Reading Notes: The Hunt for What's Cool

For this reading post, we were suppose to conduct a search of "what's up" just as Baysie and DeeDee did within Gladwell's piece The CoolHunt. To begin with, what I found interesting with Gladwell's piece was the emphasis that was placed on the concept that 'cool,' especially when it has to do with fashion, is not something that is a "trickle-down" phenomenon. What is cool is not determined by the designers and then moved into mainstream subcultures, but rather is a trickle-up activity. As Gladwell states, it is now about the chase and flight-designers picking up on the next 'big thing' and grabbing hold of it before it fades.

But if this is true, then what is the difference between something that is cool and something that is simply a fad? Cool follows a series of rules. First of all, the first rule of cool is, "the quicker the chase, the quicker the flight." Once something is discovered as cool, what is cool moves on. Secondly, cool cannot be manufactured out of thin air. This is not to say that a company cannot interfere in a cool cycle though. Thus, a fad does not follow these rules. A fad is like a trend, that has a mass amount of followers but no real innovator, such as piercing your own belly button in middle school. A fad is not picked up by the market and manufactured on a large-scale, like Nike's Air Jordan.

So on my coolhunt, I went to a few different places. First, I went people watching in Memorial Library (right outside the computer lab). In my opinion, I did not see many people in fashion or items that could be considered as 'cool' (but, maybe I'm just not cool myself, so I can't point it out). Furthermore, I think it would have been easier to do this assignment if it were warm out, so I could actually see what people were wearing. But nonetheless, I did see some things that could be considered as 'cool,' or at least in the last stage of cool, the last majority. Some of these items that I saw almost everyone with were:

1. Northface Jacket
2. Jansport Backpack
   
3. Cell phone, especially flip phones/camera phones
4. Ipod
   
5. Tight-fitting winter cap

Almost every single individual that walked into the library had all of these things and the ones who didn't had at least a majority of the items. Other items that were noticeable were big sunglasses and even particular notebooks, like Fivestar or notebooks that looked like Fivestar.

If I were to interpret my findings using the readings, I do believe that these items I have listed could be considered as "cool" and were manufactured in this manner, especially to our age-group. But, I don't believe that I found anything, at least in these categories, as something new and cool nor did I see an innovator at the library. I believe all the cool items I observed were in fact in the final stages of cool, as many individuals have owned a Northface jacket, ipod, and cell-phone since they came to this campus. Thus, I believe that all I saw was at the final stages of cool, the last individuals to adopt it.

Lastly, I went to the King Club on Monday night (for Funky Mondays-live music) and saw some new and interesting things that I was not able to see in Memorial Library. I saw girls wearing big jewelery/big-beaded necklaces and noticed that when I go out, there are always a few girls sporting the same type (though slightly different) jewelery. Furthermore, I have noticed more and more girls getting back into the whole head-band thing, whether it be the thick plastic ones or scarves made into headbands. I think that some of these things that I have seen lately might be indicative of the "early-adopters," individuals that saw the style when they were traveling or at home over break, and brought it back here. I think it will be very interesting to see if this picks up more and more in the spring.