Kitsch is something we shouldn't take seriously... or is it? 'Tacky' seems synonymous with the whole idea. Just remember, if it looks like it's trying too hard to be avante garde, it is kitsch. If there is any confusion about kitsch, here's a site I found (http://kitschisthenewblack.wordpress.com/) that points out some kitsch items of today...or, as Christine suggested, you can check out the Urban Outfitters houseware/accessory section and find hamburger phones, vinyl ipod speakers (yeah..), or russian doll USB drives.
When I was flipping through "TimeOut New York," I found a necklace well over one hundred dollars--a necklace with a piece of gum attached to the end. This is kitsch. It's excessive, but, yeah, it is cute. Why didn't we think of it??? I mean, we can easily just grab a cheap chain off an old Claire's necklace and chew a wad of Bubbalicious and dip it in modgepodge and hook it to the end. Voila! the cost would be much less than $200! Here's a similar item: http://brokeandbeautiful.com/2010/when-glamour-and-kitsch-collide/
The reason I bring Kitsch up at all is to ask the question: is kitsch trying to be reappropriated today? Is it making a comeback? It seems that through fashion on the streets, decor, or art that kitsch is now being embraced. This reminded me of "retro." Retro originally denoted outdated trends, fashions, music from our past, but have since that time "become functionally or superficially the norm once again. The use of "retro" style iconography and imagery interjected into post-modern art, advertising, mass media, etc. has occurred from around the time of the industrial revolution to present day" (wikipedia). It seems that the same thing is happening with kitsch: we may be the generation to reappropriate or reassign meaning to this idea. I think we aren't embracing kitsch to be avant garde, but I think we genuinely find something cool about panda earmuffs or bringing back leg warmers. The line is getting blurred.
On a separate note: Alexander McQueen, designer extraordinaire, has died today. HE was avant garde. He wasn't just a provocative celebrity-award-ceremony, pricey designer. He explored gender politics,theater, confining fashion through his garments. The Washington Post explains: McQueen "was able to use fashion as a tool for agitating folks out of their preconceived notions about femininity, power and even romance. Over the course of a career that lasted more than 20 years, Mr. McQueen tackled the social impact of body-cloaking chadors, the stigma of disability, the role of technology in dehumanizing our lives, the historical subjugation of women and even the way in which modern women often allow themselves to be victims -- sometimes of society and sometimes of fashion." I just thought this was really relevant in comparing avant garde and kitsch and how McQueen was certainly an artist during his lifetime (which can can be seen through his dedication to his artform and innovative/political fashion).
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