I model fashions in NYC subways haters say I look ‘homeless’
She’s turned the subway into her runway.
A nude bodysuit, oversized basketball shorts and purple pumps. A gray unitard underneath a trench coat paired with apple green heels. A blue plaid skirt and an ultrathick brown scarf that barely covers her bare breasts.
These are just a few of the head-turning outfits streetwear fashionista Kristina Avakyan rocks while stationed on the 6 train platform in Manhattan.
“I’m an artist; my body is the canvas.” Avakyan, a bartender and freelance stylist living on the Lower East Side, told The Post. “I just say ‘f – – k it,’ and wear clothes that make people feel something.”
The nonconformist spends about $1,200 a month on outré pieces she finds at thrift shops like Second Chic, Buffalo Exchange and Goodwill.
The burgeoning fashion influencer loves mixing and matching nondescript togs with secondhand items sporting designer labels from fashion houses like Fendi, Prada and Balenciaga.
And she proudly invites the masses to “judge or praise, lol” her mass transit stylist skills.
Avakyan told The Post her funky ‘fits are never planned the night before she debuts them underground. Instead, Avakyan likes waking up in her apartment — which she says looks like one big closet, overrun as it is with glad rags — and letting one article of clothing inspire her entire look for the day.
“I don’t like to be safe in my outfit choices,” said the millennial, a native of Armenia, who moved to the city after attending college for journalism in Paris 12 years ago.
“Sometimes the colors don’t match,” she said. “But that’s the beautiful thing about art: You don’t have to understand it — my fashion is food for thought.”
And social media is eating up her looks.
On TikTok, where Avakyan shares visuals of her avant-garde garb with the downtown 6 train subway station as her gritty backdrop, the brunette has scared up over 11.1 million views for posts tagged #SubwaySessions, just over a month since creating her profile.
A clip of her stomping the cement in the ill-fated bodysuit and basketball shorts get-up attracted an audience of more than 1.7 million. The video, too, earned a staggering 61.7 million views when it was reposted to X, the platform formerly know as Twitter.
However, with the clicks came harsh critiques from fashion faultfinders who said she looked “homeless” and like a “confused uncle.”
And although Avakyan does her best to “pay no mind to the haters,” she told The Post that eccentric ensemble is the one she most regrets.
“I was like, ‘Am I really doing this?’” the free spirit remembered thinking as she recorded herself in the wonky number late last month.
“But that [outfit] is how I felt that day,” she said. “My hair was dirty, I was hot and sweaty, but I wanted to express myself with that look that day. And some people online really related to it.”
Amid the sea of ruthless remarks on her attire were commendations from fashion fanatics who totally dug her duds.
“So creative,” cheered a virtual fan of the styling.
“She ate,” wrote another, praising Avakyan for devouring the unconventional wardrobe.
“This girl is gonna end up … on a runway,” an equally impressed onlooker said.
Avakyan’s unfussy finery has also garnered positive reactions from straight-shooting straphangers.
“You put that s – – t on,” raved a train rider in a video of Avakyan asking others their opinions on her gear.
“You look fire,” another passenger applauded.
However, Avakyan said she doesn’t dress up for the attention — she does it for the pleasure of others.
“It’s not about me,” she said. “It’s about showing off what I painted [through fashion] that day, and giving people something to think about or talk about.”
And she hope others follow suit.
“Anybody can pull off any look,” Avakyan assured. “You don’t have to look a certain way or be a certain color — it’s all about attitude.”