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Bootlegging isn’t what it used to be. In the ’80s and ’90s, designers who refashioned old Vuitton leather or reprinted the Dior logo onto their own designs were relatively unknown; for the most part, it was an underground sport. Today, the act of taking a familiar slogan, label, or monogram out of its original context and putting it on something entirely different is par for the course. Faux-luxury, cheap-chic fashion is everywhere right now, but years before the Instagram designer kids were slinging their punny Chanel and Versace shirts online, Freak City was leading the charge.
Valerie “Vally” Campbell and Justin Romero opened their first retail space on Hollywood Boulevard in 2008. They don’t reveal the address, as they do mostly special order and custom work and prefer to remain out of public view (or at least off Google maps). But thanks to their backgrounds in music and visual arts, they’ve built up a cult following among Los Angeles’s underground club-kid scene, hosting parties and events in their pink, graffiti-decorated spot. “The need for creative space is what gave birth to Freak City,” Campbell explains. “We were always collecting and selling rare vintage clothing and making customized clothes because our style was very different. We wanted to rebel against the typical retail structure and make clothes for the freaks, the outcasts, the misfits.” Their assortment includes red tube tops printed with the LV and Supreme logos, skintight spaghetti-strap minidresses in orange and black embroidered with Dior, and double C–printed sports bras.
The Freak City wardrobe might actually look familiar at a closer glance, and not because it’s decorated with the world’s most well-known labels. Nicki Minaj is a big fan, and hired Campbell to be her stylist when she was opening for Britney Spears on the Femme Fatale tour in 2011. When M.I.A. attended one of Romero and Campbell’s dance parties a few years back, she, too, fell in love, “mainly with the bootleg Gucci,” Campbell says. Later, Rita Ora was tipped off to Freak City by DJ twins Simi and Haze and is now a regular in the shop. A few months ago, Paris Hilton snapped a selfie in one of Campbell and Romero’s bespoke multicolored Vuitton monogram bikinis. And aside from the star publicity, Freak City was also recently invited to create a pop-up retail space inside L.A.’s Museum of Contemporary Art, which they dubbed “Hi Fashion LO Price,” and they just showed on the runway for the first time at Mexico City Fashion Week.
It’s been a successful ride so far, and the Freak City founders, who are partners in both life and work, have never feared any backlash from the brands that they riff on. “We want to add value and flavor with our own touch given to these brands,” Romero says. “We want to create pieces that will make these luxury brands question whether they’re real or not. Our approach has been fashion fantasy turned into reality.” Soon there will be a Freak City official collection of ready-to-wear pieces, and Campbell and Romero hope to expand their business further down the line. “We were doing this long before it became a trend,” Romero adds. “It’s been fun playing around with familiar logos, but honestly, we aren’t limited to that; we’re interested in designing collections that these major houses will notice and then see that we’re capable of a lot more.”