The Critical Slide Society

//for the love of dirty sliding//

A bunch of rad threads designed by rad humans.

I've typed, re typed and then typed what i typed originally for the past half an hour, and I've come to the conclusion that i can't make this brand sounds any saltier than they already are.

Radness can't be faked or forced. Whilst thinking of scrapping this post altogether It occurred to me that that's exactly why i love this brand and the legends behind it so much, its not faked or forced, they're just naturally stellar dudes with incredibly awesome minds and designs.

I first became acquainted with the brand after a small shopping adventure in Bondi on an "extended" visit. Initially i had planned to spend a weekend in Bondi with mates.. 3 weeks later i was completely out of clean clothes and still sleeping on the couch. I walked into a surf shop to try and find new threads and like always i had ended up in the dudes section...

I picked out TCSS's "Sled Zeppelin" shirt. I was pretty stoked someone had made a shirt that perfectly summed up my dad and i's relationship. I thought about buying it for him and then decided against that idea, and bought it for myself instead.

Utterly stoked with my purchase it became my new favourite item, and i wore it pretty much everyday. I wore it so much that it had stretched to an acceptable dress length which i then continued to wear out most nights.


The Critical Slide Society vibe something you have to see and feel for yourself, get amongst the froth and let the salt cling to your skin.

Visit The Critical Slide Society on:

Instagram: @tcss or http://instagram.com/tcss
Webpage: http://www.thecriticalslidesociety.com/home
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thecriticalslidesociety
Stocklist: http://www.thecriticalslidesociety.com/stockists

Photographer: Craig Andrews

~ Written and Modelled by Kiah Carter.

Fairtale

//For the love of living//


Fairtale is a home grown fashion label created by Fiona Roubin made with passion and sewn together with love. A label which up-cycles and pushes the boundaries of ethical and sustainable fashion. Because people matter and because people care.

After years of working in the fashion industry for brands including French Connection and Valleygirl Fiona made a conscience decision to part ways with "fast fashion"  and create a label that positively affects the world around us and the people living along side it. 

Fiona is a fair princess that saw her land being destroyed by over consumption and has gone above and beyond the duties of just any designer to create a fashion label that re uses vintage garments and fabrics, turning them into new loveable pieces. Clothing that is good for your heart and soul. 

Not only has Fiona created a label she has also stepped out from behind her sewing machine and spoke along side brands including Clean Cut, Patagonia and Ethical Clothing Australia at the well known event Fashion Evolution Day. 

Fiona my spirit sister, is a conscientious and positively active contributor to our environment. An ambitious women with dreams she can achieve.


Mirror mirror on the wall who's the fairest beauty of them all? 


If you're looking for a new item to wear with pride and a fair smile check out Fairtale.



You can find Fiona at:
Bondi/Chippendale/Glebe and Paddington Markets.
Workshop Makery - 106 Oxford Street Darlinghurst.

And also on:


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fairtale
Instagram: @fairtale_story_ or http://instagram.com/fairtale_story_ 
Etsy: Www.fairtale.etsy.com
Webpage: http://fairtalestory.wordpress.com



Photography by
Juni Ross (https://www.facebook.com/jrossphotos)
Lori Rojas Avellana (http://www.adventscape.com)
And, Fiona Roubin.


~ Modelled and Written by Kiah Carter

Craig Andrews Photography

//For the love of passion//

"A reason is a rebel to faith, so passion is a rebel to reason."
-  Thomas Browne

Passion - a word often frowned upon as reality and doubt cloud our minds and actions.

So few of us pursue what we really want to do, deny ourselves the opportunity to become who we want to be.

Many of us stay in our comfort zones and choose not to push our boundaries. But for those who do, often something amazing is created or achieved.

Craig Andrews ~ a man of passion. Craig is one of the South Coasts most talented photographers he also just happens to be a top bloke as well. Originally Craig's passion lent towards landscapes but recently he wanted to step outside his beautiful surroundings and comfort zone to take some snaps of people.

I looked at Craig's photos for days before working with him in absolute awe of the beauty he was able to capture, and was elated to be able to immerse myself in his skill and company.

The unique blend of mixed photography talent behind Craig made for some incredible shots. Craig's keen eye for lighting, colour and detail made me feel comfortable in front of his camera, I knew i could pretty much just stand there and something in the photo would look rad.

Craig is a super easy going guy and 5 minutes of me rambling in his ear made me feel like we'd known each other for years. Laughs were plentiful, even if it did mean i ruined a sequence of photos.
Thanks for being patient.

A genuine guy with some genuinely advanced photography skills.





