylophone and hand claps" in Igloo's Bitch
Residence: Cleveland Park
Spotted: 11:15 p.m., 18th and D Streets NW
Hipster Giveaway: Stereolab T-shirt, brown corduroy pants, and rectangular Versace glasses
Style Definition: “hobo-chic”
Found Objects: thrift-store blazer, hat stolen from a friend
Ironic Footwear: “thrift-store [...]

’Cause lookin’ cool ain’t easy.
Name: Crystal Canja
Age: 24
Occupation: Lockheed Martin employee
Residence: Rockville
Spotted: last night's Strokes concert, DAR Constitution Hall
Hipster Giveaway: bright-yellow Dickies dress with black leggings and tie
Style Definition: “Fashion before comfort. Don't shun the ‘80s just because it was a really bad decade.”
Ironic Footwear: black, graffitied Chuck Taylor high-tops
Excessories: four neon-glitter plastic bangles—“15 tickets [...]

’Cause lookin’ cool ain’t easy.
Name: Dan Jones
Age: 28
Occupation: host at Logan Tavern
Residence: Columbia Heights
Spotted: 1:45 p.m., U Street and New Hampshire Avenue NW
Hipster Giveaway: Thick-rimmed glasses, compass tattoo on inner arm, Winston Light cigarette, slim-fit Lucky Brand Jeans that set him back “$100-plus,” he says.
Style Definition: “Casual and an attempt to look somewhat grown-up.” Jones [...]

’Cause lookin’ cool ain’t easy.
Names: Tiffany Chan, Luke Bailey
Ages: both are 22
Occupations: psychology student, Georgetown University; environmental-studies student, Georgetown University
Residences: West Georgetown, Burleith
Spotted: 10:15 p.m., Food for Thought Cafe
Hipster Giveaways: Chan sported a red-and-white polka-dot blouse fastened with safety pin and jeans tucked into metallic-gold scrunch boots from Urban Outfitters; Bailey rocked a rainbow-colored ski [...]

’Cause lookin’ cool ain’t easy.
Name: Adam Robinson
Age: 27
Occupation: Corcoran Gallery of Art staffer
Residence: U Street
Spotted: 9:15 p.m., 14th and T Streets NW
Destination: Destroyer show at Black Cat
Hipster Giveaway: Satiny purple shirt that calls out subtle purple paisley design on H&M tie. “I thought, Hm, I wonder how that would work out.…H&M is pretty cool.”
Style Definition: [...]

’Cause lookin’ cool ain’t easy.
Name: Elyse Canosa
Age: 20
Occupation: engineering student, University of Maryland
Residence: College Park
Spotted: 9 p.m., 14th and T Streets NW
Destination: Magnolia Electric Company show at Black Cat
Style Definition: “Haphazard.”
Layers: 3. “I just thought these colors would go together. I needed something to go under [the Maryland Terps baby T] because it’s kinda short.”
Ironic [...]