WHEN E-COMMERCE BEGAN, so little ago, it was something for those hardcore cyber-pioneers delightfully known as "early adopters" or more colloquially as "geeks." (Amazon.com's early bestseller lists drew heavily on programming manuals and tech-mogul tell-all books.)

Then, as it "matured," e-commerce became something aimed at the alleged "mainstream market." (At a reading last month, I heard ex-local author Po Bronson claim the latest craze among Internet-startup financiers was to drive down a strip-mall street like Aurora Avenue, look at the store signs, and imagine a dot-com next to each; i.e. CarParts.com or Statuary.com.)

Now, e-commerce is big enough to have room for "hipness" in it.

And, natch, Seattle outfits are at the forefront of the fad.

Exhibit A: UV115.com; first known as Buy Curious. (The latter name's a pun, recognizable only to readers of alterna-weekly personal ads. Apparently too few Net-users got the gag, so the outfit's now in the process of adopting the new "UV115" name, with the slogan "Protect Yourself.")

It's a veritable online answer to Urban Outfitters (which still doesn't have an online presence of its own, strangely). It's co-led by David Alhadeff (scion of the local family that razed the legendary Longacres horse-racing track for a Boeing office park).

Its press kit claims "Gen X and Gen Y consumers are the most savvy Internet users, yet their buying power has yet to be fully tapped." The company vows to tap this with "product" that's "geared towards the juniors market, including clothing, accessories, hair care, and wellness categories."

That means tight black skirts, ultra-baggy jeans (modeled by beltless doodz showing their boxer-shorts elastic), Manic Panic hair dyes, cigar-box handbags, votive candles, "punk rock" bracelets, turkey-feather boas, Zippo lighters, syringe pens, inflatable tulips, and condom gift-packs.

It also means such site extras as an advice column, "Meet Cleo." (To a letter from a recently-dumped young lady, Cleo replies, "Look on the bright side--now you can have sex with all of those totally hot guys you've been spying around town. Come on, chin up!")

I've previously referred to Tom Frank's thesis that "hip" youth culture's always been inseparable from corporate marketers' ongoing quest for the prized 18-35 target demographic. That it should show up online should come as no surprise. The only (pleasant) surprise is how well the site looks and works.

Speaking of wise purchasing...

TOMORROW (IN PERSON!):Get your shakin' booty down to the next live event for The Big Book of MISC. Aug. 19, 6 p.m., at Borders Books, 4th near Pike in downtown Seattle. If you can't make it then or want a double dose, there's another one the following Thursday, Aug. 26, 7:30 p.m., at the venerable Elliott Bay Book Co. Be there. Aloha.

TOMORROW (ON THE SITE): An already-outdated video-game history.

ELSEWHERE: Here's a sample of Carnival Culture author James Twitchell's new book, Lead Us Into Temptation: The Triumph of American Materialism, discussing "The Complexity of Consuming Commercialism:" "We live through things. We create ourselves through things. And we change ourselves by changing our things. We often depend on such material for meaning".... A symbol of everything I hate about corporate entertainment goes Chap. 11; who sez there's no good news no more?...

(For an explanation of the above, look here.)

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