The Arco lamp, the Ferrari 250GTO, the iconography of the New York City Subway map, the Eames chair, The Beatles, Shakespeare’s plays and the Fender Stratocaster. Each iconic in their own right with unassailable status as groundbreaking examples of their genre, well beyond their original era. The late Massimo Vignelli, designer of the original 1970’s New York City Subway says that icons are ‘intellectually elegant’, as opposed to ‘fashionably elegant’.

In design terms, simplicity, durability and adaptability are the hallmarks of a classic – and it’s not a stretch to apply those criteria in measuring up just about anything else for ‘icon’ status. Sir Paul McCartney was performing long before he met another young musician and a band called The Quarrymen at a church fete in 1957 – and nearly 60 years after subsequently forming The Beatles, he’s still on the road and remains amongst the most influential musicians on the planet. The unmistakeable ‘Merseybeat’, drawn from the roots of rock ‘n roll, R&B, doo-wop and now-obscure skiffle, and distilled into the catchiest of pop rhythms is unmistakeably and disarmingly simple. The influence of McCartney and The Beatles’s work on subsequent generations of musicians points to its durability (‘Yesterday’ has been covered by over 2 200 musicians and is the only track by a UK writer to have been aired more than 7 million times on American TV and radio) and McCartney’s continued relevance is as much a result of the quality of his work is it is, its adaptability, as he continues to collaborate with musical trendsetters like Rihanna and Kanye West, well into his 70’s.

Fender’s first Stratocaster arrived in 1954 and looked nothing like any electric guitar anyone had seen before. More than 60 years later, ask someone to describe an electric guitar and they’ll conjure the image of a Strat, because while each modern example is a different animal under the skin, the profile remains as distinctive as the day it arrived. It’s Hendrix, Clapton, Gilmore, Knopfler and – without labouring The Beatles point, Harrison. It’s as much an icon of rock as the players who’ve used it to make enduring music over the last 6 decades.

So, in a world of instant messaging, on-demand content and ultimately, instant gratification, where are the classics of the next 60 years going to come from? The 21st century has seen trends take the place of icons – they’re fleeting, experimental and as much a flavour of the month as eating off slate roof tiles. Modern entertainment records will eclipse old because it’s never been easier to buy a song or watch a film. Flavours in some wines come from laboratory test tubes rather than through careful maturation over years, under the watch of expert winemakers. The curse of the production line is a focus on quantity and speed of production, rather than enduring craftsmanship. In almost every modern industry, cost-effectiveness has replaced simplicity, planned obsolescence trumps durability and ecosystem lockdowns have been the death of adaptability. Try handing down a smartwatch to your grandkids…

*A version of this article appeared in the April 2018 issue of Life by Lexus.