Our Obsession With Cool
Groovy. Swell. Awesome. Rad. Smooth. Each word has had its moment. But none has stood the test of time quite like ‘cool’.
The word underwent a transformation in the 1930’s, when it was adopted into the American English vernacular by the bebop generation of Black musicians as a term of approval. Duke Ellington once described Billie Holiday as the ‘essence of cool’. According to linguistic anthropologist Robert L. Moore, ‘cool’ is now the most popular slang term of approval in the English language.
Though few people will hasten to admit it, ‘coolness’ is something most of us aspire towards. It’s an elusive quality that we’re constantly chasing. It’s an attitude, a lifestyle, an aesthetic. But what constitutes ‘cool’, and does it really exist?
We often project coolness onto people we don’t know very well; something we accredit to passers-by on the street, strangers on social media, or friends-of-friends. It’s rarely a word we use to describe a close friend or family member. It’s an attribute that’s detectable from afar because it’s built upon external factors: a person’s dress sense, the brands they’re wearing, their haircut and tattoos. Describing someone as ‘cool’ usually has a slightly bitter tinge to it; it implies they have something that we lack.
A person used to be defined as cool because of their otherness, originality or individuality. Today, however, it’s become somewhat homogeneous. At present, in London, it’s tattoos, mullets, Ganni, and french bulldogs. With each new year comes a new formula for coolness, which can be attained by anyone who can afford it. It’s become a badge that anyone can buy.
More often that not, coolness is a performance — a demanding and expensive one to put on. Though to claim being cool would totally negate your coolness, there is a knowingness involved, a flaunting. But I don’t believe being cool is an innate human quality, like kindness or creativity. Nobody comes out the womb ‘cool’, though people may argue that some are born with the propensity for it whilst others aren’t. It is a learned way of being, a label we choose for ourselves, that we curate over time.
Social media has made style accessible to all — buy this jacket, dye your hair this colour, hang out in these places, and you’ll fit right in with the cool kids — but it’s made conforming with societal perceptions of coolness so easy that it is almost undeserving of our praise.
Sure, ‘cool’ can be used to describe someone’s appearance, but it shouldn’t be misused to describe their character. Don’t judge a book by its cover, and don’t judge a person by their Acne coat.
Coolness is a facade which doesn’t tend to last long after meeting someone. It’s usually melted by someone’s warmth of personality, or shattered by their inflated ego and arrogance. We all know what it’s like to meet someone we had branded as ‘cool’, only to realise that they’re far too friendly and open to warrant the title, or ,conversely, to learn they’re not a very nice person, and regret admiring them in the first place. We associate coolness with aloofness and distance, which, in reality, are not very pleasant traits to be around. And, at the end of the day, life is too short to surround yourself with people who dress well but have whack personalities.
Over recent years, my perception of cool has undergone a radical transformation. Where it once was someone who met certain visible criteria, it is now someone who totally rejects or is ignorant of those criteria. The barometer of coolness is a shallow and misleading value system that we should be wary of. It can create false first-impressions, make us feel inferior, and lead us towards people who have an unhealthy sense of self. The word is a misnomer, because surely it is warmth that we should seek out in a person.
In my eyes, the coolest people are the ones who are whole-heartedly, unapologetically themselves; whose actions, lifestyles and appearances are founded upon their own, unique tastes; who aren’t swayed by the need for society’s approval. More than anything else, I believe authenticity makes a cool person. It’s harder to go against the grain than it is to follow the crowds, and that is far more worthy of our respect.