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FASHION Milly catches The Wave
FASHION MILLY VAUGHAN
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Surfi ng my best life
If the opening of The Wave isn’t enough to get you in the water, you can still tog up like a surf dude...
It’s offi cial; with the opening of The Wave in Bristol last year, I am now a surf widow. But things could be worse. At least I’m not a golf widow, like my longsuff ering mother, who gets dragged around golf courses and then is not allowed in the clubhouse afterward (but dogs are). With the exception of Villanelle’s outrageous golf ensemble as she takes to the green in the recent season of Killing Eve, the surf culture has its obvious style advantages over the golfi ng scene. A pair of Pringle signature diamond socks is my only concession to the latter.
Perhaps it was inevitable that surfi ng would become the inadvertent screensaver to my life, as family summer holidays in the 1980s were spent body-boarding on Polzeath Beach until my lips turned blue and the sea spat me out, invigorated and ravenous, with my mood positively shifted like the sands.
My brother’s a surfer; I married a surfer; a dear friend is
CLOCKWISE: Yarrel overalls, £125; Nebulus jacket, £195; Headland cap, £35; Crewes swim shorts, £60; Biscay t-shirt, £30; Mr Zogs wax, £3. From Finesterre
an instructor. Recently I’ve even witnessed the sight of David Cameron walking towards me on the beach in a ‘shorty’ wetsuit; a faux pas for any discerning adult. Maybe because it was howling a sideways gale that we managed to put politics aside as we fl ashed one another a look of: “Are we the only ones mad enough to be doing this right now?”
Although I own a very unfl attering wetsuit for my biannual humbling in the Atlantic, I am no Kelly Slater, but I have garnered a thing or two in my 40 years about blagging it to live my best surf life.
• Surfers have a face, foot and hand tan all year round. To see them naked in winter is quite a sight. (But then again, the golfer’s tan is not much better.) • They wear beanies to the beach even in the height of summer. • Some of the cold-water paraphernalia is quite a sight. I’m talking neoprene hoods, mittens and booties. • Wetsuits are not just wetsuits. Technical top-of-the range suits cost as much as a Chanel jacket. Seams are important; entry-level suits are overlocked or glued and blind-stitched, or a combo of both. The more expensive suits are taped/liquid sealed seams. 3/2’s are summer suits; 4/3’s are winter suits. The list goes on. • If you want to sound like you know what you are talking about, throw in words such as off shore, out back, longboard, turtle roll and pipeline. • Top present idea: a towelling changing robe. • The cup of tea and piece of toast that you have directly after a surf will go down in your top fi ve tea and toast experiences. (First place: after childbirth.)
These days, we no longer have the excuse of not living right next to the coast as a valid excuse for not fl exing our surfi ng muscles, as we now have a cutting-edge inland wave park conveniently built on our doorstep. But if this still doesn’t get you in the water, you can always dress like one to fake it before you make it. Finisterre on Park Street is the bricks and mortar shop to go to, and has a surprising work utility wear section. On a less shallow note the company have a huge drive for sustainable fabrics and ethics, and also double up using the shop’s space to run ocean minded yoga events.
Let’s hope you don’t run into D.C. in a shorty wetsuit, otherwise I might have to dust off my Pringle socks and take up golf. ■
@millyvaughan on instagram camillapettman@mac.com
