Worn To Be Wild Outrageous Outfits Give Phony Express Star Power
It all started with Dolly Parton.
That was the costume Diane Wahl wore on her first job delivering a singing telegram.
She was shaking and short of breath as she rendered her version of “Happy Birthday” to a Rathdrum school teacher at his birthday party. But for $25, she was willing to put on the wig and fringe and step into the limelight.
That was 20 years ago.
Today Wahl’s business, Phony Express, in Post Falls is the largest costume shop in the area.
A hand-painted sign points to the large metal building tucked into a neighborhood at 490 N. Corbin Road, where Wahl stores more than 3,000 costumes.
In addition to Dolly, she has nearly every celebrity, film character, Disney animal and some of the major food groups for rent for $15 to $45 a night. Racks and racks of outfits from the Renaissance to rock ‘n’ roll fill most of the building.
Wahl started her business as a singing telegram service in 1979, but her costumes were a bigger hit than her singing. In 1984 she began renting the outfits. At that point she had only 150 disguises and held another job to support her family.
Today she works full time at Phony Express, and she has collected more costumes than she can rent. Even in her busiest season, the racks aren’t bare. Most of her pieces come from specialty costume makers. Even with a good inventory, Wahl keeps ordering new ensembles to keep her collection current.
Each package delivered to her shop is like a Christmas present, she said. Wahl can’t wait to open the box and examine her latest investment, be it the Big Bad Wolf with three little piggies sewn into its pockets, Queen Amidala from “Star Wars” or Austin Powers, yeah baby.
While most of her offerings are made as costumes, some pieces - especially the ‘60s and ‘70s-era outfits - are genuine artifacts.
Wahl carefully hunts them down at garage and estate sales.
She also has a slew of Santa suits, with a bevy of elves and Mrs. Claus’ outfit to go with them.
But Halloween is Wahl’s busiest time.
When she started, most of the holiday was focused on children. Lately that’s changed, she said. “Halloween has progressively gotten bigger every year for adults.”
In the week before the 31st, the place gets packed. “People are standing out the door waiting to come in,” Wahl said.
She does almost half of her annual business in October. She has to bring in six people just to help hand out the costumes and answer customer questions.
“A lot of it is last-minute madness,” said her husband, Steve, who helps out.
They have two types of customers: those who come in with an idea and those who spend hours pouring over her catalogs. “People who don’t know what they want to be take forever,” Wahl said.
It’s a time of year the costume shop owner is never off her feet.
What’s worse is the week after Halloween when the costumes come back and all have to be cleaned. Some are damaged beyond the point of repair.
One year a customer went four-wheeling in a pink gorilla suit. “He got the costume all scraped up,” Wahl said, shaking her head. They couldn’t save the suit.
All this is rather strange considering Wahl said she doesn’t even like Halloween.
“We’re Christians,” she said. “We don’t like the witches and devils and ghouls.” That’s why she doesn’t rent out the standard spooky costumes. “We have one witch,” she said. “It’s for the wizard of Oz costume.”
More, her costumes come from movie ideas such as “Titanic” or “Shakespeare in Love,” she said.
Watching people get dressed up and get silly is what really makes her job worthwhile.
“What I make doing this is what I would make doing a job full time for someone else,” Wahl said. “But I like this better.”
An upside to her job is that her family pitches in.
The downside is she’s always fixing things. “I’m making new hats and headbands and trying to find things that got lost,” she said.