The scene at the Museo dall Permante building in Milan was quite stunning with models walking down the runway with bedrolls and models popping out of a cardboard box. The Dame Vivienne Westwood menswear show was set to the theme of rough late night sleepers, leading a magazine editor to tag the style as ‘homeless chic.’
Westwood stated that the theme was the suggestion of her husband, Andreas Kronthaler, who was inspired by a friend who is a lawyer for a homelessness charity.
After the show was over Westwood stated that it was styled to appear homeless, which would explain why the models hair was discoloured and messy, and the catwalk was covered with cardboard boxes.
Although the theme may seem a bit radical, it has been the subject of runway chic before, in the outlandish comedic satire of the runway ‘Zoolander’, which came out in 2001.
The press statement for the show, which was a part of the Milan Fashion Week, read that the Westwood line found its inspiration from a vagrant who must get up and fight the weather again.
According to Westwood, she has never been homeless with the closest experience being locking herself out of her house.
Outside of the actual ethical issue of having an expensive line of models portray homelessness, the outfitting of a model in an orange boilersuit that could have been out of Guantanamo Bay also raised a few eyebrows, although Westwood stated it was to emphasis recycling.
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