Coolness—the art of being cool—is a distinctly and historically American concept. And like most things that are distinctly and historically American, it started with African Americans.
In 1940s America, during World War II, among a population living under oppressive Jim Crow laws that wouldn’t be repealed for another couple of decades, to be cool was to be defiantly and obstinately relaxed. It was a stoic calm in the face of adversity—a blatant dismissal of the racism that permeates every corner of this great country. It described both the more chill, subdued jazz style emerging at the time, as well as a general approach to life from maintaining a certain quiet, emotional strength to a style of dress that increasingly rejected convention and conformity, even in the most subtle of ways. Musicians would tilt their hats a certain way, wear sunglasses at night both on stage and off, even unbutton their collars and leave their shirttails untucked a certain way. They’d refuse to crack smiles on stage, going out of their way to try to intimidate others with their quiet power. It was a performance as deliberate as the music they played, but it was also a protest: a reallocation of power. You don’t have the power to shake me, but my unshakability has the power to shake you.
Of course, it didn’t take long for white people to take notice of this new slang and the accompanying culture and catapult it into the mainstream. It’s the way it always goes: a trend emerges among a subculture or community, trickles down to the more progressive youth—in the case of cool, the Beat Generation—and then out to the mainstream, where it’s watered down and eventually sold back to us. The word “cool” went through this before most of us were born, but the concept of what’s cool does it constantly over the course of our lifetimes. So, what does it mean to be cool, today?
What’s Cool?
Like most things in 2025, there’s no real consensus on what “cool” is. Most would agree it has something to do with dressing “well”, but, the revolutionary roots of cool cannot be erased. Therefore, I’d argue it’s not just about looking good, but about redefining what looking “good” even means, not just in the aesthetic sense, but as a direct challenge to the dominant culture.
What does that mean when dominant culture in America is consumption?