N.HOOLYWOOD

N.HOOLYWOOD’s Autumn/Winter 2017–18 runway, shown at Metropolitan Suite in New York on 31 January 2017, drew on American “gutter punk” subculture and observations of street homelessness made during Daisuke Obana’s travels. Extreme layering, blanket-like materials, oversized outerwear and improvised-looking protection translated those observations into a luxury runway context.

The presentation also produced substantial contemporary criticism. Fashionista argued that the show aestheticised and sanitised homelessness, objecting to the use of expensive clothing, downcast posture and styling to simulate material precarity. That response is integral to the collection’s historical record: the runway demonstrates the reach of Obana’s observational research while also exposing the ethical limits of converting vulnerable social conditions into fashion imagery.