I would much rather embrace the virtue of “characterful” than “tasteful”. “Tasteful” sounds so fucking boring. Who wants “natural” hair, a messy house with a muddy hallway (like the real upper classes, dontcha know; so smart), and to spend their time making jam? Also, black labs, while adorable like all dogs (in my opinion as a doggo lover), are among the most frankly boring of breeds. Give me a Komondor, a Weimaraner, or a borzoi any day!
It also strikes me that what we’re talking about here with “taste” is tradition, including, implicitly, traditional gender roles. It’s not the “tasteful” men who are spending their time making those time-consuming healthy meals from scratch in the kitchen is it? Well-behaved (tasteful) women rarely make history!
I find it a bit depressing when people scramble to conform to an identikit idea of “taste” in order to reach the class that they aspire to be thought to belong to, rather than working out what they might really like, what appeals to their interests and individuality, and casting off outdated, outmoded notions of respectability. I have friends who really struggle with this. It causes them actual anxiety and upset which I hate to see.
It may be that I find the British class system underwhelming as I am the offspring of a marriage of (impoverished) European aristocracy and working-class Welsh stock. I neither feel that I fit, nor do I see very much to value in tribalism.