Thursday 4 March 2010

"Tramp" takes fashion world by storm in China

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/handsome-chinese-vagrant-draws-fans-of-homeless-chic-1915812.html

I don't know whether I like this article or not. I smiled to myself at first, as it is a pretty unique story, but should we really turn every aspect of life into a kind of freak reality TV situation? Is it OK to grab a homeless man off the streets and declare him to be a fashion icon, convincing ourselves that we are not laughing at his misfortune, when really, we are?

After all, would he have hit the headlines had he been an average Joe prancing around a shopping mall?

On the other hand, this may serve to show that homeless people are not a completely alien breed of creatures, that they are like everyone else - talented, opinionated and creative and that all of these qualities are being supressed by their situation.

A lack of money, an address and the stigmatism that homelesness brings threatens the future and talents of people in thise situation and maybe this guy is, inadvertently it seems, pointing this out.

Maybe!