Theory of Cool

http://www.harpercollins.ca/rs/excerpt.asp

The book "the Rebel Sell" deals with, amongst other things, the idea of cool. This excerpt uses the example of sports shoes.

"Shoes were an essential element of the punk aesthetic from the beginning, from army boots and Converse sneakers to Doc Martens and Blundstones. And instead of the big three automakers to play the villain, there were the shoe companies: first and foremost, Nike. For antiglobalization demonstrators, Nike came to symbolize everything that was wrong with the emerging capitalist world order.

Yet this animus toward Nike did create occasional moments of embarrassment. During the famous Seattle riots of 1999, the downtown Niketown was trashed by protestors, but videotape recorded at the scene showed several protestors kicking in the front window wearing Nike shoes. It occurred to many people that if you think Nike is the root of all evil, you really shouldn't be wearing their shoes. Yet if thousands of young people refuse to wear Nike, that creates an obvious market for "alternative" footwear. Vans and Airwalk were both able to leverage some of the rebel chic associated with skateboarding into millions of dollars of sneaker sales."

Cool here has associations with deviating from the mainstream and being seen as alternative. Once an alternative product or idea is accepted into the mainstream however, it apparently loses its coolness. This would explain why fashions and tastes - in clothing and music in particular - change so often. It also shows how one can attempt to create cool by borrowing meanings and associations from other sources - in this example the attractive rebel image of skateboarding culture.

Apple computers have recently experienced this. Jonathan Ive (now their senior vice-president of design) talks of how he first discovered the company

"The more I learnt about this cheeky almost rebellious company the more it appealed to me, as it unapologetically pointed to an alternative in a complacent and creatively bankrupt industry. Apple stood for something and had a reason for being that wasn’t just about making money."

http://www.designmuseum.org/design/jonathan-ive

At first a refreshing alternative to the boring old PC, Apple products are becoming more and more popular, and in the case of the iPod are dominating the market. Time will tell if consumers will eventually become bored with the iPod and again look elsewhere for something more exciting.