January 30th, 2010 - a lazy Sunday morning for most. But for an anonymous fledgling photographer, snapping test shots of a stranger with his new camera lens in China's Tian Yi Square, it was the start of the Chinese fashion scene's newest sensation. “Brother Sharp”, as his photography subject has been dubbed by countless style blogs and“cybercitizens”,was originally spotted from these throwaway images, and immediately hailed as “the most handsome beggar in the universe”.
“The beautiful vagabond” as fans nicknamed him earned sartorial status on China's fashion radar almost overnight. Nobody knew his name, his past, the story of his homelessness – so how did he gather a following of millions? Because of his nonchalant model-esque strides, the careless slouchiness of his padded layers of jackets and knits. Online followers around the world commented on his “deep and penetrating eyes” and “unwitting bohemianism”. A website's sinister-sounding “Human Flesh Search” located Sharp and fans poured in to Ningbo to get interviews, snapshots of outfits, the inside scoop on the fashion muse of the moment. Pictures emerged of the homeless man wearing ragged lace dresses in shades of ivory and bone, scuffed Mary-Janes and long dishevelled hair draped across his eyes; an off-kilter Miss Havisham for the streets. Only a single finding was broadly reported- that when approached Sharp ran away, cried, appeared scared and mentally unstable.
This response is a sudden stab to readers – this man never endeavoured to be a brief fashion icon, his clothes are not his priorities. Fan comments such as “I love his melancholy eyes, sad stubble and Japanese mashup style” gain a new edge when placed within the context of Sharp's mental state. His melancholy eyes aren't a deliberate style statement, but an undesirable repercussion of his life as a vagrant.
Although an argument often repeated, the Nineties fashion emphasis on waif and “heroin chic” could have prefigured the current zeitgeist for vagabond styling. Vivienne Westwood's 2010 A/W men's collection was “inspired by vagrants”, Sartorialist Scott Schuman photographed vagrants last year and Italian Vogue ran a homeless-chic cover in September. Perhaps the sensation of Brother Sharp is a sign that the modern fashion industry's concerns are askew – whether we've got more than we bargained for now that some catwalk and couture can currently be indistinguishable from the effects of years of sleeping rough. Where does fashion fit into society when homelessness and vagrancy can be a fleeting trend report? Brother Sharp will be forgotten now that Chinese authorities have returned him to the care of his lost family; and now that he is exposed with a shaved head, broken teeth and a wardrobe of identical fleeces his fans are quieter. However, is it humane that he was implicated in vagrancy fashion in the first place? Perhaps homeless-chic should be limited to those who have the ability to choose.
References:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/
http://tianya.cn
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