The expensive art of looking cheap

Once upon a time, wearing multiple layers of clothes was reserved for those who circumstantially lived outdoors.

That’s right, homeless people. However, in the last five years or so, homeless men and women have inspired the “homeless chic” trend. The trend consists of wearing as many layers as fashion deems necessary while simultaneously looking effortless and not tacky.

Other areas of the trend include wearing a bunch of layered looks that appear to be unkempt, or disheveled.
The culprit—I mean creator of this trend—is none other than Mary-Kate Olsen. Ever since paparazzi snapped pictures of the famous twin exiting a Starbucks back in 2004 with a venti latte and about six outfits on at once, layering has become the new, well, non-layering.

Since Mary-Kate, designers from Jeremy Scott, to Michael Kors have cashed in on the layering trend. Even stores like Forever 21 and American Eagle have made layering styles and look books for us regular folk. “Homeless chic” is everywhere on everyone, and quite honestly I’m quite tired of it.

Don’t get me wrong—I actually like the trend, and it’s appreciated now when it is done correctly. It takes a special sort of fashionable person to pull off the look without actually looking homeless.

The problem is that first, it is called “homeless chic,” which is extremely offensive because in real life there is nothing chic about being homeless.
There is an even bigger problem with designers making fortunes in the name of one of our country’s biggest problems. The homeless live on the streets, disgraced from society, but there is a desire to dress like them? There is something unequivocally wrong with that notion.

Michael Bastian designed a homeless chic line for Bergdorf Goodman for the Fall/Winter fashion season 2009. Just one of his “homeless” looks—a t-shirt, two button-up shirts, sweater, fringed shorts and knee-high socks—costs a whopping $1,800. That does not include the banged-up looking oxfords the mannequin was sporting.

The sweater is purposely dingy and the shorts even have stains made on them.
Michael Bastian has a brilliant eye for design, and is credited for bringing “true Americana” back to men’s fashion, but he is taking this trend way too far. It’s not just him, either.

It is the same with companies like Attus Apparel using real guns to shoot holes in their shirts and jeans to make the ripped and dingy look more realistic. Their shirts alone are $100 a pop, and they are sold-out on the company’s website.
The real question is: how did we get to a place where looking homeless was cool?
Someone needs to call out the fashion industry.

The more the thought of this marinates, the more insolent this trend is.
Could you imagine being homeless on the street wearing every item of clothing you own because you have no closet to put them in, and someone walks past you emulating your forced style all in the name of fashion?

What a slap in the face, especially if it is one of those Michael Bastian $1,800 pieces.
Mary-Kate is not to blame for this trend.

The industry is to blame. Designers create clothes, stylists implement them, and celebrities sell them to the public—it is the law of fashion reciprocity. Mary-Kate was more or less being herself that day her photo was taken outside of that Starbucks. This trend may not be hurting the homeless, but it is not helping them either.