"Now It Looks Amateur" — But If People Don't 'Karate Chop' Throw Pillows Anymore, How Are You Actually Supposed to Style Them?

Close-up of a neutral bed with an extended headboard that matches the pinkish-beige color of the walls. There is white bedding with three throw cushions. .

I vividly remember my mother teaching me to make my bed when I was younger. She showed me how to tuck in the corners of the sheets and fold down the top of the duvet, so it looked orderly and more "put together". But perhaps the most fun part to learn as a kid was the karate chop method for perfectly fluffing the pillows. I was dumbfounded at the time — how does this fun trick make the pillows look so perfect?

For those of you who may not be so familiar, the karate chop is exactly as it sounds. You place a cushion on a bed, chair, or sofa and karate chop the top center to create a pronounced divot. Melbourne-based interior stylist and design educator, Loui Burke explains, "Like many styling techniques, the original intention was to make a cushion look less rigid and more relaxed and lived-in." And for a while, it did just that.