There are a few reasonable explanations as to why people would dress up like a hobo—maybe mainstream fashion upsets them, maybe it’s in accord with the latest “fad,” or maybe it’s the recession. A hobo colloquially means a vagabond constantly looking for income to fund his life; this is not to be confused with a bum as they prefer to settle in one area. And because, at times, it’s shown in pop-culture like Mugatu’s Derelicte fashion line in Zoolander or Emile Hirsch in Into the Wild, vagrancy has emerged newfangled.

Designers have gotten on the bandwagon and suddenly it takes a lot of money to look this poor. It’s been called hobo/boho-chic and the younger (usually richer) crowd sees the appeal of dressing below one’s station, often making an effort to look like a homeless person. Its rising popularity is making the hipsters shake their heads, the self-confused part of culture even more confused, and the people who are indifferent even more indifferent. That being said, the devices identifying the hobo are usually:

1. An overall scruffy look that gives people a sense that the person is perpetually saving up for money to buy better clothes;
2. facial hair that straddles the limbo between a wise aura, Greek, and a lifetime of narcotics;
3. clothing of ambiguous origin: possibly from sporadic, micro-niche boutiques or the Salvation Army’s excess;
4. earthy tones, often meshing with the surroundings: a grey building perhaps or the smog from a road;
5. depending on whatever he/she “picks up,” a collection of accessories either complementary or nonsensical: an oversized hat, a tattered whatever, or a skinny something;
6. the bindle: most notably a sack tied to a stick used to carry whatever a hobo possesses—those wielding a bindle are aptly called bindlestiffs; and
7. an assortment of tools on their persons: a knife perhaps, or a makeshift stove ready to be used in situations they’re not usually meant for.

Though the look takes little effort, skimping on hygiene is usually frowned on. Common sense tells us that you don’t have to be an itinerant to look like you are one. Also, there are a lot of appearances that can manifest in the bounds of our imaginations, but what society can accept is usually half that number; there are outliers but we hardly ever approve—the last crazy guy everyone thought was okay was David Bowie. Everyone after him is hard to justify.

Can it also be said that talking about the economically marginalized in the context of fashion, a luxury pursued only by those that can afford, is difficult to keep within the realm of the inoffensive? In conclusion, one has to evaluate whether being a fashionable hobo is worth one’s effort, or going deeper, worth any effort at all.