What are the stereotypical images of a homeless man? Dirty, torn clothes. Unkempt hair. Bedraggled beard. Grimy skin.
Meet Slavik from Lviv, and have all those images smashed.
Until about two years ago, the 58-year-old homeless man would cut a dash on the streets of central Lviv in western Ukraine with his extraordinary fashion ensembles of cast-off clothes. Sometimes he would change outfits twice a day.
That’s what caught the eye of 34-year-old freelance photographer Yurko Dyachyshyn, when he first noticed the oddly chic Slavik roaming downtown Lviv in 2011.
“I noticed him changing clothes daily, and just decided to gather together his collection of fashionable outfits, better known as looks,” Dyachyshyn says. He found that Slavik loved to pose for photoshoots, and would even prepare outfits for them especially.
“It brought him pleasure and made him happy,” Dyachyshyn says, writing on his website, where he has posted over 100 photos of Slavik posing in various outfits in front of luxury stores, hotels, and city sights. Pictures from the project, named “Slavik’s Fashion,” have been published in numerous magazines and online publications.
Slavik’s haphazard habits and Dyachyshyn’s inability to contact him or arrange meetings meant shooting “Slavik’s Fashion” was a sporadic project.
“I could meet Slavik every day, or once in a few weeks or even months,” Dyachyshyn says. “Later he got used to me, and he would try to find me himself, knowing the places where I usually spent time. And I, in turn, wandered around the places where (I knew) I could come across him. Sometimes, going about my business, I’d hear from behind: ‘Hey buddy, where’ve you been? I’ve been looking for you for two days in the streets.’”
Unlike other homeless men, Slavik put care into his personal appearance. “He changes his hairstyle and his beard regularly, and shaves his armpits. How is this possible for a homeless man?” Dyachyshyn writes on his website.
Dyachyshyn is sure Slavik had a secret hiding place, where he would patch and sew the clothes he collected from the trash or from homeless shelters, and carry out his personal grooming.
“Slavik still has a sense of beauty, style and fashion, and his outfits are not random. It’s no accident that he changes them every day, and adjusts them carefully to (match) the weather and season,” Dyachyshyn writes.
Dyachyshyn photographed Slavik over a period of around two years, capturing his spring, summer, fall and winter “collections.” But in January 2013 Slavik disappeared from Lviv’s streets, and Dyachyshyn hasn’t seen him since.
He’s not too worried though, saying this is typical behavior for Slavik. “Slavik would often disappear for long periods of time, but would suddenly reemerge again, asking where I had been,” Dyachyshyn says.
During Slavik’s latest disappearance, Dyachyshyn started a second project, named “Slavik Superstar.” The photographer superimposed Slavik’s picture on the covers of glossy magazines, like Bazar, Elle, Playboy, Cosmopolitan and Esquire. The handmade collages from original magazine covers and cutout pictures of Slavik have since been the subject of a successful photo exhibition.
“Sad to say, it often happens in life that to get on the cover of a magazine… you have to get in trouble or die,” Dyachyshyn says of the inspiration for his second “Slavik” project. “Everybody suddenly recalls all your merits, achievements and sins, and for a few days, weeks or months, you’re a star.”
Slavik’s sometimes incomprehensible manner of speech and unwillingness to talk about his past, even his place of birth, means that Dyachyshyn knows practically nothing about his homeless fashion model. Slavik didn’t associate with other homeless people, and was never seen collecting cardboard or empty glass bottles, or lugging around bags of odds and ends to try to sell. He regularly drank beer and would beg for coins from passersby, but he was not an alcoholic, Dyachyshyn says.
But while being erratic in his habits, not forthcoming about his past, and staying aloof from other homeless people, Slavik still yearned for human contact, the photographer says.
“He called me his friend, and said that it was very scary to lose a friend.”
Dyachyshyn hopes to take more pictures of Slavik in future.
“The last time I saw him was in January 2013. I hope he’s well now, and that one day he’ll suddenly appear behind my back saying: ‘Hey buddy, where’ve you been?’”
Kyiv Post staff writer Yuliana Romanyshyn can be reached at [email protected].
