LABEL LOVER
PALM ANGELS
When Moncler art director Francesco Ragazzi made a trip to Los Angeles to take photos of the skateboarders at Venice Beach, he was so struck by what he saw that his career path changed forever. One of the images he captured—an angelic, long-haired skateboarder suspended mid-air in a halo of sunlight—was so powerful that it inspired him to produce a coffee table book. Rizzoli published Palm Angels, a celebration of American skateboarding culture, in 2014. Pharrell Williams wrote a foreword for the book, which features striking black-and-white photography and created a lot of buzz. Ragazzi took his obsession with the subculture further by designing a line of ready-towear clothing, with his debut Palm Angels collection arriving for autumn/winter 2015 to much acclaim. The new season’s unisex designs deliver an assortment of upscale, skate-inspired apparel and accessories—a lively combination of an Italian sartorial slickness and the laidback vibe of southern California. With its slightly preppy ’70s-inflected blazers, flared trousers, buttondowns, biker jackets and tees adorned with Californian iconography, Palm Angels captures the rugged grace of LA skate culture perfectly.