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In Arabic, when somebody is wearing clothes that ridiculously don't match colour-wise, and therefore the person looks goofy, we describe their mismatched clothing as "zaraq waraq" - That term (or idiom) is used for attire with random colours that zanily mismatch. The term is also used for silly, mismatched home colour schemes (i.e. bad color combinations) - e.g. mismatched paintjob, bedding colours, couch colors, etc. Example:

  • Hey, do you like my outfit?
  • Um, no sorry, it looks very [insert English-equivalent term], and so does your house paintjob, incidentally

Does an English equivalent of the Arabic idiom exist? It can be a single-word or a multiple word idiom. Doesn't matter.

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  • Thrown together implies a combination not thought out, of clothes as well as other things.
    – Xanne
    Commented Jul 23 at 21:55

4 Answers 4

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There is a hypernym (and it is, like the Arabic term, a rhyme-based irreversible binomial†) that would fit:

hotch-potch [singular noun] [British]; in US use 'hodgepodge'

A hotch-potch is an untidy mixture of different types of things.

  • The palace is a complete hotch-potch of architectural styles. [+ of]

[Collins Cobuild Dictionary]

As the examples below suggest, the compound noun is often solid:

  • As well as incorrect lovat hose and no hose tabs he's wearing a hotchpotch of intermixed dress items, with most startlingly of all a ...

[Scottish Military Research Group; Google search]

  • ... the ensuing dust necessitated wearing a hotchpotch of strange garments. There I was with my swimming cap, goggles, ear-protectors and green dungarees on, pelting the plaster in 30-degree heat.

[Irish Examiner]

Also, the noun may be used attributively:

  • Not long ago I found myself wearing a hotchpotch collection of an outfit (and thank God I didn't bump into anyone I know!) for going to the supermarket ... [Whitneys Wonderland]

................

Other terms referring to a mishmash:

  • wearing a mixed bag / smorgasbord of clothes.

  • wearing a ragbag assortment of clothes.

and, prompted by KrisW, I've checked, and 'mish-mash of clothes' itself is quite common, a synonym which I didn't include as it didn't gel with me:

  • We often see him in a mish-mash of clothes

[Vogue]

................

†see Wikipedia

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    I'd add that any reference to the carnival or circus clown makes a similar point, implying Are we going for humor here? Commented Jul 23 at 14:35
  • A near-identical equivalent to the Arabic term/idiom. Thanks!
    – E.Groeg
    Commented Jul 24 at 4:59
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    Funny you casually use “mishmash” in your answer, but only to introduce other terms for it! “mishmash” or “mish-mash” (possibly a corruption of “mismatch”?) is another very good candidate for this.
    – KrisW
    Commented Jul 24 at 11:06
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Anglophones say the colours clash if they're not compatible. And if someone says, for example...

"Your shirt clashes with your jacket"

...that almost always specifically means the colours of the shirt and jacket don't go together well.

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  • So you're saying patchwork quilts belong on your bed not your body? :)
    – tchrist
    Commented Jul 23 at 18:13
  • @tchrist: IANAQS (I Am Not A Quilt-Sewer), but I think the articles of association of the PFFTLOQS (People's Front For The Liberation Of Quilt-Sewers) specifically say "Purple and Yellow are clashing colours. We will never encourage them to co-exist." Commented Jul 23 at 23:00
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jar (with something) comes to mind. Per OLD:

to be different from something in a strange or unpleasant way

Her brown shoes jarred with the rest of the outfit.

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Depending on the colour scheme, you could say "Um, no sorry, it looks very gaudy, and so does your house paintjob, incidentally"

You wouldn't use gaudy for mismatched outfits that don't work because of undertone issues, or ones that are just bland. But if they are wearing a mismatched collection of bright colours (especially if they are wearing obvious brands or shiny fabrics), gaudy could be a good choice.

gaudy (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaudy)

1: ostentatiously or tastelessly ornamented

2: marked by extravagance or sometimes tasteless showiness

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