Spending money in pursuit of coolness

Spending money in pursuit of coolness

By William Furney

JAKARTA (JP): The British comedian Eddie Izzard once said that
coolness was the pursuit of youth and for some time now the youth
of many Asian countries has been looking to the West in attempts
to become the hippest, coolest, trendiest young things around.

Take the youth of Japan for instance. The world and his mother
known how "in" they are. Kids wear the most up-to-date and
expensive of clothes, listen to the most happenin' sounds and
adopt lifestyles that must leave the country's founding fathers'
twirling in their cremation urns. In fact, there is little of
Japan's culture reflected in the teenagers and twenty-somethings
walking the streets, throwing drinking parties and crooning in
the karaoke clubs of Tokyo and elsewhere on the island nation.

Looking the part does not come cheap. For the Japanese, it
takes more than a fistful of yen. Take a trip to Bali and if you
are astute, you will notice there are two kinds of prices harga
biasa (normal price) and harga bule (western price), the latter
being more expensive of course. The majority of Westerners living
in Indonesia are earning rupiah salaries which are much lower
than their salaries would be back home. But of course in Bali, we
have to take into account the many thousands of tourists who
arrive laden with dollars, pounds and yen, to mention but a few
of the world's currencies.

But there is also another price, harga Jepang (Japanese price)
which is even higher than the western price. This, even though
the yen has being slipping to record lows for some time.

Even in many London stores there is a Japanese price.

Recently, on a trip to London, I was buying some jeans in a
high street store when a group of three Japanese came in looking
for the latest model of a well-known brand. The store assistant
told them there were only three pairs left and that they were
expensive. Disregarding the price, the happy tourists left with
the "last" three pairs of the trendy jeans. Never mind that five
minutes later I bought the same item at a considerably lower
price. When asked, the assistant said the store had a "policy" of
upping the price of clothes for Japanese customers as they were
usually desperate to buy the latest trends and therefore were
willing to pay more for the privilege.

Like the Japanese youth and those from the world over, their
Indonesian counterparts won't hesitate spending so much money in
pursue of coolness. It seems that many of them are trying so hard
to be cool that they appear to be the opposite of what they are
trying to achieve.

Take for instance a recent night out at a well-known city
center nightspot that is supposedly recognized the world over as
being the kernel of all things cool. The staff of this club are
mostly in either their late teens or early 20s and try so hard to
perpetuate an image of ice that they appear to be something from
an early 1980s flick.

And they were rude into the bargain, deeming it beyond their
coolness to be nice to customers or to be helpful in any way.

But coolness is inextricably linked to sexiness. And when you
are in your formative years, there is only one thing that really
matters -- being of interest to those around you. Therefore, the
cooler you look, the more attractive you are going to be to
others. But then it is all relative.

Many consider orang kaya baru or the "new monied" particularly
loathsome. For these are people who suddenly find themselves in a
situation where they can buy what they want. They usually go
totally overboard, however, as they drape themselves in the
tackiest of clothes and jewelry, outwardly displaying their
newfound wealth. They are the true slaves to all manner of trends
and fashion, but all too often the effect ends up backfiring on
them.

Of course, there are people who are just born cool. They came
out that way. Look at certain movie stars of old -- those of the
James Dean school. A psychologist says that movie stars such as
Dean and Brando started the image of being cool. From then youth
the world over began to adopt attitudes of such stars. But it was
in the West that people had the money to do such things as buying
leather jackets and motorcycles, whereas in Asia, only in the
last 10 to 20 years have adolescents had the readies to buy the
goods that have enabled them to foster an image of coolness.

Many would agree that African-Americans are the essence of
hip. But it is those who try to be something they are not in
order to fit in with the rest that fail miserably.

A friend says that one is either or not cool, and cited Will
Smith as a case in point. If you are making an effort to be cool
then you are not. Cool people do not try to be cool she said,
adding that she thought many Indonesians had a visceral coolness
about them.

People are cool, says another friend, when they are happy and
comfortable with themselves. The singer Lou Bega is cool as you
can clearly see how happy he is to be surrounded by scantily clad
women (referring the music video for his hit song Mambo No. 5)
whereas Robert Palmer is not cool in his video (for Addicted to
Love) as he does not look that happy. She also said that coolness
was not what one wore or said, it was what was in the person
themselves.

Turning toward the older generation for a moment and consider
a middle-aged woman wearing short denim skirts and partying the
night away. A last-ditch effort at reliving earlier days or a
pathetic sign of the menopause? Akin to beauty, it's all in the
eye of the beholder. If that granny is happy, then that my
friends is cool.

And if you want to spot those who are desperate to be hip,
look no further than your nearest shopping mall, particularly on
the weekend, and you will see desperately sad cases of the
nearly-made-it syndrome as they fawn around from floor to floor
and make endless trips in elevators.

We all know, of course, mainly through movies, that America is
to blame for this emulation by Asians. And not just the movies,
pop stars too. However, most people think that when Scary Spice
took to the stage wearing platforms and tight tops, so started
the craze of wearing similar clothing. Not true, as the Japanese
were streets ahead in terms of trend and had been wearing this
gear for some time before the West caught on. Same with the
ubiquitous combats of late. A case, therefore, of Japan learning
from the West, turning it on its head and forging ahead with its
own ideas. Somewhat similar to that country's post World War II
efforts, you might think.

A colleague recently said that coolness was more of a male
preserve than a female one. And when you think about it it is
probably true. How many cool women do you know?

James Dean with a matchstick in the corner of his mouth is
cool -- until someone lights it, says Izzard. There is a fine
line, he said, between looking cool and looking like a blockhead.