Faux Surf

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I'm going to be very frank about the ridiculous-ness of this post… I'm not going to deny that here lies the sort of fashion idiocy here that makes men guffaw and guff over the silliness of say Sex and the City 2 (a great on-the-fence rebuttal from Jackie Ashley)… I'm going to revel in it in fact…

So I've been fascinated by the Cynthia Rowley x Roxy collaboration and in particular this bodysuit for a GOOOOD period of time since the images were leaked last year.  I feared it would never make the shores of the UK due to a) ash cloud delays and b) whether any stockist in the UK would give pastel neoprene a chance.  Well, we're about a month or two behind the USA but Harrods will be getting the range in exclusively this month and someone very kindly caught wind of my whetted appetite for the bodysuit and lent it to me for the weekend to have a play with. 

My fascination is of course of a similar strand to any garment/item that is deemed for one purpose but can surely be translated to another.  As with things like PVC trousers, tennis gear, ballet costumes etc etc (the list goes on…), my aim is to see whether they can be taken out of their normal context into another.  The same therefore goes for the neoprene bodysuit.

That said, I wasn't about to let abandon its surf-intended roots completely and so I did what any self-respecting preening fashion blogger would do… LOCATION shoot… it just so happens that this weekend I was due to head to the Kentish coast for my dose of jammy dodgers, soggy fish and chips and too many cups of tea from the other half's old folks.  Then comes the idiocy though…

Surfers amongst you will already doth protest at the ridiculousness of a non-surfer person trying to wear an item that is err…intended for doing hardcore surfing.  That I was aware of and counting on… but then I came to the beach and mid-way through the photographing, a group of kite surfers who had wet-suits on for a specific and serious purpose descended onto the beach.  They of course gave us some bewildered looks as to what the heck this pastel neoprene was doing and why wasn't it err… getting wet… given that it's a WET SUIT… that was the final cherry to complete the idiocy. 

As I said though, those kite surfers and any other wearers of wetsuits for non-fashion purposes can laugh all they want… I'm putting my hands up and opening up to ridicule.  You can write me off as "silly" faster than that blasted film zooming up to box office top spot…

For those that perhaps would like to give me the benefit of the doubt, I did try to keep things as simple as possible… whilst fancy layering is a possibility with this piece, I thought it best to just let some loose layers flap about on top of it or a simply sharp jacket/coat encase the bodysuit.  Were I to jam it over some tights, leggings or stick three skirts over it, I might have committed myself to the permanent silly bin, without any chance of salvation…

Warning: There was an ALMIGHTY wind THAT BLEW my face and hair into an unmitigated mess… the type where you feel like your face has turned into rubber and is wobbling all over the shop…

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DSC_0064 (With Lonely Hearts polka dot trousers, vintage shirt)

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(With Krystof Strozyna jacket)

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(With Eudon Choi trenchcoat)

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(With Topshop Boutique dress)

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(With Lonely Hearts polka dot playsuit)

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(With vintage trousers)

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(Stella McCartney shoes throughout)

A salute to the kite surfers… the REAL wet suit wearers…

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61 comments

  1. amazing! the topshop boutique dress looks like the scourge of (bikini wearing) surfers everywhere. A jellyfish. Intentional?
    I love that this still looks like a wetsuit but works so well with the blazer etc. Was it a bitch to get in and out of though? x

  2. After everything you’d written I wasn’t sure what to expect but you made the wetsuit look really quite fashionable with the pairings you chose..My favorite has to be the polka dot play suit and the polka dot pants (apparently I’m really into polka dots today?? ) well done 🙂

  3. It is ridics but I love it, especially with the TS Boutique dress. I’m mentally all over this surf trend and I can’t even go underwater, vive le faux surf!

  10. Ahhh, just seen you in Vogue. You look as lovely as ever. Cool shots today. Like the play with the wet suit. Looks like you were having fun – windy but fun.

