The Balance of Cool and Uncool: Staying Hip When You're Really Not

I was admiring Chanel Iman as many girls my age (which is also her age) do, and I shared her name with my older -and thusly less hip- brother Paul. He hadn't heard of her. But he had "seen of her"? One short amorous stop on Google Images later and he came upon this:

*image cropped to suit argument

-On the left, is the picture of elegance: Alien-like supermodel proportions, flawless skin, 100% H.A.U.T.
-On the right is what Paul declared to be one of his biggest pet peeves - beautiful people, who know they're beautiful "tryna to do that geek chic shit".

Paul and I relate to Ms. Chanel Iman on the level that the three of us happen to be half Black and half Asian, Blasian, if you will. But we're *not* supermodels. We have distinct and ever-so-slightly fond memories of growing up geeky and nerdy and fairly uncool. So it should come as no surprise that we marvel at how this:

has become this....

And it got me thinking about the ways in which "cool" is ever so elusive. As soon as something is trendy it withers in the opinion of coolmongerers everywhere. But as soon as a trend dies it then has the potential to come back again with 10 times more ferocity. Did Bill Gates up there know he and a whole league of geeks just like him would be lionized and plagiarized for their (lack of?) vision? How did being unfashionable become the waterbear of couture. When their dowdy plaids and button down shirts, unseemly tight jeans, ironic hair, and complete lack of style and polish became the epitome of poshness... what is the nerd to do?

Because no matter how trendy or on point he or she is, no matter how "in" the look becomes, the geek is still on the fringe. Not uncool enough to be cool - just the nerds they were meant to be. In my opinion its like white people adopting black culture and dress, it doesn't change anything for the other side. White people stay white, black people stay black. And the beauties and geeks, at the day's end are immutable.