style profile ¬ DOGTOWN & Z-BOYS February 13 2013

if there was ever 1 solid #style44 #vansauthentic & 1 2-tone #style95 #vansera that embody the spirit of the brand... what colours would they be?

i can honestly say that this photograph changed my life. when i was a kid i collected.... well, everything, including film flyers & movie posters. in the early 00's when i saw craig stecyk's picture of jay adams adorning promotional material for an upcoming documentary i was transfixed. the moment was like a spiritual checkpoint i was meant to experience in order to guide me on the right path. the path to eventually see the aforementioned documentary..... whereby thereafter all my aspergers-like OCD (Orchestral Compulsiveness in the Dark) henceforth crystallised in light of the fact that now, there was only VANS.

i was of course talking about the 2001 documentary dogtown & z-boys. now if you are reading this we are somewhat like-minded however IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS DOCO I IMPLORE YOU.... WATCH IT NOW! & far from being the vans indulgence & brand flag waving that you might expect, this film resonates deeper than that. it reflects on a moment in time, not whereby culture is re-defined or re-invented because there was no culture like this before to reinterpret. as such, a new sub-culture was itself invented & defined by every passing moment. it captures the birth of the now!

despite being a vans commissioned 'off the wall' production, vans is only mentioned 1 in this film! truth be told i am not from a hard core skate background. i thrashed my schmitt stix rip saw back in 1988 but then a guy called michael jordan came around & dictated my interest for the next decade plus. watching dogtown however was the point of no return. 1 'enhanced' viewing was enough as thereafter my vans-driven obsession was in full swing. many years later i re-visited the film, anticipating the vans laden product placement to explain my (w)hoarding, but it never came. the vans are almost incidental & the placement subliminal. but thats why it was successful. & for the vans narrative skateboarding was at 1 time incidental, but it became the incident which defined their future & one captured in what's often voted in the top 5 doco's of all time.

 it's incredible that so many photographs let alone videos were around to capture this cultural revolution. we are grateful for the visionaries including Craig R. Stecyk III, Glen E. Friedman, Hugh Holland, Jim Goodrich et al