![]() ![]() Until the company went online in 1998, it was Tinseltown’s best-kept secret. Then came the ’90s and breast implants, another place for Trashy’s assets to shine. Lifestyle How you can tell it’s fall in L.A., according to a guy from Vermontįrom heat-map red to Dodger blue, L.A.'s autumnal colors are there if you just know where to look. A year in and the Shriers started fielding requests for hosiery to go with heels, so they hand-dyed stockings in vivid colorways. Mitchell chose the location for two reasons: It was already a former shoe store, and the block had built-in foot traffic. They named it after one of Mitchell’s slingback designs, “the Trashy,” which was taken from a British slang term to mean fashionable or tart. Mitchell and Tracy Shrier opened the storefront in 1973 as a shoe shop. “The sexy Halloween industry was based on all our stuff,” said Shrier, who took over after his parents retired. The beginning of the ‘sexy Halloween industry’ Custom Halloween costumes can fetch up to $4,000 and have to be ordered by July. Popular ready-to-wear getups like flappers, cowgirls, fairies and nurses can range from $250 to $1,500 the elaborate three-piece Marie Antoinette dress, a pièce de résistance made of brocade silk dripping with pearls and satin bows, costs $1,315. “And if you have to ask why it’s this price after trying it on, then you’ll never know.” In other words, it costs a lot of money to look this trashy, to paraphrase another longtime customer, Dolly Parton. Trashy’s price point is summed up in one phrase: “If you know, you know,” said Randy Shrier, who runs the store these days. October can account for 60% of the year’s sales, with the majority coming in the 10 days leading up to the holiday. Shopping (or window shopping) for Halloween at Trashy is a rite of passage for many Angelenos. Trashy has made some of pop culture’s most iconic looks, like the bunny suits for Reese Witherspoon in “Legally Blonde” and Renée Zellweger in “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” The store also has made looks for Pamela Anderson in “Barb Wire,” Emma Stone in “Easy A” and the Fembots in “Austin Powers,” as well as Madonna, Cher, Stevie Nicks, Ariana Grande and Teyana Taylor. The store has built its reputation on its high-quality, original products with rigorous customer service to match, making it a haven not just for VIPs but also for wardrobe stylists and costume designers. “Or you’d walk out and Courtney Love is leaving out the back with a huge bag, and that’s just how Trashy Lingerie is.” “I remember being in the dressing room and Paris Hilton or Kim Kardashian would be in the other,” Electra said. ![]() She’s lost count of the times she’s enlisted Trashy onstage, during photo shoots and on movie sets, but she still has every costume. She filled out a one-page application and paid the price of admission. They went to Trashy but didn’t know about the members-only policy, which is a formality to make shoppers feel more comfortable. Prince, her then-mentor, had his bodyguard take her shopping. She was an aspiring singer and dancer and new to Los Angeles in the early ’90s. “You feel like, ‘Wow, this is Hollywood,’ you know?” “There’s a special feeling when you walk in there,” said model-actress Carmen Electra. Thanks to social media, a new crop of Halloween shoppers, like fast-fashion-averse Zoomers, are driving sales. In April, Trashy will celebrate 50 years at its original location, owned and run by the same family, with its goods designed and handmade in-house since the beginning. ![]() It’s Trashy Lingerie, the bawdy boutique that’s defined a Los Angeles aesthetic with its tailor-made lingerie and costumes and, in doing so, has seized a fierce trade loyalty. Cheeky wooden pinup whose derriere reads, “Park in Rear.” ![]()
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