Once upon a time, I was obsessed with skate culture and had a wardrobe to match. While my days of hanging out at skate parks with bruised and sweaty boys ended 10 years ago, the sound of wheels hitting pavement still makes my head turn. Since I still seem to have a deep-rooted connection to the hoodie (and sweatshirts in general), I guess you could say you can take the girl out of the skate park, but you can take the skate park out of the girl.
To this day, my style is heavily influenced by sport and street culture. Even though I don’t reminisce over being a “skater girl,” I still dream that one day I might move to California and magically become a professional surfer. Remember the movie Blue Crush? Well, I’d like to star in the real-life L.A. version.
This outfit is a prime example of my ideal look for hanging out on Venice Beach. The sweatshirt is a boy’s top by a Toronto label called Handsome, which I love for its cool graphic print on the front. Paired with floral-print high-waist shorts by Dolce & Gabbana, an oversized envelope clutch and cat eye glasses, the overall look has a ‘50s pin-up girl feel, but with a tomboy twist (note the navy Converse).
I may be stuck in a surf-less city in Canada, but I say, dress for where you want to be.
What I Wore: sweatshirt by Handsome from Shoppalu, shorts by D&G, clutch from Fashionably Yours, “Dainty” Converse in navy, sunglasses from NYC.
Grace Carroll is a Toronto-based freelance writer whose work has appeared in ELLE UK, ELLEcanada.com, Plaid magazine and FILLER magazine. Keep up with her daily blog at www.graciecarroll.com.