The color purple, c'est cool!

Recently I've been thinking about how people buy stuff that makes them feel cool. Sometimes they buy things on trend. Other times, they spend against the grain, positioning themselves opposite of what is cool in an effort to be cooler than cool by being counter cool. Yet in the end, what we perceive as cool or counter cool seems to have the truest meaning for the individuals doing the perceiving.

The subjectivity of cool is why in any given decade there are people who frost their tips, wear high-tops, clasp a ponytail with a scrunchy, opt for velcro straps over shoelaces, insist on pleats, pull on members-only jackets, go tanorexic, wear applique tops outside of sanctioned "ugly sweater parties," stay inside the fashion lines with classics like J. Crew or L.L. Bean or embrace any and all newfangled notions shown in Vogue and G.Q.

Sometimes the appeal or repulsion of a particular product or style has to do with birth date or ZIP code. Sometimes it has to do with brand identity, clever marketing, media placements, cost, need and want. Sometimes it has everything to do with color; and like the concept of cool, color is subjective depending on the cones inhabiting the eyes of the beholder.

Last week, I was casually prowling for some new heels because I'd noticed that my youngest pair, which dates back to 2007, had begun looking a bit road-weary. While I was scanning displays, my mind was on black. But my feet never got the message, and I walked away from the store with a bag of grape-colored wedges (shown). Though they weren't a shade I'd usually go for, I went all in for these girlie bubblegum kicks. Plus, they were on super sale, very comfortable and movement-friendly - a match made in Macy's.

Not everyone will see these wedges as I do, but I love them and consider them cool. Are these shoes really cool? Cooler than cool? Counter cool? I don't know. The one thing I do know: I'm the only one who has to walk in them.