Last summer, I stopped a guy skating in the street, to ask him where he’d bought the bought he was cruising on. A small wooden deck with soft wheels, perfect for street crusing, resembling an early 1970′s Californian skateboard. The board in question was a hand-crafted model by a local French brand, Footloose.
The wood derives from the Gascogne forests in the south-west of France and every board is hand-crafted individually by one of their ‘shapers’ and to correspond with the demands of the individual. With a team of collaborating artists and surfers that counts Robin Falxa, Margaux Arramon Tucoo, Jerome Junqua and Kim Francis, and based in Biarritz and Anglet, Footloose brings skating right back to its surfing roots.
Le concept des rubriques ‘street style’ dans les magazines est d’arrêter les filles super bien habillées, pour ensuite leur faire parler de leur choix vestimentaire et de mettre en valeur leur ‘look’ avec une photo.
Quand une journaliste, pendant mon séjour à Biarritz, m’a demandé très poliment de parler de mon ‘look’ pour le site internet Elleadore.tv elle ne s’attendait pas à cette réponse. INTERVIEW
La collaboration Hayley X Auchan bientôt disponible dans tous les hypermarchés en banlieue Parisienne..
Watching a surf competition from the terrace of the Casino in Biarritz is the equivalent watching Roland Garros from a private box, with the beach a only stones throw away. The difference in clientele however, couldn’t be more dissimilar, the likelihood of crossing a Z-list reality TV star, or a member of the Parisian Ray-Ban crowd are extremely remote.
GO Stephanie!
No, this is surfing. The celebrities are replaced by riders and the Ray-Ban crowd work for action sports brands and wear Oakley’s. Frogskins to be precise.
The metamorphosis women’s surfing has undergone recently, isn’t just limited to the water. Competitions attract big crowds. Tom-boy surfers have been transformed into sun-kissed pin-ups, who talk about ‘Opening Ceremony‘ and their ‘sick airs’ in the same breath.
The male spectators have a permanent semi hard-on and don’t know where to look or hide the protruding evidence. On their left Stephanie Gilmore is going super fucking vertical, or right, where Laura Enever is floating past, in a long black skirt, adorned with crucifixes and other appendages, that wouldn’t look out of place on a ‘street style’ blog, with her board in her hand?
Laura Enever et mon doigt - c'est fait exprès y'all
Or straight on, where the longboarders loquaciously lounge around with their beers, with a cheeky attire that could have been on the mood board of the stylists from the 1970′s TV adaption of Huckleberry Finn, playing their Yukelalés whilst the gorgeous Capitaine of the crew, Kassia Meador fiddles with a Hasselbach.
In an attempt to justify my presence, I take to trying to ‘capture’ the mood of these backstage festivities. Which is just proof, I’m not a good photographer.
Back in 1997, the standard garb for any Lagwagon /NOFX / Pennywise loving punk rocker consisted of a pair of extra baggy Carhartts, a grey DC hoodie, a pair of Etnies and a skateboard, which was all attainable for a fair price down the local skate shop. Legitimate were those who’d hum along to Kill all the White Men whilst relentlessly trying to pop shove-its up a curb.
However, those who’d be caught huddled up in the aforementioned attire, smoking a roll up around the back of the Peel / West-end Centre with a perfectly new skateboard, that had effectively never had and never would be ridden came the penned word ‘walk-board’ which basically meant it would never actually serve as more than just an accessory.
I thought I’d heard the last of this derogative phrase at the end of the 90′s, however just recently, thanks to a launch of an ‘old-school’ plastic board, I’m all of a sudden reminded of this ludicrous terminology, although no-longer applicable to 14 year old FAT Wreck- Chord fans, but 20- something working Parisians.
This is all down to the production of a company saving toy, the Globe BANTAM. The brightly colored mini plastic cruisers that has become a regular feature in the hippest of hipster Tumblers.
Here are 10 more reasons hipsters LOVE the BANTAM (and why you shouldn’t buy one) :
1. Because it has no grip, so when they carry it, their Lacoste poloshirts’ don’t bobble at the hip.
2. Their plastic surfaces are easier to clean, so they can wet-wipe all those nasty germs off after an Instagram session alongside the Canal St Martin
3. The multiple colour boards give more of a colour range to work with and to match their brand new limited edition Kenzo Vans with.
4. Because it’s plastic, there are no tale-tale wear and tear signs, so no one can say you haven’t ACTUALLY ridden it.
5. Because the advert was on FUBIZ.
6. Because in the aforementioned advert, there are also some bowl riders who look totally rad, skating the guys in Lords Of Dogtown, which is totally vintage and totally now.
7. It equally features hot american babes chilling around a pool in thongs drooling over the skaters, and you want to create the same effect when you cruise along the Grand Plage in Biarritz on your holidays
8. Because when you go on holiday to the Biarritz, you look a bit more credible if you rock up to your beginners surf lesson with a skate.
9. Because it’s always cooler to say ‘I skate’ to your surf instructor, as a way of convincing him you’re ‘extreme’ and you know what foot forward you are.
10. Because they’re ONLY 99 euros (a LOT cheaper than a fixed-gear).
And a bonus reason:
# Because girls come up and speak to you in English, because they OBVIOUSLY think you’re an Australian surfer. Therefore cool.
Participez au jeu Ride Sessions Roxy Pro 2011 sur Facebook et gagnez un weekend TOUS FRAIS PAYES à Biarritz du 15 au 17 juillet en VIP pour toi et 3 copines!
Au programme:
- Un initiation au surf et rencontre avec la surfeuse professionnelle Lee Ann Curren
