kitsch

Working with kitsch

• Lean into the clash. Pair sugary pastels with loud gold accents or clashing red and pink — restraint kills the look.

• Skip the irony. If you add sarcasm, it reads as camp (an ironic, exaggerated appreciation of bad taste), not kitsch; kitsch is sincere, even when you're playing with it.

• Watch the props. The style lives in cheap mass-produced motifs (recurring decorative items like hearts, cherubs, or flamingos), not in high-end detail.