The Aesthetic Imperative

In her article Virginia Postrel makes the claim that the 21st century demands aesthetically pleasing everything. She argues that we want our normal everyday devices, such as cell phones or vacuum cleaners to "sparkle." She says that we are in a new age of aesthetics, where we are acknowledging and accepting, and that the issue now is not that style is used its what style is used.
At one point in her article she states that we subconsciously enjoy the affects of aesthetics that bring out certain pleasing emotions, but don't want to feel manipulated as consumers. A critic she quotes called aesthetics "the power of provocative surfaces which speaks to the eye's mind, overshadowing matters of quality or substance."
I do agree that aesthetically pleasing visuals are what gain attention and are becoming what consumers are looking for. I think that this is because in a world where we have so much, sometimes the only things we can do to alter what we already have is to change how it looks. For example, she makes the point that our values haven't changed, we want the sparkling cell phone but want it to function first. Although it does seem like functions of cell phones seem to be changing daily-- what was once a device used to only make calls is now a small and portable computer-- what seems to draw attention to consumers is what the phone looks like, or what color case they can accessorize it with.
In the beginning of her essay Postrel also seems to be describing a fast-pace, always on the go, wealthy, and almost superficial society that does not relate to the whole world or the United States. I don't think it's a bad thing to go for what looks or makes you feel good, but I also don't think that the way she describes society in her first paragraph pertains to America as a whole. There are many people who get what they can, not what they want because it looks good to them. The iMac owner she quotes in the last part of her essay argues that we buy things ultimately because of how they look, which I believe is partially true, but we also buy things based on what we can afford... There are some people that might not be able to keep up with what is aesthetically pleasing, but I do like when the iMac owner says we get things are a reflection of our personality, and taste-- I think it is possible to do this even if you don't own the latest gadget.