What is kitsch style and where is it applied?

The word "kitsch" does not evoke positive associations for everyone. Often they designate bad taste and hack. Actually, this is exactly how the word is translated. Another translation option is "cheap". The word itself appeared a long time ago, back in the 19th century, but it began to be actively used much later. And it applies not only to the appearance, image, artistic solution. This style has taken a strong place in art, fashion and design, and behind the bold essence of the direction is an interesting philosophy.

In the 60s of the XIX century in Germany the word "kitsch" began to call various trinkets, actively sold at the Munich art bazaar. They were bought mainly by the nouveau riche, who could not boast of art knowledge, but wanted to look expensive, rich, respectable in the eyes of others. The term quickly spread throughout Europe and migrated from trinkets to photography, "salon painting". Especially often kitsch was associated with photographs of erotic content.

In simple terms, kitsch has become synonymous with bad taste. The meaning of the word is reduced to pseudo-art, the lack of a sense of the graceful among the creators of these things. They are created exclusively for commercial and advertising purposes, and, as they would say today, for the sake of hype. This is a reactive style: its purpose is to induce a reaction, and the coloration of that reaction is not so important. Whether they speak well of an artistic product or whether it arouses anger and rage in the beholder - it is all the same, the main thing is to be noticeable, to be on everyone's lips.

Of course, the peculiarities of kitsch (it is worth admitting that this phenomenon) was studied by researchers. A serious starting work in this area was "Vanguard and Kitsch" by K. Greenberg.In short, the author defined kitsch as mass art and literature of a commercial nature and tried to understand its relevance. He says that the peasants who moved to the cities, although they learned to read and write, did not acquire taste. And their spiritual hunger was a request to create a new culture, understandable to them, satisfying their aesthetic needs. This is kitsch.

Kitsch is often compared to pop art, the highest level of popular culture. But experts say that such a comparison is incorrect. Pop art is based on the analysis of phenomena, their artistic rethinking, irony. And these works are definitely saturated with inner content, they are not empty.

Today kitsch can be called a term that has different meanings. More precisely, different shades of meanings. This is both bad taste and mass pop culture without a meaningful gut. It is also a style born of rebels who are ready to challenge the standards of artistic culture, living by their own rules. And such kitsch has enough Russian fans. Often these are people with a good academic education, knowledge of the history of art and not only, but with a certain desire for shocking, innovation, a willingness to express themselves unexpectedly, brightly, provocatively.

You can not only dress with kitschevo, but the style has also begun to be used in interior design. This is a strange and chaotic mix, as if it unites what should not be around in any way. This is a combination of the incongruous, a challenge to taste and the concept of beauty. It is not for nothing that this style is preferred by those who want to express their inner protest.

By the way, people who think that only artists and other representatives of bohemia prefer kitsch in the interior are mistaken. No, there are many fans of the style, but the fact remains: usually these are people with good knowledge in the field of art. They see behind this strange design the content, the thought, the essence that is important to them.

There are no strict rules in kitsch. Break and break again - as if it were the adherents of the style saying, rejoicing that they managed to achieve a new aesthetic shock. But in itself the fusion of cheap plastic, religious attributes and, for example, bourgeois embroidery in a retro frame in one space is already a completely new product. And it has an eclectic worldview that style lovers recognize and respect. They accept the world in all its diversity and encourage others to do the same.

The decoration of the room will depend only on the imagination of the owners. Here you can combine expensive materials with actual trash: for example, solid wood and magazine sheets. Natural parquet on the floor is amazing, but complemented by plastic panels on the wall. The same room may have English style floral wallpaper and graffiti. Another "trick" of kitsch is imitation materials that will look as expensive as possible.

Finishing examples:

• flooring with laminate, linoleum, wood-like tiles, stone or parquet;
• wall covering with decorative plaster of any colors and combinations, wallpaper, including vinyl, imitating, for example, silk and marble;
• the accent zone can be highlighted with panels of eco-leather, plaster with a volumetric pattern;
• the ceilings are different - both multi-level suspended and stretch ceilings, where stucco molding can easily coexist with photo printing.

In terms of color variety, there is hardly anything that can be compared with this style. Acidic, aggressive, overlapping shades are considered the main choice in it. But such artistic hooliganism nevertheless makes you smile and cheers up.

Most popular style colors:

• bright red;
• lime;
• canary yellow;
• sugary pink;
• golden;
• fuchsia;
• indigo;
• bilberry.

Moreover, these colors can easily be found in the kitchen and in the bathroom. Several opposite colors in the same room is easy. Contrasting ornaments, inscribed into the room without any symmetry, are also easy. The central wall should attract attention, and there should be either a bold installation, or an original panel, or some kind of "somersault" wallpaper.

In any room, even in the living room, there can be a place for multi-colored tiles, unplaned boards. If there is a carpet in the room, then it should also be bright and awkward, mixed from squares, where, for example, a leopard print is adjacent to the image of an ethnic picture or a photograph of Mickey Mouse.

3D paintings on the ceiling are a frequent move for kitsch. The ceiling is rarely left white, usually it is solved in some kind of acidic color, or they just make a real coloristic vinaigrette. Colorful collages, posters and paintings can decorate the rest of the walls, preventing the central, accent wall from enjoying decorative solitude.

At the same time, there is still a measure in kitsch. Even in this color and shape confusion there must be an idea, and the foreign elements of the idea must fearlessly be cut off from it. Unless, of course, the landlord treats kitsch as an art.

Things get along, which in a few other style could be nearby. For example, antique furniture and a plastic chair. Or a section from the times of the USSR and a high-tech table, on which a can of acid paint was poured on purpose. But the selection of furniture is aimed at creating a single image of the home.

