Ugly Aesthetics
As the streets and social media are filled with people wearing socks paired with slippers, chunky shoes by Buffalo London, 90’s flame print, speed dealer sunglasses and fanny packs, members of the older generations often ask ‘what happened to fashion’. Although it’s an industry that has always been trying to turn the ‘uncool’ into desirable, this time the shift seems more profound. It’s not about making ugly clothes cool, it’s about wearing them in a way that keeps them ‘uncool’ on purpose. But why are so many people choosing to wear items that are so aggressively unglamorous?
For centuries scholars and philosophers have been trying to theorize the concepts of ‘ugliness’ and ‘bad taste’. One of the most influential theories until this day was developed by Pierre Bourdieu. According to him, ‘taste’ for cultural objects like art, food or fashion is connected to one’s social class position. Aesthetic sensibilities are shaped by the amount of exposure to high art. Members of the upper-class have ‘good taste’ and can appreciate things like high art because they have been exposed to it and trained to appreciate it. On the other side of the spectrum, working class individuals have less access to high art and cannot develop an eye for it, which causes them to have less appreciation for it. Therefore according to Bourdieu taste is socially conditioned and used as a tool to maintain the distance between the high and the low.
This theory might have been applicable before the rise of the internet, however its invention has deemed most approaches that connect taste to social class irrelevant. On one hand, this is because good taste is not necessarily a tool for social distinction anymore. And on the other, because the meaning of ‘good taste’ seems to be going through a transformation. As globalization has opened us up to a bigger diversity of cultural expressions, identifying what counts as ‘high culture’ or ‘good taste’ has become increasingly difficult. Most scholars approach the topic from the perspective of the post-modern West, however the categorization of ‘high culture’ and ‘good taste’ is not fixed at all times and places.
Since the internet made all the knowledge that previously used to be reserved for the members of the upper-class accessible to everyone, good taste is much more democratized, making class distinctions much less visible. This phenomenon could be seen as an indication of the changes happening in society right now. As the lines between social classes, nationalities and cultures are blurring, the distinctions between low vs. high culture and perhaps even good vs. bad taste are fading.
Additionally, the attitude towards fashion and clothing is shifting, designers are less focused on making customers dream and creating a fantasy world that can only be achieved by wearing what they are proposing. Recently the focus has been more and more on practicality, clothes that are made to be worn, without a bigger idea behind them or an aspirational aspect. Some argue that practicality is the number one reason for the popularity of ‘ugly’ fashion. Heels or uncomfortable shoes can now be replaced by dad sneakers and impractical bags by fanny packs. However, that does not explain the popularity of things like shoes by Buffalo London, cowboy boots or speed dealer sunglasses often worn not as protection from the sun, but a fashion accessory.
Another reason why this phenomenon is happening now and not 30 years ago, is the fact that nowadays, because of the internet everyone has access to all aesthetics anytime. None of the aesthetics of the past can truly die, no matter if they are commonly considered as ugly or beautiful. Thus it’s much easier to get inspired by, or even purchase clothing that’s from a different era and that isn’t necessarily considered as beautiful nowadays.
But whether one can appreciate such fashion choices is highly dependent on the context one grew up in. People who came of age with the internet tend to be more aware of the influence that people like Demna Gvasalia or Virgil Abloh have on fashion, or how much of a disruptive force the streetwear movement is. This gives them a wider frame of reference and therefore a better understanding of why wearing something ‘ugly’ doesn’t necessarily equal having bad taste.
If we look at fashion as a spectrum that has beautiful and ugly on opposite ends and average/normal in the middle, after decades of striving for perfection and obsession with beauty came a time of appreciation of looking plain and dressing in basics only. While refreshing at first, at some point normcore became mainstream. When looking normal and slightly boring didn’t set one apart from the masses anymore, the only way to stand out from the crowd was to resort to clothing of debatable taste. So in order to distinguish oneself from the rest, the pendulum had to swing beyond normal to ugly. As we have entered the era of post-aspirational fashion, ugly fashion can bring a sense of liberation to those feeling trapped within the bounds of normcore. It could be seen as a welcome alternative to the movement that renounces self-expression.
The concept of ‘ugliness’ itself is an elusive idea. As preferences change along with societal and cultural norms, so does the idea of beauty, or in this case what is considered as ugly fashion. Now the question is whether what we see as ugly now, will still be perceived as ugly in a couple of years. Or more importantly; will it still be possible to discern between good and bad taste?
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NO SERVICE 24/7 is a Berlin-based full-service agency for strategic brand communication operating at the intersection of arts, culture and lifestyle.
