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
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