… and go to your public library!  We’ve all seen trends come and go in a few months span – but one that we just can’t seem to shake (nor should we) is reinvention of “cool”.  It’s clear that our current generation of designers is somewhat apathetic – designing with the notion that everything has been done already, so there is nothing they can try that is truly original, just reinvention of past looks.  But think about this… in 1899 (yes, almost 20 years before the Ford Model T and 14 years before the Wright Brothers airplane) the Commisioner of the U.S. Patent Office made the claim that “Everything that can be invented, has been invented”.  Ha!  This leads me back to “cool”.  It’s not a trend – its an aspirational way of living that will never go out of style.

A note to all you designers (and fashion savvies), stop looking at the monthly trends in your fashion magazines and go check out a few books at your local library.  The collage of images here is ‘classic rock cool’ and it typifies a 1960s and 70s era in the flashy world of popular music, butyou takeaway should be… this is what “cool” was at that time.  Its much looser than the cuts and colors of the clothes – it’s the feel and the energy of the look and the time that we, as designers,  should be looking to reinvent… and you, as clothing aficionados, should be looking to wear.  Maybe this is all too ethereal for a penguin on a Friday morning, but I’ve been beak-deep in designing my new spring line (hence my 2 day absence) and this is what I’ve been thinking about.

So, before you rely on the minute-to-minute trends for your next fashion buy… see if what you’re getting/wearing fits in to your personal, modern, today version of “cool”.  Forget the hot colors of the summer for a moment and decide if those skinny jeans you’re looking at have the right energy, ON YOU… an energy you feel good about and connected to.  That’s all fashion really is or should be.