On the Stylistic Tropics

Over in Prospect magazine, Brian Eno confirms something I’ve been saying for a few years. The coolhunt is dead. Instead, we live in a stylistic tropics, a world of interchangeable language games dedicated to fashion. It’s worth reading this in the light of Alan Liu’s the Laws of Cool: first, social capital based on class and taste hierarchy was replaced by the pursuit of cool, then the cool as property of an informational élite is replaced by the stylistic tropics. Unless you’re studying earlier eras, its time to retire all those books by Bourdieu or sell them on Amazon. I know I have.