While it’s a very valid question to ask “Who even designs these things?” it’s also important to consider who buys them. In some cases, it’s very obviously a model on a runway. For better or worse, they don’t really have a choice, they are just a canvas for someone to showcase their clothing. 

However, some of these images are clear cases of fashion victims. If you have not encountered this term before, here is a crash course. Fashion, trends, and fads are ceaseless, year to year, season to season, even month to month. Some people not only don’t know how to keep up but don’t really know where good taste starts and ends. Some of the individuals in this list no doubt fall into this category. 

After all, to an untrained and somewhat tasteless eye, some of these downright terrible dresses are, instead, provocative and “different,” never mind the fact that they look terrible. Of course, the most common way to do this is to simply buy whatever is most expensive, preferably with a gaudy, outward-facing logo. The fact that the item might not actually look good is completely secondary. 

Fashion experts actually have a term for this, the “walking billboard.” Most famous brands do have cheaper items, perhaps for casual use, like sweatpants. These items have relatively visible logos and slogans, as they tend to be pretty plain otherwise. Unfortunately, the popularity of this trend means that many companies are “moving” their labels from the inside to the outside. 

Perhaps this can somewhat explain the design choices seen here. After all, if famous household names seem to have no taste, then why shouldn’t some up-and-coming designer not try and make a name for themselves? The penalty for a terrible design might just be a bit of attention, which is hardly a bad thing these days.