FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Drugs

Street Wear

As a part-time harm-reduction worker based in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver, Canada, I spend a couple days each week chatting with hundreds of the approximately 18,000 addicts and marginalized people crammed into the area.

As a part-time harm-reduction worker based in the Downtown Eastside (DTES) of Vancouver, Canada, I spend a couple days each week chatting with hundreds of the approximately 18,000 addicts and marginalized people crammed into the area. I recently began photographing some of these men and women, both before and after they’d gussied themselves up for a night out doing whatever it is they do—whether it’s hustling, sex-working, panhandling, carjacking, dumpster diving, or looting. It almost always involves procuring drugs.

Advertisement

The ten women featured in this series struggle with one addiction or another, and each falls into some of these possible stigmatized categories: HIV or hepatitis C positive, transvestite, cancer patient, drug dealer, low income, schizophrenic, bipolar, sex worker, and sexually abused. The eccentric, if not always elaborate, outfits they wear are both transformational and functional: What is used to make a dollar can also provide cover from nosy cops interested in busting the often desperate shenanigans associated with the squalor of the DTES community. During our time together I asked each of the women to explain the relative merits of their altered appearances and what else might be behind all their wig-play and costume wearing. [Note: These ten women are not necessarily associated with bad behavior. They present themselves to the world this way for an assortment of reasons. Some are not even truly women, and all have chosen to use fake names.]

STEPHANIE   “I have been doing my hair and makeup since I was approximately 11 years old. I use plenty of theatrical makeup, much like television or theater. I enjoy doing it almost every day. I like to call my makeup ‘princess wear.’ It’s very unique. I get called a freak, a weirdo. Nobody else that I’ve ever seen wears makeup like I wear it. My ultimate goal when I put my makeup on is that no one else can copy what I’m wearing. I love sparkles, as you can see. I love lots of color. I am also into black. Black is probably one of my favorite colors—black and white. I like to call myself ‘Sparkles.’ I wear sparkles a lot of the time. They make me feel lighthearted, friendly, warm. They attract a lot of attention. The sunshine makes them look absolutely gorgeous. They are fun, unique, attractive, and quite often they make you feel very good inside.”

Advertisement

CHERYL   “I used to sell drugs and I wanted that to be separate from my personal life. With extreme makeup, nobody could recognize me from those times when I was with my children. The police arrested me at home once and they weren’t sure they had the right person because I wasn’t wearing makeup—but then they took my fingerprints. So that’s what got me into it. I think that I’m naturally beautiful and now it’s just playful to shock people, even my boyfriend. I’m more adventurous when I’m all done up. I try more things—I’ll go into a nice restaurant. When I’m not made up, I’m a little more timid. Lately I’ve been taking inspiration from my culture. I’m Native and my father was a medicine man. I was thinking of opening up a line of fashion with moose hide and stuff. It’s so caveman-ish. I think it’s sexy.”

CAROL   “Six years ago I got cancer and several months after that I started losing my hair. And of course the natural thing for a woman to do after that is redo her mane. My nerves are really bad and it took me a while to grow my hair back, so I got a wig. I still like wearing them. You can be a different person any old time. And they’re cheap too—unless it’s human hair—only about $50. There was this guy, a binner, who found about 30 really high-end blond wigs. They were gorgeous. I bought three. I won’t go into detail because the crime is still unsolved, but he pulled off a pretty big heist while wearing one. They have him on camera but they still haven’t caught him because of the wig.”

Advertisement

TIFFANY   “Every day I want to be somebody totally different. It’s like being a superhero. You put on a cape and change—you can be someone else and it takes away the depression. It’s like totally changing your whole…

you

. I like shopping in second-hand stores and sewing some of my own clothes and things. I don’t like wearing the same thing that everyone else has, so I’m always looking for different things. I go from one extreme to another. All the wigs down here seem to have the same style, so I’ll cut them, change the look, dye them, put streaks in them. I make it more ‘me.’”