To make the atmosphere in the house solemn and cheerful (a kind of potirania of the owner of the dwelling), they use objects upholstered in velvet or plush, brocade. In the decoration of furniture, gilding, blown forms and carved details are welcome. Their high cost does not matter, imitation is even better.

However, lovers of style often work painstakingly and enthusiastically on the furniture themselves, changing it according to their requests. For example, in a good-quality retro chair, you can replace the upholstery with acid or repaint it - and the thing will noticeably change. You can add a win-win leopard print instead of acid colors. Chair legs can be painted with gold paint.

A very good option would be MDF furniture with curved legs and encroaching on a high style forms: a little ridiculously cheap furniture with such elements looks in familiar, calm interior styles. But for kitsch, such things are a godsend. You just have to repaint them, change the upholstery, in a word, re-register. As mentioned above, passing off cheap for expensive is precisely in the aesthetics of kitsch.

A pretentious sofa with colorful upholstery can coexist with a vintage chest of drawers, pastoral pictures on the wall and a large plasma TV. By the way, lovers of kitsch do not shy away from flea markets and even in the trash can find a thing that short-sighted owners rushed to throw away. A person with artistic taste is able to transform this thing into an art object.

A variety of options are assumed here. Sometimes the doorway is not changed, allowing it to remain the same as it was in the previous interior. And if traces of a long life are visible on it, so much the better. On such a door, they sometimes hang a calendar for a long past year, or lay out a path with mirrored tiles, for example.

The window opening is also designed as it is convenient for the owner of the apartment. If there are not enough objects in the style of naive art in the room, then “grandmother's” curtains with polka dots will complement the image of the room. They can hang on the window and blinds, moreover, painted in some unexpected bright color.

Textile decor is a powerful tool for a designer; it easily changes the perception of a room, which could seem even inconspicuous to kitsch. For example, it is worth covering the sofa with a bedspread of lime or raspberry color, and this already visually changes the room.And if you add here plush curtains, satin cushions - and the room becomes more and more a model of kitsch.

What will complement the design of the space:

• stuffed animals;
• fakes for painting masterpieces;
• deliberate examples of anti-art and vulgarity in the artistic world;
• inverted paintings;
• porcelain, glass, crystal figurines of different shapes and eras;
• busts;
• all kinds of mirrors;
• amulets and talismans;
• whimsical arrangements of artificial flowers.

One of the walls can be pasted over with pages from magazines, and photo frames and shelves can be made from the plates. Candelabra are painted in bright colors, landline phones are sheathed with plush, boxes in the style of naive painting and candles of unexpected, shocking shapes appear on tables.

There is usually a lot of light in kitsch, lighting fixtures are scattered locally. Neon lights are welcome. Wall lamps, pretentious chandeliers with crystal pendants are appropriate. Light sources should not be lost against the background of bright surfaces - this is the main requirement for lighting.

The ideal solution would be a large floor lamp with a colored metal shade, or better not one. Crystal chandeliers in kitsch coexist peacefully with sconces made in a futuristic style. A table lamp with a cheap plastic shade will be the cherry on top of this strange cake.

Far fewer people decide on the exterior in the kitsch style than on the interior. And it's not just courage: the architecture of a building requires a more serious approach, often also costly. A to seek help from specialists, and even with such a non-standard idea - not everyone can do it. But there is a way out: to make the house, if not a model of kitsch, then set the right mood in the exterior.

To do this, it is enough to choose bright, acidic, too active colors in the design of the house. Not necessarily the entire facade at once. For example, in a gray house with a white roof, make a lime-colored door. Or highlight the terrace: put there an acid-pink table and multi-colored chairs from different headsets.

In a word, if the owners have not yet decided to change the exterior in the direction of complete kitsch, then some accents can be placed without being afraid to greatly surprise the neighbors. Although it’s not even about them: there is an opinion that the house can stand out from the general row of buildings, violating the harmony of the architectural design of this place.

Many stars more than once became instantly recognizable or actively quoted by the media precisely due to their kitsch outfits. They enter the history of fashion, the history of show business, catch, remember, become associations with a star. Denim clothing can be combined with an evening dress, sportswear with an ethnic outfit, and a lace skirt with an oilcloth leopard cloak. It is important for the stars to find such a combination of things that will be remembered by everyone at once.

Consider the rules of kitsch in clothes using specific examples.

• A girl with a wreath, somewhat reminiscent of Frida's headdresses, classic glasses of either Harry Potter or John Lennon, and “pluck your eyes out” clothes. There is simply no chance of not being remembered.

• A softer example of kitsch that young female students around the world love to repeat. It would seem a vintage look, everything is combined: beret, style of clothing, and accessories. But colors and materials refer to kitsch and make such a fashionista turn after.

• Different prints, all together in one look - it's always bold. But for someone there is nothing more organic than such courage.

• A fun look for those who are just eyeing kitsch. For a very modest start (relatively, of course), but as a test option is excellent.

• These girls know a lot about dressing up in such a way as to attract all the glances. A lot of kitsch, but everything is amazingly combined.

• Things from different eras and different materials. But if it is they who help to reflect the originality of the personality, no one has the right to prohibit wearing such bright outfits. And this combination is really stylish.

• Young Madonna knew how to be remembered and how to spawn a whole regiment of imitators. Everything is great in this look, and new representatives of kitsch love to repeat and modernize it.

• Anna Pletneva loves not only the classically sexy style of a pop star, sometimes her images attract and delight supporters of kitsch.

• For men who think that way, the fashion industry offers many interesting kitsch looks.

• Modest, but newbies love these looks. Experiments can get bolder afterwards.

You can learn how to create a kitsch-style interior from the video below.