Well, as long as a corset isn’t pulled too tight…just enough to give back support.
(Sorry, I’m a sucker for vintage stuff)
Hang around the Shibuya neighborhood in Tokyo and you will see some truly awe-inspiring fashion attempts.
Platform shoes everywhere. 2-inch soles? Ha! Try 8 inches. The girls wearing them usually aren’t strong enough to lift their feet off the ground, so all around you hear “scrrrrrape-clump, scrrrrape-clump, scrrr…” And yes, they lose their balance pretty frequently.
Artificial tans, bleached-blond hair and sky-blue lipstick and eye shadow. Imagine an Al Jolson film after a bad colorizing job.
Short-sleeved shirts with a matching forearm sleeve that connect to the shirt with a small strip of matching fabric. The result was a full sleeve but with a bare elbow.
The dumbest fashion statement I’ve ever witnessed? Tying your legs together. Shortly after seeing this in a magazine once (I had passed it off as a joke), one of my students came to class with a color-coordinated rope going from one knee to the other, with enough slack for him to shuffle around. I wanted to pull the fire alarm just to watch him try to run away.
–sublight.
Vinyl pants on people WAY too old to pull it off. Now, before I get attacked, I’m talking about Kathie Lee Gifford, who I think we can all agree we hate equally. She keeps popping up on talk shows in outfits Britney Spears would be embarrassed to wear, apparently to celebrate her “new career.” Bleck. She just looks like a Delia’s catalouge sample with a plastic surgeon’s retirement all over her body.
Mini skirts in general. I have a VERY long torso, so a normal person’s short skirt becomes my whore skirt. I can’t wear them. So I love the knee length models, I can be girly, yet not have to worry about wearing matching underwear.
[nitpick]Bustles extend toward the back. The sideways ones were hoops, panniers or farthingales. [/nitpick]
Personally, I like the look of any of these exaggerated contraptions, but requiring any of them is tatamount to torture. Most are inappropriate today, except at weddings or such.
Young women often look lovely in empire waist dresses. I did not because i had a tiny waist but a thick chest and enormous breasts. Empire waist look best on the pear shaped but not too large figure with a naturally high bust. In other words, a typical young figure. I also like the corset on the outside look. Always have. Anything that laces up in criss crosses turns me on something fierce. (damn now i am all hot)
[nitpick]None of the things mentioned are faux pas. They are simply unaesthetic to some. A fashion faux pas is wearing white shoes after labor day if one is not a nurse. It is doing something that is a mistake under rules then in effect. My most common fashion faux pas is wearing trouser socks that don’t stay up with a skirt. Pale white leg with black prickly stubble in a fallen sock under a skirt is a no-no and expremely unaesthetic. Ask me how much I care :D[/nitpick]
I will NEVER understand what would make a person wear a puffy vest. They are absolutely hideous! Also, why do fat people wear them? Idiocy, I tell you!
What Mauvaise said.
Blue eyeshadow.
Nothing screams “Dumbass Trailer Trash” more loudly than blue eyeshadow.
I don’t like those stupid bib-style tops. The ones that consist of a square of fabric in the front and a string in the back. They look ridiculous on all but the most flat-chested of women, and appear to be in constant danger of falling off or blowing away. Now that might be interesting, but the tops themselves are just ugly.
Okay… the old Navy puffy reversible vests are incredibly silly looking. In fact, vests are pretty pathetic in all forms. (with the exception of the ones worn under a suit)
Im gonna have to go with Lamia on those stupid “everybody’s wearing it” Jennifer Lopez halters that come to a point in the front.
Shoulder pads were pretty gross. And those big baggy MC Hammer pants that made you look like an incontinent Djinni. Those were pretty silly too.
The stuff candyravers wear is ridiculous. With the visors and the little shirts and the -huge- pants and all of the accesories… (read: their 2 yr old baby brothers toys)
What? 1970’s (well second half of the 1970’s) Ramones punk rock peglegs. Sex Pistols bondage strides. Fucking hippie. 
I’d say the worst thing I’ve seen (everywhere) is people walking around covered in advertiving slogans and names of corporations. Oh horrible!
And I’ve never understood attatching and inch and a half of plastic to the end on each finger and painting designs on them. People call toungue studs weird. and they may have a point (I’ve heard about damage to teeth etc.) but a self-imposed handicap on you manual dexerity (don’t most people USE their hands on a daily basis? Don’t many people type?). I don’t get it. Plus giving youself plastic claws looks weird.
