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Judging by a few of the latest fashion trends, we appear to be in an era of unapologetic bad taste. Here’s why we should be celebrating the end of aesthetic and welcoming in tacky with open arms.
When you hear ‘tacky’ what springs to mind?
Is it the cheap nick-nacks you buy from Shein after seeing them on TikTok? Is it wearing white to a wedding? Is it those ‘I Heart’ t-shirts that are sold to tourists in every city across the globe?
I ask because ‘tacky’ is actually pretty hard to define.
Some say it’s ‘when you dress in poor taste.’ Others think it’s more of a personality thing, linked to attributes and behaviours rather than clothes and accessories. Most will tell you that it’s a combination of each one of these different factors.
‘Tacky people often show up in flashy clothes and over-the-top accessories like big gold chains and gaudy jewellery or lots of branded logos,’ writes personal stylist Michelle Sterling.
‘They may wear what’s trendy instead of what looks good on them, making choices that don’t fit their body type or age group. They’ll also be extremely loud and obnoxious, not abiding by social graces and lacking any sort of humility.’
What’s clear from Sterling’s commentary is that calling someone or something ‘tacky’ is offensive.
In fact, if we’re going as far back as its origins, the word emerged in the early 19th century to ‘denote a horse of little value’ and was later applied to ‘a poor white’ in some southern states of the US.
I can hear your scoffs of disbelief from over here.
Fortunately, however, we’re in 2024, when not only are we more conscious of the language we use and how we use it, but when a handful of once-derogatory terms have taken on new meanings entirely as we strive to learn to accept ourselves exactly as we are and let other people be – free from judgement.
Take ‘cringe’ for example. Formerly used to infer feelings of acute embarrassment or awkwardness, it’s now cool to be so, with a growing number of people embracing their ‘cringeness’ in an effort to exchange societal norms with unapologetic liberation.
The same goes for ‘feral’ – which once conjured up images of sewer rats but now has ties with hot girl summers – and ‘delusion’ – which used to be synonymous with mental illness but is now the key to maintaining happiness. You get what I’m trying to say right?
‘What is “good taste” anyway?’, asks Emma Specter for Vogue.
‘Popular culture would have us believe that it’s all about asceticism, refinement, and never mixing and matching contrasting patters, but who decided on that definition, and what would our understanding of aesthetics look like if we gave ourselves permission to, well… like what we liked?
Today, ‘tacky’ is in. To give you an idea of quite how ‘in’ it is, let’s explore what’s currently ‘hot’ in fashion.
