Last night at a dinner party I was given the book California Surfing and Climbing in the Fifties ($32). It came out a year and a half ago but I had never seen it. This is a special book in that it's not just capturing an aesthetic of an era or a niche sport's golden era—although it does that really well, it tells a story about Americans in the 50s. Yvon Chouinard, one of the book's three authors, said it so well in his intro:
"The fifties were easy years in California. With full employment from the Korean War, we were enjoying all the fruits of the fossil fuel culture. Gas was a quarter a gallon, used cars could be bought for twenty-five dollars, campgrounds were free, and you could easily live off the excess fat of society. Those of us in the countercultures of climbing and surfing were, as climber Peter Sinclair said, the last free Americans."
Even with the resurgence of 1980s and 90s outdoor tech apparel, I felt like there was a dearth when it came to shorts that could double as trunks for women. So, Mollusk and I got together and hammered something out that we felt could work really well for beach biking, swimming, some light surfing, canoeing, beer drinking, trail running—clearly we think they're multi-functional. 
They're made from a water resistant blend of cotton and nylon and close with a drawstring but also feature an elastic waist and a zip pocket in the back for a credit card and keys and other miscellany. The 
I love this new label out of the UK called 
I'm wondering if there is a more perfect male-female duet in the annals of rock than Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks. They really meld. In 1981 they released two songs together, the Grammy-winning chart topper Stop Draggin' My Heart Around on Stevie's debut solo album and Insider, a deep cut on Petty's fourth album, Hard Promises. Both so good, but I think I'd have to pick Insider if I had to take just one. Have a listen:
This is most probably the last giveaway we'll do before we move the blog over to 
Here's a new label to take a look at: 
Seems ideal for fishing. They're offering quite a bit more for men than for women currently, but that unisex 
About a month ago we launched a really fun little collaboration hat with our friends at 
Crisloid also makes custom boards, in fact our good friends over at 
And a gallery of images from the archives. Is there an intersection of tomboy style and backgammon? Maybe, just maybe.
Keep up with Tomboy Style elsewhere: 
The 
There are people that can truly embody an iconic style, and then there are those who create it. Does Chloë Sevigny read as a tomboy? Sure, but more so, she reads as Chloë—the downtown creative scene's muse for 20 years. Beginning in the early 90s when she modeled for 
The new book 
Kim Gordon writes in the foreward, "Chloë was the reason for the reinvention of the horrible term it girl, her beguiling charisma refusing to be reduced to 'sexy' or 'pretty' or 'cute' or any of the other tags the world uses to tell girls what they are."
