The life… is what the other aspires to… but for us, it’s everyday, in every way. Sun, Surf, Boys, Love, Fun. Our jeans reflect a real love for indigo as they highlight and fade with our adventures. Like a best friend, they are constants, not a passing memory. We love our jeans rumpled, left on the floor, easy on and easy off. We know we’ll put them on again tomorrow…
The Quiksilver Denim Collection is available on your local surfshop and on Quiksilver-store.com.
I’m a summer girl! I grew up on an island in the south and summers were magical. Days at the beach, nights under a big oak tree and dinner on a screened in porch.. it was PERFECTION! So here is my summer story.. a peek into a day as an island girl.
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Peaches and Screened-in Porches
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My skin feels tight and dry, sand covers and sticks. The sun has been traveling through the blue and from the looks of it, the day is fading.
I dust off, grab my towel and head back to the beater that is my first car. It’s the south and the air is humid and heavy. The car cranks to life and the non-existent air conditioner blows blasts of hot air. Roll down the windows and I take off down the sandy road, turning up the radio dial I begin to sing along to some summer tune. My hair, beach blown and salty, swirls and dances around me.
I take the highway and make my way over the bridge back to the mainland.. my view is breathtaking.. the ocean surrounds tiny islands and the sun makes a show on its dance floor.
Down the bridge I spot my favorite fruit stand, I pull onto the gravel drive, keep the car running, jump out and run up to the baskets brimming with fresh picked fruit. “What can I get ya?” drawls the boy in overalls. “A bag of peaches” I sing back. The fattest peaches you’ve ever seen make their way into my bag and I thank the farmer and head back to my car.
Home is around the bend, I pull in the driveway, hose off the sand and run in the house. Cold, created air hits me fast and I shiver from the shock. Up the stairs, I shed my bathing suit, hop in the shower, clean off my day in the sun and towel dry quickly. I grab my denim shorts and a loose tee and skip back down stairs.
My mom has rinsed the peaches and they sit in a bowl on the counter, I grab the prettiest and open the door to the screened-in porch.
Instantly my t-shirt sticks to my skin and my hair begins to curl in the humidity, I plop down on the rocking chair and take the first juicy bite.
Juice slithers down my arm. Peering through the screen I see the tide has washed over the marsh, a breeze kisses my pink cheeks, and the sun begins to set. I smile….this is summer.
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Submit your own “Summer Story” on our facebook page!
This is the time of year when people start trying to ‘shape up for summer’, which for a city dweller like me usually involves going to the gym; a building I’ve not entered since 2004.
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I find gyms boring, I’d much rather be riding my real bike, swimming in the sea or sliding sideways down a mountain. And more recently I also think gyms are a massive waste of energy with all those rotating treadmills, blinking lights, TV screens and heated pools switched on all day and multiplied across the world. That has to rile Mother Nature a little bit, surely?
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In a column I wrote for HUCK last year I explored the idea that “here in the West, we eat so much that we have to go to a gym just to work off the excess calories by using a machine that eats energy too. We need energy to burn energy that we didn’t need in the first place. I mean, how crazy is that?
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Gyms are great for fitness, training and recreation, but when I look at them from an energy perspective, they seem ridiculous.”
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Plus, going to the gym usually involves purchasing specific ‘gym clothes’, which often includes synthetic shorts, vests and trainers. And the production of these items can put added strain not only on your pocket but on the environment too, through the consumption of the Earth’s natural resources and pollution from manufacturing.
So lately I’ve been on the hunt for a way to stay fit in the city, whilst reducing my impact on the environment…
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The answer comes in the form of No Lights, No Lycra (NLNL) – a weekly dance jam in the dark that takes place at the local art school.
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Sounds a little strange, doesn’t it? However, NLNL is now so popular in Melbourne, where the craze started, that there are now two sessions held every week. And dancing in the dark has also taken off in Berlin, Sydney, San Francisco, Brooklyn and now Glasgow, Scotland.
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The concept is simple: Make up a killer playlist (requests welcome), find an empty space, invite some friends, switch off the lights, hit play, dance any way you want for an hour or so, feel good, go home, come back next week. No lights, no crap music, no set dance routines, no dress code, no lycra; it’s just “dancing for the love of dancing.” Oh, and with minimum electricity used and no special clothing required the environment benefits too. Even better!
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I have to admit, it did feel a bit strange the first time I went, I’m not used to dancing around in the dark at 6pm on a Thursday night, but after about 10 minutes I really got into it, and now I’m addicted, as are my friends.
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From now on I’d encourage everyone to ditch the treadmill or your aerobics class and check out your local NLNL, or start a NLNL night of your own if there’s not one in your city already.
In the words of songstress Lykke Li, “Dance, Dance, Dance”…
Be inspired.. be inspired to dress for the spring days ahead.
Pick up some spring and summer must-haves, layer them up and make them work now.
WOW ! This looks amazing right about now! Going to the market right after work and getting all the supplies to make this special treat for tomorrows breakfast… yumm yumm yummm!
Image courtesy of Simplybreakfast.blogspot.com
If your weather is toasty.. or if you are planning for the first day of spring…
here is a little inspiration for the weekend.
