Notes from the Epicenter: iMac Style, Windows Vogue

Andrea Dudrow

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As an urban-centered female in the post-teen and pre-middle age demographic, it’s fair to say I spend a good deal of time contemplating fashion. Though I prefer to define my look as effortless hip (you know, I just look this cool naturally without even trying), the truth is that a fair amount of thought goes into what I wear. It’s generally of the compulsive consumerist variety rather than the pre-meditated sort, but it’s thought nonetheless.

Not only do I think about how to dress for out of the house, I think about how to dress up the house; I look at my home as an extension of my style and strive for that perfect mix of thrift-store cool meets modern industrial chic. Like most people, though, my style changes from time to time. Over the course of a year or two, my taste in pants may transition from the shiny cyber-fabric type to vintage dungarees. I may trade in the knee-length skirts for the floor-length variety. I may take down the abstract art in favor of landscape paintings or get a new pair of glasses every year or so even though my prescription has barely changed.

So Style Isn’t Substance?
I’m not unique in my penchant for an ever-evolving style. Many a successful business (J. Crew, Pottery Barn) was built upon people’s need to reinvent and redecorate. Apple was the first computer maker to tap into this reservoir of consumer money when it introduced the iMac, a computer that people would buy as much for its appearance as its utility. Lately a lot of people I know have asked me whether I like the new flowered iMacs, and those iMacs with the sixties psychedelic look (retro chic is very big in the fashion world). No one has asked me whether I like the iMac that comes bundled with digital video software. People don’t buy iMacs because they are set up to run one application or another; they buy them because they look cool.

Apple, in my opinion, has used this same computer-as-fashion philosophy (plus a dose of utility-chic) in the design of its latest operating system, Mac OS X. I’m not running OS X on my Mac but I’m not suffering for it. OS 9 lets me do everything I need (OK, so I haven’t upgraded to the latest version of Photoshop yet either, but I am a writer after all) and is stable enough that I’m not hungering for a better OS. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to go out and buy OS X — I do (as soon as I get a computer that can run it). And I want it because it looks cool. It’ll be a few years yet before OS 9 takes on that retro style cachet, and until then I’ll continue to crave the modern, refreshing look of the aqua interface coupled with the thrill of discovering something new.

Keeping Up with the Cyber-Joneses
Microsoft, always second in the software-trend arena (like Pepsi trying to chase the success of Coca-Cola‘s eighties clothing line) has announced a new version of its own operating system -– Windows XP (the XP stands for a dubious eXPerience). Like Mac OS X, Windows XP is based on a more stable kernel and boasts more elite-user features, but at heart this too is about fashion. The user interface for Windows hasn’t changed much since Windows 95, and since it’s the most widely used operating system out there, you can bet there are a few people who would welcome a redesign.

The new Windows has a cleaner, more modern look. Icons are larger and the color scheme tends more toward the pastel. All told, it’s a look people are more likely to want to have on their desktops (when it is released later this year) as they spend hours staring at their computer screens. Which makes it one of the more clever business moves Microsoft has made in a while (I know Microsoft is an insanely successful company, but it generally relies on brute force rather than the subtlety of cleverness).

After looking at pictures of Windows XP I broke down and decided it was time for me to change my look as well. I went out and bought a pair of light blue vintage corduroys, which I plan to wear every day until my style sense changes yet again.