Alternative counterculture (not anti-socialites but counter-CULTURISTS) are a generational reactionary embrace of a set of sociopolitical principles and values contrary to those of the establishment and of the prior generation.
The Dadaists arose as a reaction to the nationalism and rationalism that brought about WWI. Its mockery of materialistic and nationalistic attitudes was
counter-culture to the society surrounding it.
"Longhairs" were a later incarnation of the same anti-authoritarian spirit which celebrated peace and free love as a response to the Vietnam war. And like most of these movements, they adopted their own fashion trend to communicate their position and value-set socially. Nearly all subcultures adopt a uniform to identify their brethren in the wild.
Punk and later indie music were still further rejections of the status quo which dominated commercial television and radio - the then-primary mediums of media consumption.
And the so-called hipster culture was effectively the postmodern equivalent of the dandy as observed by Michael Reeve, who noted that Baudelaire’s description of the nineteenth century dandy almost perfectly mirrored the hipster in all its incarnations:
"a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self."
Like the dandies, hipsters co-opted antiquated fashion elements of aristocracy (both classical and retro) to create an ironic and anachronistic identity in defiance of the norms of their day.
Each of these and countless other countercultural, alternative social movements were reactions to popular culture. However, each was inevitably consumed by pop, ever-hunting the hip and the new. Soon after the birth of each movement, one could simply go to the mall and buy its uniform, ready to wear off the rack.
Sure, there are "pousers" in every social group great and small. Many put on the uniform to superficially occupy the newest cult on the block. But the true spirit of every "alternative" counterculture is the norms it rejects and the values it adopts. New Wave, Post-Punk, Indie... each is a manifesto of a subculture's search for identity and a clarion call to like-minded misfits the world over - that they are not alone.
