Retail Slut was a clothing store in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

that specialized in

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

goth A Goth is a member of the Goths, a group of East Germanic tribes. Two major political entities of the Goths were: *Visigoths, prominent in Spanish history *Ostrogoths, prominent in Italian history Goth or Goths may also refer to: * Goth (surname) ...

, and underground fashions. Founded in 1983 by Helen O'Neill, the store heavily supported the underground scenes such as the S&M, drag and

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

communities and participated in "Hands Around the World." Retail Slut was located on

Melrose Avenue Melrose Avenue is a shopping, dining and entertainment destination in Los Angeles that starts at Santa Monica Boulevard, at the border between Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. It ends at Lucile Avenue in Silver Lake. Melrose runs north of Beve ...

and changed locations along the avenue four times throughout its history. It closed on March 31, 2005. Retail Slut was briefly featured in the film " Hollywood Vampyr, starring Trevor Goddard, Nora Zimmett, Jeff Marchelletta, Mark Irvingsen and Muse Watson, as well as in ''''

The Lollipop Generation ''The Lollipop Generation'' is a 2008 Canadian underground experimental film written, produced, and directed by G. B. Jones, whose previous films include ''The Troublemakers'' and ''The Yo-Yo Gang''. It premiered as the Gala Feature presentation ...

'' by

G.B. Jones G. B. Jones (born 1965) is a Canadian artist, filmmaker, musician, and publisher of zines born in Bowmanville, Canada. She is known for producing J.D.s with her acclaimed''Tom Girls'' drawings before going on to create more musically, cinematica ...

, with owner Helen O'Neill appearing on-screen as herself. O'Neill was an original member of the band Afro Sisters, which was fronted by performance artist

Vaginal Davis Vaginal Davis (born in Los Angeles, California) is an American performing artist, painter, independent curator, composer, filmmaker and writer. Born intersex and raised in South Central, Los Angeles, Davis gained notoriety in New York during the ...

. TV appearances include

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

and

Playboy TV Playboy TV (originally The Playboy Channel) is a pay television channel based in the United States. History The channel first launched on December 9, 1980, as Escapade by Rainbow Programing Services (a joint-venture of four cable companies, ...

. Hardrock guitarist

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

stole his first signature

top hat A top hat (also called a high hat, a cylinder hat, or, informally, a topper) is a tall, flat-crowned hat for men traditionally associated with formal wear in Western dress codes, meaning white tie, morning dress, or frock coat. Traditionally m ...

at Retail Slut during

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...

' take-off year. Billy Idol, Cyndi Lauper, Axl Rose and Nina Hagen were regular patrons. Magnus Walker (Serious Clothing) accidentally got his start when employee

Taime Downe Taime Downe (; born Gustave Molvik on September 29, 1964) is an American musician best known as the lead singer of the 1980s hard rock/glam metal band Faster Pussycat. Life and career In high school, Downe formed a band named The Bondage Boy ...

from Faster PussyCat wanted to buy the pants off him.

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

included a photo of the ''Dead Barbie Doll'' art piece that hung above the first location's dressing room in his ''America'' book.

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

purchased the bondage belt and bracelet that appears on his ''BAD'' album cover. In 2021 Lethal Amounts Gallery Presented a Retail SLUT pop-up event. Lina Lecaro gives a great article for the LA Weekly . Art Predator aka Gwendolyn Alley gives another in-debt story.

References

External links

* {{Official, retailslut.com Gothic fashion Punk fashion Clothing retailers of the United States Retail companies established in 1983 Companies based in Los Angeles Retail companies disestablished in 2005