Eli S
How has fashion been used as a socio-economic-status marker in the second half of the 20th century?
QUOTES:
Notes Document
Bibliographic Information:
Author: Cole, James Daniel
Title of article or book: Dumpster Chic and Haute Homeless: Placing Brother Sharp in a fashion industry continuum
Title of publication (if article in magazine, newspaper, or journal): Critical Studies in Men’s Fashion
Page numbers (if article in magazine, newspaper, or journal): 16
Publisher:
Date published: 2018
URL (if applicable):
Paraphrased Notes: Include Page #s
Rei kawakubo (comme des garçons) did this
A homeless man called “Brother Sharp” was posted about in 2010, and gained fame online, while receiving no credit or money
Grunge had a factor into this whole thing
There are several incidents of homeless people being spread around the internet as memes, but never receiving any credit or anything
Direct quotes: Include Page #s
“Chinese young men imitated his style while he still ate out of trashcans.” (1)
“Much of the press commentary echoed the sentiments of fashion writer Cathy Horyn of the New York Times, who noted ‘of course, it’s hard to imagine a couture client shelling out $25,000 for a dress just so she can look like a bum’.” (2)
“The fashion designer said he was inspired by the French homeless as well as the mentally ill in Diane Arbus photos. Other critics, and French homeless advocates, were appalled. Le Monde sneered about begging for a penny, ma’am, in the tin cup of Dior. As when Marie Antoinette dressed up like a shepherdess, there was a glint of the guillotine. Our giddy gilded age is stretching the chasm – and perhaps also the tensions – between the haves and have-nots.” (2)
“The so-called Rag Balls in the 1920s and 1930s, in both Europe and North America, were a similar phenomenon, and at the same time Charlie Chaplin’s beloved ‘Tramp’ persona romanticized the hobo image, even serving as the inspiration for a fabric design (American Textile Museum 2014).” (4)
“…was featured in Vogue, August 1988, in the article ‘Slumming: Ain’t we got fun?’; the article described the fashionable youth’s enjoyment derived from revelling in the ‘doings of the downscale and the déclassé’ (Jefferson 1988). It noted not just sartorial expressions, but fads such as choices in alcoholic beverages and food; at the time, the best-selling cookbook White Trash Cooking provided a low-end reaction to the upscale nouvelle cuisine that was fashionable in urban kitchens.” (4)
“Even more strongly, it was felt that the styles were manifestations of the bourgeois purveyor’s callousness and insensitivity to the plight of the hungry and homeless. Most repugnant of all was the aspect of financial exploitation of such a real and serious problem.” (5)
“The thrift store and recycled look of Grunge emerged in the late 1980s in Seattle, initially as a statement of ‘non-fashion’, but Grunge soon developed into a commodified high-fashion form, sent down the runway in the early 1990s by Anna Sui, and by Marc Jacobs for Perry Ellis, exalted in highly conceived fashion editorials, and displayed in the windows of high-end department stores.” (5)
“Perhaps even comparable to Marie Antoinette’s peasant chic in the eighteenth century, Olsen’s look was derivative of hippy, grunge, heroin chic, hipster, even Annie Hall.” (6)
Summary of Source (2-4 sentences)
This article centers around several cases of homeless people all over the world, but particularly Brother Sharp. Brother Sharp is an unhoused Chinese man whose image, from 2009-2010, was spread over the internet. Luxury fashion brands, advertisements, and actors were influenced by him, but he never received any compensation or help. This is just one case among several others, and points to a larger trend of commodification of human experience into luxury style.
Does this help me answer my question? Why or why not?
It absolutely does―it takes the image of someone just trying to stay warm, and completely turns it into a trend that luxury brands can exploit.
Lingering Questions
Does this point to a larger trend? Or is this only a one-off occurrence.
Connections to other sources
This connects to Transient Vogue, in that they both discuss the rarely-mentioned topic of designers romanticizing disenfranchised people’s lived experiences.