What's behind the big comeback of KITSCH

The Secret Power of Kitsch: Why the Gaudy, the Retro, and the Over-the-Top Are Back. Are we living in a kitsch renaissance? Everywhere you look, the unmistakable signs are there: mullet haircuts, Y2K fashion, old-school game shows, musical spectacles, and the unmistakable return of objects straight out of the seventies. Even the hyperactive dance moves of the tectonic craze are staging a comeback, at least on TikTok. But what's really behind this resurgence of all things kitsch, and is it truly just a celebration of bad taste? Kitsch is an aesthetic of excess. It thrives on saturation, accumulation, and flamboyance—a deliberate overload of style that celebrates what's too much and too obvious. Born from the word for cheap art imitations in 19th-century Bavaria, kitsch has always stood in contrast to traditional ideas of beauty and noble materials. It's the world of imitation over authenticity, the realm of the disposable, the mass-produced, and the gloriously fake. Yet kitsch is about more than objects; it's an attitude. It's the effort to impress, the joy of effect over truth, and the constant chase for novelty. Think of those bold sunglasses, garishly colored hats, or sandwiches dripping with excess on a crowded beach. Kitsch lives in the thrill of endless consumption, in the desire to flaunt identity through things that might once have been sneered at. So why this sudden nostalgia for the garish and the ironic? In uncertain times, looking backward brings comfort. When the world feels chaotic—politically, economically, even climatically—retreating into the familiar is reassuring. The cycles of fashion, once slow, now accelerate: after decades of minimalist beige, we crave color, fun, and a wink of irony. The guiding spirit becomes so bad it's good, where knowing exaggeration replaces earnestness. But kitsch isn't just about taste; it's about social codes. What was once dismissed as lowbrow or tacky is now flaunted as a badge of knowing rebellion, a way to belong to an in-the-know group that gets the joke. Wearing a T-shirt with a snarling werewolf under a full moon isn't just about style—it's a nod to a shared understanding, a cultivated carelessness that separates insiders from outsiders. Our likes and dislikes become declarations, reflecting our roots, our social group, and our desire to stand out. Is kitsch always bad taste? The answer is trickier than it seems. The same opera house that one person calls the height of beauty, another might dismiss as outrageously overdone. The boundaries blur, especially as the luxury world borrows freely from mass culture and vintage looks become a playground for personal experimentation. The nostalgia cycles are spinning ever faster, and soon, even today's trends will be ripe for ironic rediscovery. As generations pass down their treasures—often stashed in attics and garages—the landscape of style widens. What's kitsch today may be tomorrow's prized heirloom, and the past remains an endless source of inspiration. In this era of remix and reinvention, kitsch is less a rejection of taste and more a celebration of individuality, creativity, and the pleasure of not taking things too seriously. So before you toss out those old plastic shoes or neon accessories, remember: In the world of kitsch, everything old is just waiting for its next comeback.