POVERTY & CLASS
From Rags to Riches? The Appropriation of ‘Homeless Chic’ in Fashion WORDS BY MARCO PRETARA IMAGE BY MATHEUS FERRERO ON UNSPLASH It has become something of a strange trend in the fashion
subject matter that he had in a way leeched off of to
world to glamorise society’s poorest members in order to
create his 2000 couture collection, and instead was much
appeal to the wealthy - a trend which has been labelled
more excited by the less important reception that it had
‘homeless chic’. Why has this appropriation even become
received. Thus, in a way, those suffering in poverty were,
a thing? Is it because a ‘run-down’ or ‘urban’ style is
and still are, being used as a commodity for the fashion
considered edgy? Has fashion lost touch with the reality
world to receive praise and make money from those who
of poverty as a social issue, and is it this lack of knowledge
are blinded by such terrible social issues. It’s terrible
that allows poverty to be reborn as just another ‘reference’
to say, very often the most exciting outfits are from the
for designers? Or is it simply that appropriating poor
poorest people - Christian Lacroix to Vogue.
people’s ‘style’ of dress is another way to highlight their social status as something lesser? Whatever the case might
In 2005 and 2006, fashion designers and child actresses’
be, it has a long history.
Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s’ love of wearing extremely oversized clothing in shoddily-assembled layers led
Though he was not the first designer to appropriate poverty
many tabloids and fashion magazines to wonder if they
as a stimulus for their designs, John Galliano’s spring 2000
too were adopting a kind of ‘homeless chic’ style, or just
couture collection for Christian Dior is the commonly-
trying to escape the cutesy public image that they had
given point of origin for the ‘homeless chic’ trend. The
developed from their childhood careers in the spotlight.
designer explained that he had drawn inspiration from
In either case, they were probably the only people to
street people that he had noticed along the banks of the
earn comparisons to bag ladies whilst toting Chanel and
Seine after taking up jogging, and he incorporated these
Botkier, showing the explicit appropriation and ignorance
findings into his seventh couture collection for Dior.
involved in having a ‘homeless chic’ style among those
The collection was crafted from a specially-designed
with substantial wealth.
newspaper-printed silk, as well as other luxury fabrics that were ripped and aged so that they would appear dirty.
Television personality and model Tyra Banks pulled a number of stunts on her since-cancelled talk show, but
Columnist for the New York Times Maureen Dowd
perhaps the most questionable decision came in 2006
once quoted Galliano as saying, “It’s the most spoken-
when she dressed up for a day as a homeless woman. Tyra
about topic at dinner parties in Paris.” He did not mean
said “I did a lot of research on the homeless epidemic in
homelessness, but instead the positive reception of
this country, and I came across these crazy, terrifying
his couture collection. “One can’t go into a restaurant
facts.” Following this, the then ‘homeless’ Tyra and her
without hearing fantastic young ladies talking about the
camera crew learned about how drugs were sold and
fraying of tulle of the Christian Dior show.” This suggests
smoked from two homeless teenagers. This is a clear
that Galliano cared less about bringing awareness to the
example of the exploitation of homeless people. Tyra
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POVERTY
