Nasty Habit
It’s a quiet morning on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Shopkeepers are hosing off their sidewalks as if washing away the sins of the city, as Cosmo Lombino stands in his store, Cosmo’s on Melrose, sipping a latteacute;.
But it won’t be long until he’s ringing up a “nasty tee.”
Though his store is stocked with youthful street fashions, T-shirts and tank tops with catchy, off-color slogans generate the most customer interest. One line that is doing particularly well for the retailer is Venice, Calif.–based Dirty White (a cocaine reference, for those not up on narcotics nomenclature). The line has generated interest from Britney Spears, who has already helped launch the career of logo-driven T-shirt line Whiteboy.
Lombino took on Dirty White four months ago and “blew them out.”
“Every girl in America wants Dirty White,” he said enthusiastically.
“These shirts will never be mainstream, selling at Target,” Lombino admitted. “Though trust me, they’d fly off the rack. But that’s why people come to Melrose, because we have stuff they don’t carry at the mall.”
Dirty White shirts come with optional expletives in addition to the logo.
Lombino’s other nasty tees include one emblazoned with “The Deep Homo” in a design similar to the logo of a major home improvement chain. Another style features the slogan “I don’t date (818).”
Though Lombino said his customers include Beyonceacute; Knowles and Justin Timberlake, he said nasty tees drive his business and appeal to a broad cross section of people. “You get the most conservative people you think won’t buy it, and they’ll buy it,” he noted.
Other popular shirts include one with a picture of Keith Richards and the line “I just want to shoot dope like a normal person,” shirts with references to Barbie that would make the most debauched sailor blush, and tees with detailed charts of the reproductive organs that look lifted from a grade-school science class.
Denying that America can ever have too much bad taste, Lombino said, “I’m just offering shock value with a smile, and I think America needs that.”
As for Lombino himself, he said, “Nothing really offends me.” —Christian M. Chensvold
