Post Skate - An Oral History

[bels]

[teck]

what is post skate.

[hmwut]

people who dress like they skate but dont

[cdghomoplus]

[teck]

i swear to god every time i think i've found a new way to dress no bels has already created a meta ARG game around it.

[can-]

In January 2008, I visited my sister at her university. As we were getting ready for the Sports Ball I bid on my first Supreme hat, inspired by the post skate guy in my illustration class. The night passed in a blur. Later that year I bought the Harpo Marx t-shirt, bidding on my boss's computer during my lunch break. I still wear them both.

[bels]

[CMYK]

Can we play "Post Skate or Nah" to get a bit more of a feel here?

Palace

Supreme (then)

Supreme (now)

Dime

Quartersnacks

Noah

Bianca Chandôn

Mood NYC

Bronze 56k

Brain Dead

Polar

Vans

[ASTROCHIMP]

Here is four pins attempt at analyzing post skate.

[Julio]

[teck]

i used to always be really afraid of the kids in "Kidz" and was always worried that I had to become cool enough to contract some venereal disease because im sure everyone else in my class was all up in that. also the baggy pants.

skating had a racial tinge to it when i was going up and it was a proxy race war. im not sure if that's how it is now, since now we're all post racial and post skate.

now i like supreme because im a trend follower but there's a not-insignificant chance i'll get into a nasty exchange with someone in the store. middle class bourgeoise indignation is my sticking it to the man.

[teck]

how does post skate intersect with the resurgence of other 90s trends/brands

[maj]

I remember it like it was yesterday. I'd just moved to uni and met my new housemate James, James was a bit shorter than me and wore brown cords, supras and a palace coach all of which looked very loose on his frame. I thought to myself "A SKATEBOARDER?!", it filled me with joy as that summer I had spent my time smashing my face in the ground trying to learn the advanced skate moves such as "push" in between selling my soul to sainsburys. Over the first day we got on like a house on fire, going up and down the street to McDonald's talking about palace and supreme, him waiting for me to catch up as I had no skill at this edgy sport.

It wasn't till a day later James suggested we go to the skatepark, it was just round the corner apparently. The idea filled me with dread, a skatepark? With skaters?? I can barely stand on the thing! I swallowed my fear and agreed however what could go wrong?

60 minutes of pushing later we were there, round the corner my ass! Either way we made it And I instantly crashed on the wall to catch my breath and wish for the world to swallow me up as it hit me like a train what a poser I was. Sitting there in my open flannel with exposed supreme x dead kennedys tee, black, clean uniqlo skinnies and palace x reeboks. Who skates palace x reebok??? No one! They're rubbish for skating as they shred the moment you Ollie, great thing I couldn't do that advanced technique. James on the other hand, he fitted straight in and instantly talked with the locals to have a game of "skate".

Time passed and I was still glued to the wall, watching James and snapchatting his skills to show my peers I was doing something cute in the hope it would validate my existence. That is until I spotted this magnificent sight.

A hair cut which looked like it was straight from bay watch,

A vintage rlp blouson in tan, loose fitting and flowing behind him over a plain white tee,

Skinny jeans cuffed to exposed the white socks which lined his calves,

Finished off with a black vans authentic,

What is it I thought? It's magnificent? Is this skate wear? I thought James was skate wear? But this guy looks like he's been had that, he's over it, he wants the authentic skate feel

He's... He's... POST SKATE

[uames]

from Bruno Latour's 'We Have Never Been Skate' (Harvard University Press, 1993):

“Having been slapped in the face with skate reality, poor populations now have to submit to post-skate hyperreality. Nothing has value; everything is a reflection, a simulacrum, a floating sign; and that very weakness, they say, may save us from the invasion of technologies, sciences, reasons. Was it really worth destroying everything to end up adding this insult to that injury?” (p. 131).

[fun_yunchables]

the resurgence of east coast style of skating because who cares about smooth west coast concrete and cleanly popped ledge tech tricks a la nike sb team (minus olsonstuff because he's cool)
the cherrigton (cherry + aaron herrigton) effect
people who watch too much bill strobeck or lurknyc or gx1000 (even thrasher is pushing this old school vx1000 style now)
resurgence of old school tricks traced back to pontus alv and polar, everyone doing no complies and wallrides+shuvits

just blame cherry for making this popular really
dillman influencing how sage and swan dress and skate
everyone jumps on the hype train

[Julio]

is this post-skate? is there only the specter of a skateboard in this lookbook by a brand with "skateboards" in its name?
why is the atmosphere one of defeat and resignation?

[uames]

[teck]

so skating is post skate?

[iwtt]

https://www.instagram.com/Undergrund/

[bels]

I feel like teck keeps half writing a trend report email to his boss, then closing the window, then reading this thread and opening it up again.

[can-]

I heard that norse projects is the original post skate brand

[can-]

[teck]

what do i do with all the etnies and independent long sleeve tees i have?

[ASTROCHIMP]

[thomaspaine]

I leave care-tags for a few months and now I have no idea what's going on.

[thomaspaine]

I tried in earnest to skate in high school. Watching CKY videos in my friends cellar on a poorly upholstered couch and scouting skate parks even though I could barely ollie. I stopped because I got tired of racking my nuts every time I tried to jump down 2 or more steps. I'd love to pick it up again because I get a tinge of nostalgia whenever I see people skate, but a 30+ year old dude practicing ollies in a parking lot by himself is kid of pathetic.

[mc-lunar]

considering how pathetic it feels to be the 18 year old practicing ollies by myself in a parking lot at night it probably doesn't get worse

[pirxthepilot]

don't really see skating around east london- is it perhaps more of a white kid subculture? (now largely co-opted by the palace-bomber-wearing bearded skater dad). but every playground around here has a knot of urban calisthenics types, as a fast-growing subculture it hasn't been much picked up on, perhaps because i dunno who could rip off the fashun. maybe claire denis could make a film about them ?
this kind of thing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jG2jZK_QklI

[bels]

Skating, like all the old "authenticity" subcultures (surfing, rock and roll, motor bikes, punk) is now 100% a middle class white kid subculture

[Julio]