OverDressed for Life

Here’s an example of some bad taste fashion. Jeremy Scott designs for Moschino.

When fashion’s been loud, it’s been loud because there are creators pushing the envelope. Now it’s not so much about creators pushing the envelope with their work, it’s marketing people doing very big shows , pushing brands. It’s a very different kind of garish.

– Narciso Rodriguez, American fashion designer.

This quote comes from an article WWD. Titled, A Question of Taste (a phrase used quite often on Project Runway) the article by Jessica Iredale discusses the issue of bad taste in fashion on the part of designers in their recent creations and runway shows.

The argument was made, by more that one person Ms. Iredale interviewed, that there is no such thing as taste anymore. The whole concept is an old fashioned notion, dead since the 1970s.

I agree that bad taste became less of a concern and perhaps desired by some in the 70s and it has ebbed and flowed ever since. But I disagree that the concept no longer exists.  It’s just that the line is further and further out and what is considered bad taste has changed over the years.

For example in the 1950s, a middle-aged woman sporting a short skirt would be in bad taste and few women did it. Today we see it all the time and don’t really notice. I recall Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany’s commenting that wearing diamonds before the age of 40, was “tacky.” A modern woman of any age doesn’t think twice about donning her diamond bling.

But there is still a line of good taste that someone is happy to cross. How about the trendy low waisted pants that show off too much of the derriere? T-shirts that say Porn Star? Sheer blouses and no bra? I’ve heard more than one complaint about all three of those examples. I take comfort in that.