Local couple puts 'Vain' in vanity plates

VIRGINIA BEACH

Meet Virginia's first couple of vanity.

The license plates on David Osborne's bright yellow Dodge Neon announce to the world that he is MR VAIN.

And the tags on girlfriend Samantha Thomson's black Dodge Stealth inform people she is MRS VAIN.

The Beach couple pay an extra $10 apiece each year to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles to declare their love for each other - and for salon-quality hair products.

"There's a couple of people in our apartment complex that just call us by our license plates because they don't know our real names," Thomson said.

The two are right at home here. A 2007 survey found that about 1 in 6 Virginians have personalized plates - making the commonwealth the vainest state in the nation.

As of June 30, more than 1 million active vehicle registrations were for vanity tags.

Osborne, 26, had declared himself vain before Thomson, 21, came along. He said he's always been into clothes and looking good.

"I spend ungodly amounts on sunglasses," he said.

The self-described '80s geek and indie dance freak also likes "Mr. Vain," by Culture Beat. A former guest DJ at Norfolk nightclub The Wave, he started to call himself "Davey Vain" about four years ago.

Osborne uses the identity on MySpace and Facebook and even got a friend who works for a cell-phone company to make sure the last four digits of his phone number spell "vain."

His license plate said 2 VAIN when he met Thomson at The Wave in July 2007.

At first, Thomson wondered why everything was "vain this, vain that."

As a hair stylist and cosmetology instructor, Thomson said she also likes to look good. She said she spends about 40 minutes on her makeup. But Osborne is more vain than she is, she said.

Her boyfriend spends 15 to 20 minutes spiking his hair, when it should only take two, Thomson said.

"I can never style his hair," she added. "He has to do it. I do it wrong every time."

The couple eventually plan to tie the knot, they said. Thomson started calling herself "Mrs. Vain" on MySpace in the fall of 2007.

Then in January 2008, Thomson, who never had a personalized plate before, changed her tags. Osborne followed suit the same day, leaving behind 2 VAIN.

Now, when the couple take separate cars, they like to drive next to each other so people can say: "Hey, there's Mr. and Mrs. Vain!"

Jen McCaffery, (757) 222-5119, jen.mccaffery@pilotonline.com