Mag Review: What is "Cool"? (Frankie)

An exceptionally good friend came to visit over Easter and left me a Frankie magazine to read. It had an article titled "What is 'Cool'?" She thought I needed to read it....


The article was written by 4 different people and their interpretation of what it means to be 'Cool'. It was a cool read....


'Cool' is just such a hard thing to pin down to typed text. So, I was happy to see that some pros also found it hard to define.


I really loved what Caro Cooper had to say about it....


She wrote:

COOL IS SUCH AN ABSTRACT NOUN, ASKING FOR A DEFINITION IS LIKE ASKING MARRY POPPINS TO EXPLAIN WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE SUPERCALAFRAGILISTICEXPIALIDOCIOUS.

Cooper breaks the facts about cool into 3 categories:

1. Cool is entirely undefinable - I have launched into a blog about finding out what cool is. I have been madly writing and stalling and writing and questioning this for around two years. I still don't have a clue what it means. But, it is a quest and I am stubborn, so maybe one day I will know what it means....
2. Cool is relative - I had a conversation with my mother-in-law who was a bit down that someone much younger than her had made adverse comments on the new shoes she had bought. Well, you know what? For a lady around the general age of 60, cool is not knee high boots, skin tight jeans and off the shoulder t-shirts. Cool is relative. It is age appropriate. It is circumstantial.
3. It's transient - what is cool today will not be cool tomorrow.

But there is hope, Cooper also wrote:

BUT EVEN IF YOU DON'T SLOT NICELY INTO ONE OF THOSE CATEGORIES (hippies, preppies, goths, surfers etc), OR THE MANY OTHERS THAT EXIST, MOST PEOPLE ARE STILL COOL TO SOMEONE. EVEN IF IT'S JUST THEIR MUM.

I really enjoyed flicking through Frankie. It is very cool, uses great paper and sources really groovy items of clothing and design from some far-flung places - including Etsy and Op-shops. I think it may be something that gets snaffled into my trolley from time to time... I think it is cool - whatever that means.

So, what do you think is 'Cool'?