  13. hey I have a question for you. Don’t you wanna cut your bang shorter? You have very nice eyebrows ;P and It may look georgeous on you.Maybe that’s sound weird , but every time I watch your amazing blog I thinking about it. Sory if I am rude.
    Valtornia

  14. Wow! I really love the blue blazer with the rectangle cutouts and the top shop dress, so dreamy!
    Have a wonderful day 🙂

  16. Valtornia: Actually, I have a thing against short fringes…especially ones above the eyebrows…. I’m not sure what it is about them that irks me but I definitely wouldn’t want to cut my fringe above my brows…they look fine on other people though….
    I might just grow my fringe out if I get sick of it…

  17. i don´t swim, i don´t exactly like stormy beaches, and i don´t think sharks could be good friends, so i´m as far away from surfing as possible, but. i love this wetsuit. like a madman

  18. Adore that TS Boutique dress. It’s so romantic and and looks fab against the neoprene. Yeah it might be a little ridiculous but I’ve got to hand it to you Susie, It sooooo works!

  20. You did a really great job with this! I was a little skeptical but it actually looks great and not particularly ridiculous – for me the most successful iterations are the first and third photo. In any case, well done! I hope you’ll do more posts like these, I really enjoy them.
    xx Persephone

  21. omg this is beyond brilliant. i think i say that every time i come to your blog, but every time i sincerely mean it.
    you steal the show in the pink dress. no, the lace shorts. no, the pink jacket. all of it.
    as someone who dates a pretty religious surfer (non-kite) i just want to say hats off to you for showing ’em how it SHOULD be done out there on the sand!! that’s about as close as i get to the water myself.
    LOVE

  23. ack I want some of these Roxy collaboration pieces too!! You look fantastic, I liked all of the outfits!!

  25. Love it with the jacket and the trench.
    Silliest thing about the look is wearing heels on the beach though!
    Charlotte xx

  34. Oh the KRYSTOF STROZYNA JACKET !!!!!!!!!!!!
    where can i buy it???
    do you intend to sell some of your clothes one day?????i would really love!!
    Thks for your answer,
    Ji.

  37. This should not work at all, but it unbelievably does and really well too. I love those Stella McCartney shoes so much too and the shoot with the polkadot trousers is very sweet. xxx

  42. i’m sorry, but it looks shit. why are you at the beach in high heels. you annoy me beyond belief

  46. Regarding heels on beach and as Kiesha pointed out, UK beaches are not err…the Caribbean or Bondi…. picturesque at times but in windy weather, they’re definitely not the beaches one has in mind! The heels actually don’t sink in because the sand is sort of rock solid hard once the tide has just gone out…
    Nicky Frye: No worries… it’s a little silly but I DO love this wetsuit immensely….!
    All Women Stalker: Nah… because I was only borrowing it, I couldn’t get it wet…
    Hunny Bunch: So..er…why are you on the blog then?

  54. the BEST with the topshop jellyfish dress; I know I’m not to 1st to say it, but it was what instantly sprang to mind!

  55. mmm… love hearts. i want to eat that. i think it is particularly lush the way that the sleeves match the choi trench. love the hotch-potch of pastel-y goodness.

  57. Bonjour,
    suite à votre publication sur un magazine très lu, je me permet de vous solliciter, en effet je crée des sacs en synthétique de belle qualité qui tourne entre 26 et 39€ en moyenne, c’est pas excessif est c’est trendy..
    je viens de créer mon site http://www.mogano.fr
    auparavant je crée des sacs pour san amrina camiaeu pimkie orsay promofashion phildar, grain de malice.. depuis maintenant 2 ans, j’essaye de d’apposer ma marque “mogano”
    venez faire un tour sur mon nouveau site et si vous voulez je vous en ferez parvenir des incontournables de ma collection tel que le myo, le zen, ou encore le pavet…
    j’espère que vous aurez quelques minutes pour y jeter un oeil!!
    @ très bientot
    —
    Cordialement
    Martine YIP

  60. I would seriously consider wearing derivatives of the Kristof Strozyna, and the Eudon Choi combinations, had I the wetsuit in my possesion. Good job 🙂
    – Matea

  61. i hate to say it, but you just look so out of your element! why not actually wear a wetsuit and get in the water? who would wear those shoes to the beach?! have fun and go swimming!

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