News & Blogs Famous NYC Fashion Photographer Was Homeless The Whole Time

[Raging Bird]

http://www.itsnicethat.com/articles...book&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=intsocial

Life goals

<edit> I put the article out into the main view for posterity. There is also an embedded vid clip at the link as well Tude

Thomas Wirthenson: Homme Less

Work / Film

Mark Reay, the fashion photographer no one knew was homeless
Alex Hawkins, Thursday 06 August 2015

Looking at Mark Reay – handsome, immaculately groomed and sharply dressed – you would never guess the fashion photographer and former model had spent nearly six years sleeping rough on a New York rooftop. A regular shooting backstage at New York Fashion Week forDazed, in his mid-20s he walked the runway for Versace, Moschino and Missoni, appeared in French Vogue and later on nabbed a small role in Sex and the City. A new documentary about his double life shot by friend and filmmaker Thomas Wirthenson, Homme Less comes out tomorrow.

Despite finding himself homeless after being bought out of his rent-controlled apartment, the 56-year-old managed to keep up appearances for years, fooling close friends as much as the fashion industry. During the day he’d get ready for shoots in public restrooms and at night he’d sit in Starbucks retouching before retiring to the roof of an East Village walk-up. His modest income just about covered a gym membership, a locker where he kept his suits, a mobile phone, health insurance and food.

The fruits of nearly three years filming, Homme Less casts the stigma of homelessness in a new and unexpected light. "The film is about the underbelly of the American Dream, the hidden backyard of our society,” the filmmakers say. It also asks, “how far are we from losing everything, even our homes, and with it a part of our dignity and humanity? How often do we have to pretend that everything is in fine order to keep up the facade of being a well-off member of society? And how far are we prepared to go to take the financial pressure off our shoulders to live a more carefree live, the life we want to live?”

Homme Less opens August 7 at the IFC Centre in New York.

Thomas Wirthenson: Homme Less

Thomas Wirthenson: Homme Less

Thomas Wirthenson: Homme Less

Thomas Wirthenson: Homme Less

www.homme-less.com

 

[Mankini]

Halle berry was homeless in nyc too

 

[Tude]

Pretty cool article - he's well maintained for living on a roof top! I've ironed - or half assed ironed some clothes in an airport bathroom, greasy spoon restaurant bathroom (in the supreme effort of looking good for that interview or wedding as I was fresh off the bus hehe) - but I didn't quite look that good

 

[Odin]

I dream of cities just for the homeless... no property ownership, just facilities, transportation, barter & trade.
You sleep where you lay your head down, you take care of your morning ablutions at a self cleaning porcelain privy.
Walk out neat & Light a clove cigarette, take a walk to the central square for some early light exercise.
Spend the afternoon snacking on fresh produce grown in community gardens along cobblestone paths.
People pass each other with smiles and greeting knowing they are free... they are free... so good to be free.

 

[dirty andy]

I've got an apartment and a job and I don't look that fresh. Damn. Blew my mind on Christmas eve.

 

[Kal]

Awesome article.

 

[Mankini]

ahhh minimalism. homeless doesnt have to equate to austerity. Or suffering. Or deprivation. Somehow society has mangled things to a great extent. After all, the Heroes of Antiquity were "homeless": Christ; Alaric; Hannibal; Chief Pontiac...the list goes on...Some are hermits; some monastic. But i am building a palace in the hills of the likes never seen before outside of ancient rome or fin de siecle Montmartre. Pernod, anyone?