SHELLY   “I have short hair, and once in a while I like to throw on something long. I usually buy straight, black, and long. I know other girls who have worn wigs while they work, but I didn’t. If you don’t take care of your wigs properly, they won’t last long. I’m just starting to learn that. Before, how I used to brush them, all the hairs would get pulled out. Then a lady told me what kind of combs to buy, but she didn’t tell me about how to wash them. I just got a new one and when I washed it, it got all frizzed out and it was a pain in the ass. I only wear them when I first get them and they look good. It’s expensive to just wear them twice and then throw them out, but that’s what I do.”

KAREN   “Wearing a wig, I can change my look and even whatever mood I’m in. You get compliments. I’m not saying I have low self-esteem, but having people notice you for the beauty you have inside… hey, it’s fun! People say, ‘Whoa!’ It puts a smile on my face every time I change my hair. My natural hair used to be down to the back of my knees, but I chopped it off and gave it to the children with cancer. I’ve been wearing hairpieces off and on for at least 15 years. At first, I felt like the wig was going to fall off and I’d get embarrassed. I felt like people were going to look at me different because I had a wig on. But now I’ve grown up and I really don’t care what they think.”

Advertisement

LIZA   “I got introduced to wigs by my best friend, Antoinette, a 55-year-old transvestite. I always had long hair myself, but it was cut off by somebody because I wouldn’t sleep with them. It changed everything about me—my sensuality, my sexuality, everything. Eventually I contracted MRSA, the St. Paul superbug. It’s a very aggressive infection that usually comes in a flesh-eating form. They call it cellulitis—chunks of flesh just die. I lost my eye due to MRSA. I constantly had cocaine on my fingers, and I was getting cocaine in my eyes. Because my nerves were paralyzed I wasn’t feeling it. I went to the optometrist and they said it looked like I had ten thousand little scratches across the cornea surface of my eye, which allowed the MRSA staph infection in. One day I ran into somebody I had sold a BMX to that I had gotten for my birthday. He didn’t want to pay. He made it look like I stole the bike and made a big scene. I allowed him to punch me in the face three times. And when he did that he lacerated my cornea even worse and that allowed the MRSA staph infection to go back into the chamber of my eye. My eye basically exploded.”

JACKIE   “My hair is too short to wear comfortably. Until it’s long I’m going to keep wearing wigs with longer hair. Wigs are just something to wear—another expensive fucking thing, like getting your nails done. I don’t get fake nails—I get fake hair instead. Wigs mean you can get away from people if they’re trying to find out where you’re going. If you’re traveling through town, it’s possible you can get away. If they’re slow and if that’s what you’re trying to do, sure. Have you never worn one? Have you ever dyed your hair a punk color? Have you ever shaved your head? No, you haven’t! No! Every time I see a video, I try to look like the bitches. Just to be stupid. I have my Bieber hairstyle. Yeah, my Bieber hair! In a girl style! But it’s still boy-short.”

TAMMY   “When I wear wigs I put on a different persona. I can act sexy and sleazy without people knowing that it’s me. I love being a hooker. It’s fast and there’s always something new going on. I always wanted to be a bank robber or feel like a sexy woman—have a gun, hold up a bank. I wondered if I had enough balls to do it. I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to go try it.’ So I held up a 7-Eleven and they gave me all their money. I couldn’t believe it! It was just like, ‘There you go!’ I thought, ‘Geez, fuck, I’m going to go try another store down the lane while the cops are at the 7-Eleven.’ I got away for about a month, but they had me on video. I wish I’d had a wig then—I could have went on a crime spree. Oh well.”

LAURA   “I use my face and body as art, like a canvas. It’s my way of expressing myself and my feelings. There are hairpieces nowadays that can fit into your hair so it looks all-natural. Not necessarily extensions, but there are clip-ins you can add to your normal hair and people go, ‘Wow, that looks great.’ Many people on TV, mostly women, all use hair. You do not wake up with hair like that. The DTES is eclectic as far as fashion goes. I love it when people take the time, as I do, to present themselves—to comb their hair, to put on something clean, or for women to wash their faces and put on new makeup and to be presentable. I do it, and I hope it inspires others to do it. Because I like to look attractive.”