If you’re not familiar with the Awful Taste But Great Execution subreddit, allow us to introduce you. The group has been around since August 2016, and it’s amassed an impressive 1.9 million members since then. The subreddit describes itself as “for everything that displays quality craftsmanship in the least elegant way possible”, and states that “all things gaudy, tacky, overdone, and otherwise tasteless” can be found there. “Work done so well, you won't know whether to love it or hate it,” the mods write in the group’s ‘About’ section.
While anything and everything can be found in ATBGE, there are certain topics that tend to come up more frequently. Common themes on the sub are Art, Automotive, Tattoo Tuesday, Fashion, Food, Decor, Home, Body Art, and DIY. And lucky for us, Bored Panda was previously able to get in touch with one of the group’s moderators to provide more insight into how it began in the first place.
One of the moderators of Awful Taste But Great Execution previously told Bored Panda that the subreddit was initially made to be a spin-off of another sub called [Bad] Car Mods. “In the beginning, r/ATBGE focused heavily on automotive-related posts, but we knew doing this would potentially limit our user base,” the moderator explained. “To make r/ATBGE more appealing to the masses, we opened up the subreddit to include things beyond autos (tattoos, fashion, décor, etc.).” That’s when the community really started picking up traction.
“As we grew, moderators were added and subreddit rules were further refined,” they went on to explain. “Now we are here, and things are still looking good. We continue to add new subscribers each day, which is a good thing (considering we all do this for free).” And even after 7 years, the sub continues to grow, as it’s well on its way to reaching 2 million members soon.
Many of the things featured on this list fall into categories that are quite subjective: fashion, furniture design, product design, and tattoos. We know that we don’t all have the same taste, and life would probably be pretty boring if we did! But we wanted to learn more about how subjective fashion really is from an expert, so we reached out to England-based lifestyle and fashion blogger Lorna Burford. Lorna was kind enough to have a chat with us examining the idea behind something having ‘awful taste but great execution’.
“I think [fashion] is objective and through the eyes of the individual, however, there are plenty of things I find tacky, tasteless, and disgusting, from my point of view, but others love them and wear them,” she told Bored Panda. “Maybe this comes from them not knowing anything about fashion and how to style in an aesthetically pleasing way, as well as not having an interest in it, therefore it's a mess. But the fashion industry pushes the boundaries every single day and plenty of designers put looks on the runway that are awful - they just don't work, but people go along with it. So I think it's genuinely a mixture of both, as it's all individual and some people just follow along without really giving it a thought, just because it's 'cool'.”
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We were also curious if there were any popular fashion trends that Lorna can’t stand. “I absolutely hate the balloon or horseshoe jeans trend!” she revealed. “What is this? Bowing out at the knees in the shape of a horseshoe? It's the most unflattering thing! It's also a pet peeve of mine when someone's leather jacket sleeves (or blazer sleeves) are down to their knuckles, instead of stopping at the wrist. I think it makes the entire outfit look ill fitted and sloppy.” Lorna even wrote a blog post about the horseshoe jeans trend on her second website, The Jeans Blog, that you can find right here.
When it comes to outfits that had great execution but poor taste, Lorna says many of the street style looks during fashion week could fall into that category. “Everything is an expression of art and who can stand out the most, so I understand the concept, but sometimes the final looks are nothing but ridiculous,” she explained. “But because they're so ridiculous, it's 'cool'. Lady Gaga's old outfits are probably a prime example of this! But the execution works as they go into the finer details too. You can't fault the effort.”
But Lorna likes to keep an open mind, as she notes that it’s always possible for something to go from tacky to fashionable if it’s executed well. “We have designers on the runway to thank for that,” she said with a laugh. “Tiny denim mini skirts were a trend for so long, back in the early 00's, then they became extremely tacky, and now I've noticed that they're trending again. However, it's about styling them in a different way. No longer with Uggs/furry boots and tight cami tops, it's with sneakers or sandals and looser knitwear or blazers.”
“I think with 99% of items, it's all about how you style them,” Lorna added. “Speaking of big furry boots though, Gucci are bringing those back for FW23. They were featured throughout the runway show and are trying to make those ugly things work again. We will see where that goes!”
“The 90's had some awful trends and fits in terms of bagginess, but that's trending again,” Lorna went on to note. “Everything is oversized, everywhere. I don't really like it at all, however, because people are better at styling these days, it looks infinitely better than anything did in the actual 90's. So it really does come down to how you wear things and make them work for you.”
If you’d like to learn more about Lorna or gain some style advice from her, be sure to visit her website, Ford la Femme, right here.
We also reached out to London-based lifestyle and fashion blogger Natasha Kundi to hear her thoughts on the topic, and lucky for us, she was happy to answer our questions as well. “I think everyone has their own sense of style. Some people like to stick to their own personal style, but some people also like to follow trends,” she told Bored Panda. “The issue I have with people who follow the latest trends is that they do not take into account whether it suits them or, they just go ahead and wear it. I try to follow trends too, but if something doesn't look nice on me, I never try to wear it again. I think we should always take into account our body shape and skin complexion. The right size and color makes a lot of difference to how we look.”
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And when it comes to trends Natasha can’t get behind, she shared, “I personally like to wear clothes that fully cover me, so full dresses that have a hole in the back or front or anywhere just seems so ridiculous to me. The only good thing that comes out of such styles is that I get to save my money.” She also noted that, “The leopard and lion dresses at Paris fashion week this year looked amazing with great execution, but the idea behind them wasn't very helpful for animal or wildlife welfare.”
