Cool has always fascinated me.

Over the years I started noticing it everywhere — in architecture, in film, in photography, even in the way someone wears a jacket. Certain things simply have it.

So I started collecting examples and, for fun, giving them a score. Not scientifically. Just thoughtfully.

Scroll down and see if you agree.

Cool may be subjective — but it’s not random.

There’s a pattern to it.

Sometimes it’s style cool — a jacket worn the right way.
Sometimes it’s cinematic cool — a scene that rewired masculinity.
Sometimes it’s photographic cool — a frame that refuses to age.
Sometimes it’s mechanical cool — precision under pressure.
Sometimes it’s architectural capital cool — power expressed in steel and glass.
Sometimes it’s intellectual urban cool — authority without effort.
Sometimes it’s mass-cultural scale cool — magnitude that shifts a generation.
And sometimes it’s foundational musical cool — the kind that sets the ceiling.

Different forms. Same standard. Cool holds up.

How cool is this!

Please check out the cool selections I’ve curated below. And if you have something
that belongs here, please send it to luisg.lopez@compass.com.

Sting at Wimbledon

Black T-Shirt Under Seersucker

Score: 9.1/10

Sting. Wimbledon. Everyone else wore linen like they read the memo. He wore a worn black t-shirt under a razor-sharp seersucker jacket. It’s the refusal to over-polish that makes it work. Slightly irreverent. Entirely intentional. Effortless in a setting that usually feels studied.

How cool is this!

Top Gun (1986)

The Beach Volleyball Scene

Score: 9.2/10

Top Gun. Tom Cruise. Val Kilmer. Anthony Edwards. Golden hour. Dog tags. Denim.Competitive but choreographed. Hyper-masculine but strangely poetic. A recruiting poster for charisma disguised as a pickup game.

How cool is this!

Robert Redford

Robert Redford at His Malibu Home

Score: 9.2/10

Robert Redford Annie Leibovitz Cowboy boots. Canadian tuxedo. Pacific light doing what Pacific light does. Relaxed but deliberate. Western without costume. Confidence that doesn’t need to raise its voice.

How cool is this!

Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen- 24 Hours of Le Mans

Score: 9.2/10

Steve McQueen 24 Hours of Le Mans White racing suit. Gulf stripes. Porsche mechanics moving around him like stagehands. No smile. No wave. Just visor down. Speed without chaos. Fame without flash.

How cool is this!

Gerald D. Hines

Gerald D. Hines — JP Morgan Tower

Score: 9.7/10

Gerald D. Hines JP Morgan Chase Tower Pennzoil Place I. M. Pei Philip Johnson John Burgee Brooks Brothers suit. White shirt. Conservative tie. No theatrics. No eccentricity. Behind him: geometry that changed Houston’s skyline. Developer of both towers. The quiet orchestrator of modern commercial architecture. Power expressed through restraint. Capital deployed with taste. Boardroom cool. Permanent cool.

How cool is this!

Fran Lebowitz

Fran Lebowitz Walking Manhattan

Score: 9.7/10

Fran Lebowitz Pretend It's a City Martin Scorsese Grey overcoat. White shirt. Denim. Cowboy boots. She walks Manhattan like she owns zoning rights. Not styled. Not curated. Just consistent. Intellectual permanence.

How cool is this!

Metallica

Metallica — Moscow, USSR (1991)

Score: 9.7/10

Metallica Monsters of Rock 1991 Moscow An estimated 1.6 million people. In the final years of the Soviet Union. Helicopters overhead. A sea of humanity that looked biblical. No irony. No indie cool. No subtlety. Just raw force. Cool not as restraint — but as scale. Cultural tectonics shifting in real time.

How cool is this!

Miles Davis

Miles Davis — Turtleneck, Trumpet, Total Control

Score: 9.9/10

Soft knit turtleneck — likely camel or brown. Trousers cut wide. Seated. Folded inward. Completely self-contained. No spotlight. No spectacle. Just breath through brass. The knit isn’t costume. It’s restraint. Modern. Architectural. Unbothered by trend. He isn’t performing cool. He’s concentrating. Authority without volume. Style without announcement. The ceiling still holds.

How cool is this!

Wayfarer Sunglasses

Pure Mid-Century Confidence

Score: 9.9/10

Thick black frames. Angular temples. Dark lenses hiding everything and revealing nothing. No logo needed. The silhouette says enough. They appeared in the late fifties and never really left. Actors. Musicians. Architects. Drivers. The design is blunt. Almost stubborn. Two trapezoids and a bridge. But the geometry works everywhere — beach, boulevard, cockpit. Not flashy. Not delicate. Just confident. A small object that changes the posture of whoever wears it. Cool by subtraction. Style reduced to shape.

How cool is this!

Jesus Christ

Jesus Christ – Loving Leadership

Score: 10/10

Jesus Christ No throne. No army. No wealth. Leadership expressed through service. Authority expressed through love. He didn’t dominate rooms. He transformed them. Calm in conflict. Firm without cruelty. Power without ego. He washed feet. He forgave enemies. He carried conviction without spectacle. Humility at full strength. If cool is composure under pressure, clarity of purpose, and alignment between word and action — this is the purest form. The only 10.

How cool is this!

Twin-Lens Reflex Camera

Precision in Square Format

Score: 9.8/10

Two lenses stacked like quiet eyes. Metal body. Knurled knobs. Waist-level view. You don’t raise it to your face. You look down into it. That alone changes the rhythm. Photographers slowed down with these. Measured. Composed. Waited. No spray-and-pray. One frame at a time. Mechanical certainty. Optical discipline. The square format forced decisions. The machine rewarded patience. Not a gadget. An instrument. Vision, engineered.

How cool is this!