Austyn Gillette For PLAYBOY | “There’s a lot of fucking bullshit + some half-assed skating going on.”
Oh man we have been waiting for this Austyn Gillette interview in Playboy for something a little deeper than you find in the regular skate interview. Rob Brink has put down the candle wax long enough to write a smashing account of the current state of affairs of skateboard culture and its intersection with the Austyn, his c0-brand Former, and his style, inspiration, and process. Like his other Playboy features on Brian Anderson, Bobby Hundreds, this one delivers.
There are too many hot quotes to even get into it, but Rob’s “suffering for the trend,” is our new favorite tag line to describe some of the throwback ridiculousness that is happening out there especially when social media gets involved. Get into this one asap…..
Sample:
“Do you think boot cut is going to come back?” Austyn pontificates. “Isn’t that just a nicer way of saying ‘bell bottoms’?” I say.
“What about capris or something?” He continues. “I’m ready for it. I just want to see it. When is the landline phone going to be hot again? It’s just inconvenient enough to be really fucking cool and retro.” To know Austyn is to love his uncanny ability to observe the circus that is life happening all around him. Amused; never triggered; notoriously deadpan, Austyn is the constructively berating older brother that everyone (including the world of skateboarding) needs. He’s what Ryan Gosling is to Steve Carell and his beloved New Balances in Crazy, Stupid, Love. “Everything’s just going backwards right now. Like full-on ’90s. I don’t even know what people are doing out there,” he continues.
“They’re suffering for the trend,” I reply. “Oh boy. That’s exactly what they’re doing. There’s a lot of fucking bullshit and some half-assed skating going on. It hurts the fucking eyes and soul. Everybody’s a fucking celebrity; everybody’s trying to get some with their internet personas. Everybody’s just blindly throwing shit out there—putting a little milk down on the stairs and seeing if any cats come lick it up. And just because Rihanna wore their dumb ass shirt, people are successful financially. All that matters is putting your shirt on a fucking rapper. I can’t wait until the modern rap is fucking done. I really can’t.”
At the heart of this ranting, though, lies the desire to see people try harder and contribute to creating great, timeless things—to filter out the nonsense and elevate the whole. Austyn is a quality control person, and you can count on two hands the professional skateboarders and brands from the last 30 years known and respected for that. “I think all that really matters is being good at what you do and putting out good content. If people like your style and you influence them, and they influence you, then you’re doing something right and it’s honest and pure. I don’t think people are delivering right now. They aren’t pushing the envelope and I hope that that changes.”
Click to PLAYBOY for the interview with Mr. Stylishly Handsome himself, Austyn Gillette
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