Surfing culture - style, graphics and history

Every subculture has its own dress style, graphics, history, jobs, music, places and general feel to being within the subculture. 
Surfing definitely has all of these as an individual feel and style. 


DRESS/STYLE.
When you think of surf style dress sense, you generally think of bikinis, hawaiian print and shorts. There are certain shops that do this as an whole style sense, it has become more world wide known as a style but you can tell the difference between a surfer and some body who just dresses in some aspects with a logo. The brands that are most known for their surf culture are: O'Neill, Billabong, Animal, Rip Curl, Quicksilver and Roxy.
Part of the surf culture style, especially with woman is the hair style. The usual and most recognizable style is a slight wave, blonde or light brown, a natural look, same goes for the amount of make up, usually minimal if anything. 

Stephanie Gilmore - one of the most accomplished surfers in the world. (HAIR STYLE)

http://quiksilver.eu/en-gb/women/featured_women/20110215152915RIDE740317579416/Stephanie-GILMORE.html

GRAPHICS.

http://macthemes.net/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=769106

http://www.womenshoodies.co.uk/womens-rip-curl-hoodies/

These are two of the brands that have the clothing and the culture. They all host events to do with surfing. If you look at the logos from the brands they all have some kind of wave image involved. 

David Carson

Cover for surfing issue.

http://georgebatesstudio.com/portfolios/9

David Carson

Cover for surfing issue.

http://georgebatesstudio.com/portfolios/9

These two posters are made by a graphic designers called David Carson. I think that both of these posters are interesting. They both have a personal and first hand illustration feel to them which I think makes them work. I would like to incorporate this effect to ideas that I am doing.  

HISTORY.

http://www.surfingforlife.com/history.html

"  In the early days of surfing in ancient Hawaii. Surfing was a deeply spiritual affair, from the art of riding waves itself, to praying for good surf, to rituals surrounding building a surfboard. Surfing was not only a recreational activity, it was also a training exercise for Hawaiian chiefs and a means of conflict resolution. There were two kinds of surfboard in these times, an 'Olo' (rode by the chiefs or the noblemen known as the 'Alii') and a 'Alaia' (rode by the commoners). The wooden boards were made using the Wili Wili, the Ula and the Koa tree's. And ranged from 10 to 16 feet long depending on social class… 10-12 feet for commoners and 14-16 feet for the noblemen and chiefs.   "

http://www.clubofthewaves.com/surf-culture/history-of-the-surfboard.php


From reading up on the history about surfing I found it really interesting to see how it came about. I did not expect it to originate from a religious background. Also the way that the surf board lengths, about being how this told everyone whether they were a chief or a commoner was interesting.