What? 1970’s (well second half of the 1970’s) Ramones punk rock peglegs. Sex Pistols bondage strides. Fucking hippie.
<drool>
I HATE any item of clothing where the manufacturers name is on the outside. Labels should be inside clothes, with the washing instructions…
Also up there are high heel shoes. I would think you could barely walk in them, much less run - they scream “victim”.
There’s a difference between wearing what looks good on your particular body type and stuff that looks howl-at-the-moon godawful on anyone not fad-blinded. I loved mini-skirts because I have a yard of great legs, but look like a disposal reject in a an empire waist dress. Difference between ugly fashion and what looks ugly on an individual.
My picks? Bad hair: roach-infested wigs in history, sprayed to death puffs in the 50’s/60’s and contemporary pseudo-grunge dirt. I don’t care if hair is frizzy or uncombed, but greasy-looking is gross.
The unshaven stubble fad for men. It doesn’t look macho or carefree, just faintly disgusting. Five o’clock shadow on a he-man busy whompin’ enemies on a battlefield or exploring ancient ruins works in movies. It just looks ridiculous on mall rats and urban wannabe office workers.
Same goes with slut dressing. Jean Harlow carried off sin in style with white satin, slightly too-tight clothes, etc. The pseudo-slut craze just looks stupid. Same with droopy pants, wannabe gangbanger prison chic for guys.
As long as we’re on the topic…it isn’t an ugly fad, but if I see one more darling little twin set I may hurl.
Veb
How 'bout this one: wearing a pick, comb, little pink roller, or any other hairstyling tool as an accessory. Fer cryin out loud! Brush your hair, then place the comb back on the dresser; don’t stick it in the front (or back, or side) of your hair and wear it out the door!
Asthetic:
Orange.
There are maybe 1000 people in the country who actually look good in any color orange.
The chances that you are one of the few are virtually non-existant. Don’t even try.
Faux Pas:
Black at weddings. It’s just wrong.
The worst I’ve seen this year was a bunch of bridesmaids wearing black velvet, floor length dresses for an afternoon wedding in late June.
-amarinth
I commit most of my faux pas at home, for what it’s worth.
Culotte little dresses (I have two that I wear in the summer time when I’m laying around the house…)
Once, while riding the city bus, I happened to catch a glance of a woman in a whole orange outfit walking down the street. She had an orange dress, orange heels, and orange pantyhose. Not opaque orange stockings, but actual semi-transparent orange pantyhose. Goodness knows where she found them.
The woman was a rather pasty blonde and could not pull off the color at all.
Oh, and to top it all off she had a winter coat that was not orange, but green with red roses on it!
I wear blue eyeshadow…not the thick, 80’s-inspired blue, though. But then again, I’m just dumbass trailer trash, so what do I know?
I also wear bell-bottoms and bohemian/Indian/Asian inspired clothing.
I also wear punk clothing as well.
And preppy stuff, too.
And platforms.
What I can’t stand: miniskirts (they look awful on me) and shirts that are cut for narrow-shouldered girls. It’s hard to find a top that fits me in the shoulders.
I like the corset-on-top look, though I’m not brave enough (yet) to carry it off.
Nail art. It should not be.
Brown shoes, grey pants. C’mon, you should know better.
Airbrushed T-shirt. I don’t care who you love 4-ever, or what your Lil’ Angel looks like.
Pantyhose that are darker than the shoes. UGH. And white shoes in general, even between Easter and Labor Day.
MC Hammer pants! I had totally blocked those out! Oh, the memories…I need to call my therapist…
Actually, the trick is that if something looks good on you, then wear it. My sis (makeup artist) wears blue eyeshadow and she makes it look good.
Seriously, what bothers me most is that women’s fashion takes risks and puts out all kinds of crazy stuff, but men’s fashion has remained relatively unchanged since forever. You got yer basic pants, jacket, button downs, pullovers, whatever. My husband gripes about this all of the time, and when we go shopping together he gets mad because women have so much to choose from, especially in the way of cool fabrics. Oh, wait, now men have the option of dressing like Regis…how lucky you all must feel.
BTW, if ANYONE knows where you can get a men’s black and white polka dotted shirt (think Elvis Costello), for the love of christ, let me know.