the moment
As chaotic, clashing and unexpected styles fill the catwalks, Sara McAlpine explores fashion’s appetite for more challenging trends – and who gets to decide what is tasteful now
BAD TASTE IS TRENDING. THAT’S IF YOU DEFINE BAD TASTE AS a foil for the austere, easy-to-wear minimalism that fashion has struggled to shake off since Phoebe Philo first popularised the concept during her time as creative director of Celine in the late noughties. In fact, many of the spring/summer 2024 collections might raise a few eyebrows. Among the looks filling the season’s catwalks: wackadoodle plumes of feathers emerging from models’ backsides and chests at JW Anderson and Molly Goddard, creases and deliberately skew-whiff seams that made it look as if you got dressed too fast at Balenciaga and awkwardly fitting busts along with odd proportions and lengths at Marni, Prada and more. In short, we’re talking wonky and ‘weird’ things that aren’t as easy on the eye as, say, the sleek tailoring and tasteful muted palette that have dominated stores and the feeds of Insta-influencers in recent years.
Taste is typically described in binary terms: it’s either good or bad. But, like most things classified as either/or, the matter of what distinguishes good from bad isn’t clear-cut. We conflate good taste with a type of minimalism, but if the proliferation of jarring looks from the world’s most covetable brands has taught us anything, it’s that ‘taste’ isn’t on a sliding scale that marks crisp and co-ordinating as good, while chaotic, clashing or downright baffling is bad. It’s something else entirely.
The subject of taste has been a popular talking point in recent months, touching on wider trends dominating the cultural conversation. For example, ‘goblin mode’. The unapologetically lazy and slovenly state that rejects social norms proved so ubiquitous it was the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year in 2022. In a recent piece exploring taste, The Washington Post journalist Rachel Tashjian argued that odd and subversive things that once seemed alternative have quickly become commonplace. We’re living through a cultural moment where people wear ‘weird’ as a badge of honour.
We no longer bat an eyelid at anyone wearing ‘bad taste’ styles, including Crocs and Uggs, which a number of brands, including Simone Rocha and Ashley Williams, have officially collaborated with this season. We’re seeing ‘succubus chic’ trending, with green lipstick on the runway at Burberry and deliberately tired eyes on TikTok. Once, Margiela’s cloven-toed Tabi shoes would have elicited a ‘WTF is on your feet?’ I’ve been the recipient of a few ‘WTF’s, and have seen how the reaction has shifted since first buying a pair a decade ago – they’re now the subject of viral videos and frequently sell out.
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