File this fashion endeavor under : WTF.

This week, as part of New York Fashion Week, Japanese label N. Hoolywood presented to the world a Fall 2017 collection inspired by homeless people.

Yes. Homeless people.

Whether or not N. Hoolywood was channeling Derelicte à la Zoolander, it’s safe to say this fashion label’s fetishized “ode to street people” was done in poor taste.

Photo: Imaxtree

Ill-assorted chairs and benches wrapped around a circular runway. The models bundled up in overcoats and jackets and holding what looks like trash bags, lumbered down the pathway in somber time. To round out their looks, some models had their legs wrapped in plastic bag like material.

As Daisuke Obana delineates in show notes: “As our designer traveled the cities of America, he witnessed the various ways in which people there lived on the streets and the knowledge they have acquired while doing so. His observations of these so-called homeless or street people revealed that them [sic] to be full of clever ideas for covering the necessities of life. Space blankets or moving blankets can be fashioned into coats for cold days, and plastic bags can double as waterproof boots when it rains. This season features designs that embrace their unique style of combining traditionally contrasting elements, such as unconventional layering or senses of color, along with experimental sizing.”

Photo: Erik Maza on Instagram

In reality, there are over 600,000 homeless people in the United States. In New York City alone, homelessness has reached the highest levels since the Great Depression. And about one-fifth of the homeless population suffers from mental illness.

In short, homelessness is NOT an experience that ever needs to glamorized. And as Fashionista points out: “Obana’s efforts, focused purely on aesthetics, erased the humanity and the dignity of homeless people.”

Photo: Imaxtree

Photo: Imaxtree