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.