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LOOK #1
Go with the classic and effortless Utility Pants and pair it with the light and easy Kimono Top.
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LOOK #2
Be on trend in white on white, and wear the Lorne Skinny Jeans with the Burnswick Top.
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FINISH IT OFF – Pair both looks with neutral shoes and work your tresses into a flirty look.
Have a happy weekend! – Luv, B. Jones
If not the sun, the next best thing to surround yourself with is softness. Find plenty of it in our essential zip-up hoodie. Made from the plushest looped terry with twist raw edges for a hint of rugged chic.
Look it, Touch it, Adopt it!
The Zip-up Hoodie is available on your local surfshop and on Quiksilver-store.com.
As a child I had a terrible habit of staring at people. Not really a bad thing to do in principle. Children are usually forgiven for doing things like that. When kids stare the general opinion is that it’s kind of cute and you tend to stare back and smile.
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Then you say something along the lines of, «Hello there, who are you then?», and usually the child is too bashful to answer so the mother chimes in and says, «Tell the lady who you are, tell her your name is Patrick». So the kid mumbles his name «Pattllick» and continues to stare and you smile back and say, «Nice to meet you Pattlick», or something like that. Anyway, Pattllick is allowed to stare for as long as he likes. But as soon as Pattllick becomes Patrick and starts to grow a beard, his staring is no longer considered as cute; on the contrary. People respond with disgusted looks, his environment reacts with explicit demands that he stop staring immediately. Awful staring pervert! All of a sudden Patrick is socially ostracized for something Pattllick was admired for.
Ela during a shooting in Prague: Let her stare! (photo: Timo Jarvinen)
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Okay, so I didn’t grow a beard, but I went through pretty much the same thing. Somewhere along the line I wasn’t encouraged, but reprimanded by my mother when I started to stare. Why, I do not know until this day, and that is probably why I am still considered as a rather scary crazy woman by the general public; terribly unfair in my opinion. You see, I only stare because I want to study my subjects long enough so that I can make up stories about them in my head. For instance, I start to imagine what their homes might look like, what colour their toilet paper is and whether they would be any good in dancing Salsa. Or I choose an occupation that might suit them and paint a picture in mind of what their family situation is like, or where they might next go on holiday. Most of the time – and I am absolutely certain about this – I make their lives look much better in my imagination than they are in real life, and I think that is a very nice thing to do.
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For example, I was sitting at the airport recently where I noticed a mother and her two daughters. All of them were of Hispanic heritage and because of this I decided to name them Dolores, Arantxa and Carmen. The mother, Dolores, was an androgynous type of woman with a moustache, a rather unshapely behind and her boobs were just a big as the large paella stomach beneath them. Arantxa took after her mother, only she was about 31 sizes smaller. Carmen, I realized, could only be, A: Dolores’ niece or, B: be the daughter of Javier Bardem, because with her 10 and-a-bit years she was more beautiful than the red poppies of Aragon. An older woman sat to the right of Carmen. She was the type of woman that you would never describe as «an older woman» to her face. She was wearing sunglasses that covered her whole face from her chin to her hairline (and we were indoors!) she was talking non-stop on her mobile in impeccable Oxford English. I named her Lesley-Jade. A man in tortoiseshell spectacles was seated to her right; he was about the same age as Dolores, only without the facial hair, but with double the amount of acne scars. His name was Max.
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At one point my imagination got carried away and the following happened:
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Arantxa tripped over Max’s feet and spilled her super sugary Coco Cola all over him and Lesley-Jade. Lesley-Jade jumped up hysterically and accidentally hit the beautiful Carmen. At this point Lesley-Jade discovered Carmen’s incomparable beauty and asked if she could adopt her. Dolores, who desperately needed the money for her facial hair removal procedure, gave her consent. Tortoiseshell-spectacles- Max continued to stay calm in spite of the Coco Cola incident and this impressed Dolores so much that she instantly fell in love with him. They got married only three weeks later and moved to the country taking Arantxa with them. Carmen and her sort-of-Stepmother go and visit them once every month…
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And Voilà! In no time at all I had created an atrocious yet exciting family drama out of a small group of boring people just by staring at them; and at the same time making their worlds a whole lot better. How generous of me. So much for stopping staring, I should be thanked for it!
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Read more of Ela’s columns published in 7sky magazin in German and French on their Website.
Here’s an interview of our brand ambassador Leddra chapman, which includes a live recording of “Picking Oranges” as well as two new songs “Sexy Dizzy” & “Broken” done for BBC Radio. We love it wen you get all cheeky Leddra!!!!
Recorded by Dean Jackson
Filmed by Juls Chambon & James Clegg
Edited by Juls Chambon
We just recieved this beautiful photo for our “Summer Stories” Contest by our very own brand ambassador Alexi Panos. Alexi, we dont know where you travel to on your summer vacations but next time we want to go!!! AMAZING!
Photo: Alexi Panos
Such a perfect picture to put anyone in that summertime beach mood! Are you inspired yet? Submit your “Summer Story” on our facebook page for a chance to be published and win clothes from the new collection.
