To ask how do you know which things are 'tacky/common'?

[TheHydrangeas]

On here I sometimes see certain items, behaviours, homeware, fashion, makeup, etc classed as "tacky" or "common". Sometimes I can understand it, but other times it is things that seem pretty innocuous. Despite this you see this kind of unanimous belief that those things are "common". However I can't really find an underlying pattern to what is deemed to be tacky/common and what is not. Is there any kind of theme or pattern to this? One example is I remember reading a thread where a pretty popular brand of scented candles were classed as tacky.

I also want to say that I am not trying to portray other users negatively as judgemental or anything, we are all entitled to our opinions. I am just interested from a broader point of view - how do certain things become tacky or common?

Just @KetoPenguin and me then brought up on saying things were common immediately made you common.

Never fail to be shocked by Mumsnet opening discussing things being 'common' - is this not the height of rudeness?

One of the tackiest shop windows I’ve ever seen is Gucci in Bond Street, yet everything costs ££££££.

Trends which are objectively hideous but people still follow them.

Pale grey interiors - the crushed velvet, shimmery carpets, ornate silver mirrors etc. It looks fugly, I dont believe anyone before said 'I love light grey so much I want to make my house look like a mortuary'.

Also those hideous off the shoulder tops with puffy mesh sleeves. They're so bad it's like a joke.

So what is nice MC garden furniture made of?

@VinylDetective I think Italian coutoure is showy but not tacky and they do it on purpose. Gucci, Versace, D&G they're all very similar in that way.

It seemed much more straightforward when I was a child. We didn’t worry too much about ‘tacky’ but ‘common’ was something we lived in terror of in our family. Things that were considered ‘common’ included:

Chewing gum
Not wearing tights
Drinking, smoking or eating in the street
Drinking from a can or bottle in any circumstance
Tattoos
Wearing a short skirt/tight top when pregnant
Dyed hair, unless subtle, natural-looking highlights
Having a London accent (we weren’t even allowed to watch Grange Hill!)
ITV
Putting a milk bottle on the table
Babies with pierced ears

I would equate tacky to being either poor quality or ostentatious.

Personally I hate labels - anyone who has to have a particular brand of expensive trainers, car, handbag etc, and flaunts the label wherever they go, is tacky in my book. I don't get why someone puts that much significance on a logo.

Tbh I quite like kitsch-tacky. My lurid, plastic, flamingo garden ornament is much loved and revered in our household.

I think trying to categorise things as common is vulgar and shallow. People should like what they like. That said, if you are going to have a hierarchy, then the tops are people who don't believe in material items at all, because it destroys the planet to buy things new. These people will wear things out and obtain things from charity shops because this is reusing something and encouraging the slowing down of energy-consuming manufacture. So Boris Johnson would be classed as naff for encouraging us all to go out and spend money - to these afore-cited lords of cool.

People shouldn't make others uncomfortable by decrying certain tastes as tacky. How on earth can we hope to have a better world if those with wit, education, and the money to fund good taste make meaningless distinctions and talk about class! It's 2020 not 1930!

[quote Fressia123]@VinylDetective I think Italian coutoure is showy but not tacky and they do it on purpose. Gucci, Versace, D&G they're all very similar in that way.[/quote]
I know but it’s so tasteless!

It's all about class and shaming those of a lower class who dare to stop tugging their forlock for a moment to peacock a little.

"New money" is case in point. Think about how outlandish "old money" can be. I mean, just look at the State rooms of Buckinham Palace. Or Versailles. Versailles! The STATE of it. 🤣

Just to add, many sports branded items which might get a bit too popular to be cool, Nike and all those, are well-made with good seams, wash well and last, and that's what matters when you want to look good.

The phrase you can't buy class comes to mind, and if you're really wealthy you won't need to talk about it.

My son looks tacky when he wears his Armani tracksuit with his chain hanging out the neck line, with his Hugo boss watch over his sleeve and his Gucci belt on show.

All real , all paid for by him. He looks tacky. But it clearly impresses gfroend / mates as that's the insta life they lead x

Old money when new was really really trashy. Go round a stately home and it's all about Look At Me, Look At My High Status and Shiny Shiny Shiny.

Yes it might all be beautifully made art objects but honestly some of them should take a look at themselves.

Oooh this could help answer a debate we’re having.

