Cringe design & how to own your taste
Lily Allen’s carpeted bathroom and other surprisingly deliberate design choices
My chin recedes into my neck as my eyes squint and my mouth contorts into a grimace. That’s my cringe face. You might catch it IRL as I glance at my pink dumbells lying in the middle of the lounge or as I pull my vacuum cleaner out from the bottom of my wardrobe sitting beside all my nice clean clothes. I live in a small apartment so all my spaces are multi-use even if I don’t feel they should be. Crossing lines in my own life makes me cringe a little but this cringiness is my choice.
Some people love that cringy feeling. Ricky Gervais once said that he found cringe hilarious and created ‘The Office’ (UK) around this concept. In terms of interiors, Lily Allen appears to be into the kind of 1970s gaudiness that boomers have tried hard to forget. This includes the oft-looked-down-on carpeted bathrooms. Excuse me while I cringe and try not to think about all the… other stuff that will wind up in that wool blend... What perturbs me about cringe is that I believe this reaction is your body trying to protect you from something you know is instinctively wrong. Like moping up the dirty bath water from the carpet around your bath when you could have laid down any water-resistant material. Why would you do that to yourself, Lily Allen, WHY? I guess I can’t fathom the idea of carpet in the bathroom because it’ll be me cleaning that carpet. Like a dog standing on their hind legs, cringe is just what you feel is fundamentally wrong.
However if you look at Lily Allen’s face in the top photo, nothing’s wrong in her world. Lily is perched on the edge of her bath in a gown Mrs Brady would have worn from the Brady Bunch in fact, loving life. And she should, she’s sitting in a 1970s cringy dreamscape of her own making. Personally, if you like one colour and you want the whole room that colour, I say go for it. Nor do I mind the opposite - busy maximalist design, however the rule with your own taste in design is that you have to commit yourself to the cause and this what Lily has done.
Lily's ‘bath in the lounge’ look did make me wonder about other cringey or wrong-feeling design choices that have had surprising longevity. I suppose a carpeted kitchen isn’t ideal but it seems to fit the overall look below:
What about linoleum in a bedroom? How very hospital-chic of you:
Perhaps keeping the plastic on the sofa to protect it:
This might be the greatest photo on the internet. Honestly though, if she’s going to smoke indoors then the plastic on the couch is probably essential. I also want to commend whomever is responsible for continuing the plastic to the curtains. That kind of commitment to an aesthetic is what I’m talking about.
To me, most design decisions are fantastic as long as they are still functional. In all the examples above, the material does not meet the needs of the room and denying yourself the opportunity to clean surfaces properly or to enjoy your home through your own making, is where I draw the line. That to me is cringe. Being practical is to have long-lasting joy with your stuff and it should be designed to be there for years on end. But if you love it even though you know it’s cringy - don’t ask for anyone’s opinion, just own it. And a really good carpet cleaner.
Just so you know…
Washington DC: Fighters for Freedom: William H. Johnson Picturing Justice, Smithsonian American Art Museum, March 8, 2024 – September 8, 2024
New York: GRIMM is pleased to present Fruit and Fruition, a group exhibition curated by artist Angela Heisch taking place at the New York gallery, opening 28 June - August.
LA: ‘Mickalene Thomas: All About Love’ is on show from 25 May-29 September 2024 at The Broad, LA,
Auckland: The Walters Prize 2024 Auckland Art Gallery, Sat 6 Jul — Sun 20 Oct 2024
Wellington: Rivers of Wind at The Grid Art Space in Wellington Tuesdays - Sundays, 5 - 28 July.
