Trends change all the time. Every year, every month, even every day there is something new being sold to us as 'cool. But we ask; who really gets to decide what is cool in today's society?
The Media
It doesn't matter what our individual tastes are, everywhere around us we are confronted by images of what is and is not cool. Television, movies, magazines, the Internet; they are all in it together (through clever marketing) to convince us about how we should look, what we should buy and essentially what's cool right now. Not just focusing on the mainstream, they are also able to sell the unique and new by persuading us that being different is also cool.
Celebrities
It's not just children who are influenced by celebrities, but adults too. Styled by the world's leading fashion designers, make-up artists and hair stylists, when it comes to appearance, celebrities are at the fore-front of what is 'cool'. Celebrities (actors, musicians, even politicians!) only have to step out holding the latest Hermes handbag, iPhone or even riding a bike to make it become the latest must-have.
The retail and advertising industry
Ultimately it comes down to the shops as they are the one's that offer the latest 'cool' clothes, gadgets etc. It's a bit of a conundrum like what came first, the chicken or the egg. Do things become 'cool 'before they hit the shops (hence why shops decide to stock these 'cool' items), or do the shops heavily stock a certain item so that it is portrayed as 'cool'? Either way, shops and their adverts play the largest part in dictating to today's society what is and is not hot.
There are always pockets of people that don't buy into what is cool, instead sticking to their own unique styles or attitudes. But even trends that are not cool can suddenly become cool through careful advertising and product placement, and likewise, people can suddenly turn on what is cool, instantly rejecting it.
The Media
It doesn't matter what our individual tastes are, everywhere around us we are confronted by images of what is and is not cool. Television, movies, magazines, the Internet; they are all in it together (through clever marketing) to convince us about how we should look, what we should buy and essentially what's cool right now. Not just focusing on the mainstream, they are also able to sell the unique and new by persuading us that being different is also cool.
Celebrities
It's not just children who are influenced by celebrities, but adults too. Styled by the world's leading fashion designers, make-up artists and hair stylists, when it comes to appearance, celebrities are at the fore-front of what is 'cool'. Celebrities (actors, musicians, even politicians!) only have to step out holding the latest Hermes handbag, iPhone or even riding a bike to make it become the latest must-have.
The retail and advertising industry
Ultimately it comes down to the shops as they are the one's that offer the latest 'cool' clothes, gadgets etc. It's a bit of a conundrum like what came first, the chicken or the egg. Do things become 'cool 'before they hit the shops (hence why shops decide to stock these 'cool' items), or do the shops heavily stock a certain item so that it is portrayed as 'cool'? Either way, shops and their adverts play the largest part in dictating to today's society what is and is not hot.
There are always pockets of people that don't buy into what is cool, instead sticking to their own unique styles or attitudes. But even trends that are not cool can suddenly become cool through careful advertising and product placement, and likewise, people can suddenly turn on what is cool, instantly rejecting it.
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