Is "cool" dead, or has it just rebranded?

Mina Polo

11 Jul 2025 — 6 min read

Dazed Studio Insights Live Event

This week, Dazed Studio held the third instalment in our Dazed Studio Insights Live series. We discussed coolness in our contemporary age – how it has changed over time, and what this means for brand cultural relevance.

Izzy Farmiloe, our Group Brand Strategy Director, was joined by Ayo Fagbemi, Strategy Director of Explorers Club Studio; Grace McGrade, Astrologer; Paria Farzaneh, Fashion Designer; and Laura Pitcher, Dazed's U.S. Editor.

Let's take a look at some highlights from their conversation:

"Cool" has changed over time

The birth of "cool"

Miles Davis at the Newport Jazz Festival, 1969, Getty Images/David Redfern

Cool began as a quiet resistance birthed by the African diaspora. Its earliest roots trace back to West African traditions, where concepts like “itutu” (Yoruba for “coolness”) symbolised spiritual composure, grace under pressure, and quiet strength. This evolved in the U.S., where African Americans adopted coolness as a coded survival mechanism - a way to maintain dignity, expression, and inner sovereignty under oppressive conditions.

"Cool," as it is popularly known, took off within jazz culture, with artists such as Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis - in his infamous album, "The Birth of the Cool" - turning improvisation, minimal expression, and personal style into forms of rebellion and sophistication. African American musician Lester Young challenged racial norms by refusing to smile when performing, and is credited with coining the slang term "that's cool".

"Cool" has moved from aspirational to relatable

"When I was growing up, cool had a lot of patriarchal connotations, and it was something that was associated with celebrities and people in positions of power. Now that Pluto (the planet of power) has moved into Aquarius (the sign of the individual, the internet, technology, community and innovation), cool is something a lot more accessible... people are hyper-aware again, so I think there's a redistribution of power happening culturally that is terrifying as well as very exciting."

- Grace McGrade, Astrologer

"Cool is always relative, but when I think about how cool has existed online, it is something that is evolving in the digital age, as we are exposed to a lot more online… cool used to be a bit more mysterious."

- Laura Pitcher, U.S. Editor, Dazed

Cool is fleeting, but community lasts

"I feel like sometimes people chase cool for cool's sake versus thinking and building community around their product... brands could think about this more, thinking about what "cool" means to them versus what it means for everyone else."

- Ayo Fagbemi, Strategy Director, Explorers Club Studio

The message for brands

Focus on creating value and community through your core offering rather than trying to appear trendy. From an insights perspective, this means understanding internally what your company values are, your mission and your purpose, as well as who resonates with your message. Your new consumer may not be your old one.

Our white label work for Hinge's "No Ordinary Love" campaign aims to build this, through a series of personal love stories inspired by real submissions from Hinge's Substack channel.

Hinge's "No Ordinary Love" Campaign, via Dazed Studio

By telling couples' real romance stories, Hinge is reminding us that even though finding love may look different today, Hinge's results are still worth sharing. Creating and sharing a community around the experience of modern matchmaking enacts exactly what Ayo is referencing.

Know thyself – authenticity isn't instant

Being authentic requires ongoing work and self-discovery; it's not something brands can achieve overnight. Ayo pointed to this to explain the resurgence of nostalgia in pop culture; brands are harking back to their former, "authentic" heritage.

"Just be yourself. It's the age old advice, isn't it? Be yourself. Everybody's screaming it: be yourself, be authentic. But no one asks the question or thinks about the process it takes to end up like yourself, or to find yourself. No one talks about this in relation to brands, that it’s a process... Lots of brands are going back to nostalgia and heritage, because they’re going back to a time when they knew who they really were."

- Ayo Fagbemi, Strategy Director, Explorers Club Studio

The message for brands

Invest in the long-term process of understanding your brand's true identity, rather than expecting instant authenticity. This means ongoing research, internal alignment, and consistent practice. It also means implementing mechanisms for building internal corporate culture, such as internal feeds, workshops and seminars. If you understand where you come from, this can be used as a springboard for how you want to grow.

Of course, we need to shamelessly plug - Dazed Studio can help you develop this!

Dare to be irrelevant

"I think you have to be comfortable being provocative. Everyone’s attention spans are so short, so relevance is fleeting... if you're able to distil a mission in what you're doing and it sits right with you, it doesn't matter if it lands with people right away."

- Grace McGrade, Astrologer

The message for brands

Embrace irrelevancy to the masses. Purpose-driven brands don’t need to be universally understood or accepted from day one. You may not be an overnight success - aim for a slow build of brand loyalty, rather than creating a hype brand. Know who you're for, and who you're not trying to reach. Long-term loyalty is built not through broad visibility, but through deep emotional resonance with the few who are truly receptive to it.

Brand loyalty has commercial value, too. According to Gartner, 65% of revenue comes from repeat customers, and companies spend 5× more to acquire new customers. Instead of chasing exposure and overspending on marketing for that viral moment, focusing on brand loyalty builds reliable, profitable business momentum.

Begin with brand substance and purpose

"In LA, personally in the past year, with the fires and the deportations, people are localising, people are connecting with brands that feel like they have a sincere purpose. I think brands should be purpose-driven, and that's individual and independent."

- Grace McGrade, Astrologer

The message for brands

True cultural relevance comes from having a meaningful point of view and ethical foundation, not just aesthetic appeal. Focus on your core values and let culture develop organically around them. Don't try to manufacture trends; instead, understand and respect the cultural conversations your audience is already having.

Real-world connection isn't just cool, it's a necessity

Our participants all agreed that the ability to express yourself will be an important skill and a big part of what "cool" is in the next 5 years:

"We should have the confidence to approach somebody in the street, in a non-alcohol induced event, and say that we appreciate them. If all industries had this mindset, I think there would be more of a sense of self and what being authentic really means rather than just selling an aesthetic."

- Paria Farzaneh, Fashion Designer

The message for brands

Instead of constantly optimising content for digital performance, invest in experiences that foster face-to-face connection; hold community events that give way to meaningful conversations, shared spaces, and collaborative efforts that bring people together, offline.

Curating the right community for these programs matters too, of course - bringing together those from across the industry to open dialogues around topics that affect you all - for instance, social and environmental impact - can contribute to cross-brand learning and promote growth across the sector. These moments cultivate brand trust, loyalty, and belonging, which can't be quantified by an algorithm.

The bottom line: the death of clout, the rise of meaning

"We're witnessing the slow death of clout as currency. The next wave isn't about chasing followers or flexing status. It's about presence, protection, purpose. It's less about influencers, more about initiators."

- Grace McGrade, Astrologer

Brands must shift from pursuing traditional "coolness" to building genuine value, authentic relationships, and meaningful purpose in an increasingly fragmented cultural landscape.