Are grey home furnishings, carpets and walls now tacky? Because they’re very popular!

just asking! I have grey things in my home too so don’t hate me for asking

I've always assumed 'common' to be short for commonplace. Not necessarily any negative connotations there.
'Tacky', as Backwash said, is naff. Ostentatious, showy, brand names plastered everywhere, false nails and eyelashes and sex-doll lips on women, 'country couture' on men that never go near the country in their range rovers. It has nothing to do with cost and everything to do with brashness.

@JoeCalFuckingZaghe

People will call things tacky, common, childish, ugly etc yet will have the most bland and boring tastes ever. I’d rather be tacky and fabulous than boring and grey

Same.

My downstairs is open plan and there's a lot of pink, retro style stuff. Mind you, that might be a result of my ex being bland and boring, and who hated pink.

Recollects my grandmother when I bought a pair of red, flat pumps with gold trim at the heel, circa 1984 "you do realise people may think you are a prostitute!"

In many ways it's how you do it. A skirt from TK Max often has an originally expensive label but it will never look cheap if it's cut on the bias just as a cheap skirt will never look cheap if cut on the bias. You just need to know of it's cut on the bias

Personally I think Pandora (except for some earrings always looks a bit hmm) but there are plenty of glass beads for £5.99 that don't.

Botox lips look cheap as do brows and acrylics and too often gels.

Poshest person I knew drove a 15 year old Golf with dents, wore fugly sandals with socks through which her big toe protruded and had an enchanting gap between her two front teeth. If the sun caught them her earrings glistened. Diamond drops probably worth at least £50k. The couldn't have given a flying fuck. But had a croquet lawn - in London.

Glances at glass cockerels my mother gave me a week or three ago. Totally naff but rather naice.

Most of coldplay and armi’s examples
Also:
Tattoos
All piercings except ears
Those big bows on babies’ heads
Unlined curtains
Made up names
Calling your granny Nanny, Nan or any variety thereof
Personalised number plates
Pronouncing H as Haitch

*AgeLikeWine
It’s easy.

Black or White Range Rover with personalised plates, custom body kit and enormous wheels = tacky. Yes, Mr Rooney, spotted at Asda petrol station in Derby last month, I’m referring to you.

Blue or green Range Rover in standard spec and normal plates = not tacky.
This is true, but why do we think it's tacky? What specifically about that car is tacky?*

It's all about trying too hard I think.

Yes a Range Rover may be an aspiration for many but if you have to save for years to afford one you're obviously not in the same league (not my opinion!)

Understated expensive items - classy

Overly ostentatious displays of wealth - tacky

Blueeyedpixie- I think grey decor, If not tacky, is certainly passé now. It's ubiquitous, and will date badly. The houses with it will be deemed soo 2018 in ten years time. In the way we see avocado bathroom suites and magnolia walls.

There are little bits in "Murder must Advertise" that possible have a bearing on this and in some of the short stories with Lord Peter Wimsey in. There was something about the brand not guaranteeing the quality, but the quality guaranteeing the brand. and in another story they was something about people not pretending to be what they aren't - so someone wasn't invited to join a club because they pretended to appreciate some very expensive type of port but smoked a very expensive cigar with it, whereas someone else from a much less financially advantaged background just said he preferred beer and his pipe and everyone was fine with that.
Yankee candles were very useful when the dear old dog-in-law came for a week bringing his flatulence problem with him. It was so bad he had been trying quite hard to get away from his own bottom, poor fellow. I think he preferred the candles too!

I’m sure we all have different views on what tacky is because we all have different tastes. I guess I find it tacky having when people all have the same things, though I don’t like the word “tacky” 🤔

I don’t like grey walls and furnishing or pale pink with sparkles, I wouldn’t call them tacky just boring because that’s what 90% of people seem to have. I like to be different but that doesn’t mean that the boring grey people don’t think I’m tacky for having a colourful house with miss match furnishing’s.

I don’t like wearing what most people wear, wouldn’t be seen dead in Boden, top shop or Zara (or most high street stores) because I don’t want to follow trends or look like the rest of you 🤣 but I wouldn’t call any of those things tacky.

For me I would say "flashy", obviously expensive things can seem tacky/common, whereas subtlety expensive things are seen as more tasteful. A good example is the Louis Vuitton handbag with the logo plastered all over it several times - it's so "obviously" an expensive designer item it can seem tacky/common. Equally I think it depends on the person wearing it...