For anyone tapped into the beachside bonanza that is pre-fall 2024, you might be wondering if there’s something in the water – a swell, if you will – that’s making every fashionista and their LV Speedy bags want to go surfin’. Yes, in yet another bizarre turn of events, designers are channeling neoprene wetsuits and hibiscus prints aplenty into their sartorial offerings.
Of course, this isn’t the first time fashion has taken its cues from coastal living in recent or even further-flung history. Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel was always taking the fash-pack’s imagination to somewhere sunny and warm, whether that was the gargantuan artificial beach erected in the Grand Palais – complete with lapping waves and white sand – for SS19, or indeed the surfboard-toting Linda Evangelista, clad in a scuba-tweed suit hybrid for SS91. Elsewhere, Raf Simons’ SS19 Calvin Klein collection featured a whole homage to the Jaws (1975) franchise, not to mention some major scuba suits. Oh, and who could forget Kim Jones’ Dior menswear collaboration with the West Coast’s surfer-turned-streetwear-OG, Shawn Stüssy, which marked the first and only surfboard the French label has ever made? Now, though, what had once been an occasional touchpoint for designers, is becoming something of its own micro-industry, spanning Louis Vuitton to Balenciaga.
Those watching closely from the start will have picked up on the earliest hints of this new wave (sorry!) during the SS24 London men’s collections, when Saul Nash brought the Big Smoke’s fash-pack to a make-believe Mauritian beach, held inside the ICA. Here, an exposed stitch diver’s suit and body contour rash vests were teamed with branded towels and toggled budgie smugglers. Perhaps, this was a Freudian slip from Planet Mode as the industry’s hive mind wished it were someplace else that fateful June. Certainly, the hankering for sunnier climes was felt when Dsquared2 presented its ode to Miami Beach’s slightly trashy charm, serving up a sheer, strapless minidress with paillette sunset and palm trees paired with a shell handbag, plus topless, six-pack-flexing models in washed-out, distressed jeans and big-buckle belts. In part, it felt like a nod to the fraternal, surf bros that defined Hollister’s heyday, perhaps indicating our wishes for simpler, albeit blissfully ignorant times when all that mattered was getting a photo with the hot guy at your local mall.
So far, so surfy. Then, just days ago, Louis Vuitton went full hog, taking us to Hong Kong via Hawaii for a business-meets-pleasure getaway packed with double-breasted, Hawaiian printed suits, floppy surfer locks, and LV-emblazoned wetsuits complete with reinforced knees to ward off surf rash and colour-blocked leg panels. On foot, the rubbery, bulbous shoes looked perfect for wading out to sea without getting stuck by a sea urchin, or simply strutting along the digitised waves that lit the catwalk. Even bomber jackets and cycle shorts morphed into neoprene surf gear, while trunks and keepalls were transposed with tropical illustrations or trinketed with crab keyrings. And yes, that was an LV surfboard you saw.
Perhaps, the thinking here lies in Louis Vuitton’s heritage as a brand for luxury travel. In short, it’s a collection for those who can holiday at Christmas, whatever the weather back home. And yet, for those of us stuck inside this year, it’s still a welcome reminder of sunnier times to come, crystallised via nods to a wholesome, healthy and slightly silly pastime where terms like ‘hang ten’ and ‘gnarly’ are uttered by grown adults.
At least, the funny side of surf culture was right at the core of Balenciaga’s pre-fall outing, held in one of surfing’s biggest hotspots: SoCal. This time, the neoprenes arrived in traditional stretch long-sleeves and trousers – dotted with Balenciaga’s own take on a surf logo – appearing also as a yoga-mum sports bra and quarter-zip top. Here, among coffee-cup-nursing cheugies and the health store Erewhon tote bags, these modern surfers felt especially smug – the types to catch waves before work, and tell you all about how refreshing it was. And that’s fine, so long as the joke’s on them. After all, it’s laughable that anyone could be as chill as the riptide-riding dudes of Venice Beach’s boardwalks when we’re all lumped with inflation and a general mood of doom. Granted, at least they try.
In fact, maybe you too should cosplay as a surfer come winter. Rather than diving into a wardrobe of drab outers and thick, caked-on woolens, remind yourself that although you probably can’t afford a trip to Australia’s Gold Coast, you can invest in some surfing gear and practice shredding waves on an old ironing board as a balm to the darkness outside. Plus, it’s the only excuse you’ll ever get to wear a Hawaiian shirt this side of the century. Surf’s up!