Check out Craig's work on:

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/pages/Craig-Andrews-Photography/313739958766554



 ~ Modelled and Written by Kiah Carter

Photos by Craig Andrews
Location: Kiama/Bombo

MISFIT

//For the love of chasing waves//

After countless CD changes, a few petrol stops, and quite a lot of yelling songs and head hangs out the window we were on the home stretch. Six hours had passed and my tolerance for the never ending white lines was coming to an end. We'd trekked in an out of beaches, stopped at pretty much every Bakery we saw and still hadn't managed to find a wave until we reached the local break (500 plus kilometres down the road), home to one of surfing's raddest Kai Otton.

Stoked and definitely broke from the amount of money spent on petrol wave chasing we were itching to leave it all behind and fill our skin with the salt and our minds with the abyss in front of us.

A Misfit board was pulled gently from the handmade slip, the smooth rails sliding through my palms. I revelled in the fact I was being allowed to ride this beauty. It was for sure a step up from my heavily dinged and not at all new surfboard.

It was a cold afternoon, the sou'westerly wind that made it so perfect for surfing was crisp and filled with spite, winter was coming and the breeze off the mountains was a blatant reminder of toe aching mornings and wet steamers.

I can't remember what was worse, the feeling of your toes burning as they dug deeper into the frosted sand or the first duck dive under the water that filled your head with instant and un-relieving sharp stabs, the brain freeze that didn't have the upside taste of ice-cream.

This surf was different, I'd been admiring these boards for a while now, watching them evolve under the feet and influence of Otis Carey, an incredible, insanely aggressive styled Indigenious surfer, whom is currently one of my inspirations.

I didn't have the "(profanity) this is going to be cold" attitude, which only sometimes if I'm in enough of a wimpy mood and Dad isn't there to steer me in the right direction finds me right back in the sand filled bed I managed to drag myself from a few hours earlier. I was warmed purely with the stoke of being able to ride this Misfit creation, a truffle shuffle. After that surf I was adamant I was going to have one of these as my next board, it emanated everything i wanted to become as a surfer, versatile and responsive.

With a few messages to the legends from Misfit I'd sorted my next boards and a cool little sponsorship for a film festival I was chosen as the ambassador for to go with it. I went to the misfit headquarters to have a chat and meet Dave and Chris the guys behind all the brilliant chaos and madness, finding myself wide eyed and in aw of the radness that oozed out of the walls, boards hanging like milestones, art sprawled over desks and magazines in piles with names I'd never heard of. I was literally in workplace heaven, it was so effortlessly cool, my Instagram would have a field day in here #nofilter. I tried to contain my inner fan girl feeling so privileged to have crossed paths with these well-made men.

Ive been riding the same hand-me-down boards for about eight years now. As an avid surfer i was more concerned about getting out there rather than what on, it was something I did for the love (all year round despite the banter in the previous paragraphs). We didn't have extra cash just to throw at new boards every year and that never worried me, as long as I had some kind of creation under my feet that floated me everything was groovy.

I recently replaced what i called my High performance board, a 6'0 pretty old school shaped Chilli with a new 5'9 Truffle shuffle, and the first time I laid eyes on the beauty I knew she was going to ride well. She had width through the nose, a flat rocker for that dream like feeling whilst paddling and those fat sections, a double v concave through the tail and slightly clustered fin setup giving insane pivot and release. All these features added to the versatility of the board, making it a go to high performance board able to surf in plenty of conditions.

I've been told surfboards are like boyfriends, if you don't find your match you move on, luckily enough in life I've never had to deal with boyfriends, only surfboards, and I think I've finally found a match.

If you're looking for another board to add to the quiver, with a little sass and a trustworthy make, check out these guys, not only are they super rad humans they make some ridiculously good looking and feeling boards.


Visit Misfit on -
Tumblr: http://misfitmadminds.tumblr.com/
Instagram: @misfitshapes or http://instagram.com/misfitshapes
Webpage: www.misfitshapes.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Misfit-Shapes/148328451870011

- Written and surfed/modelled by Kiah Carter
Location: Far South Coast

Mayde

//For the love of high quality towels//

Where have you been all my life?! I've never been an extravagant towel owner, to be honest i didn't even know there were fancy towels out there, i was used to the normal run of the mill beach towels, a surf branded towel (or bath towel if you had made all your other towels soaking wet in your many adventures to the beach or to go surfing in one day - which was a frequent occurrence in my household). I'm sure you know the towels I'm talking about.. the "i only covers half your body and when you lie down and use me as a barrier from the sand I'm going to let your shins get sandy and when you roll over you'll have sandy calves too". Yeah, not cool. Maybe being a slightly tallish human i experienced the sandy shins thing a little more than others.. but for everyone else out there that hates the fact that you kinda feel like a prawn cutlet cause your towels not doing its job i have a great piece of advice, get a good towel.. its worth it, i promise.

Don't get any fancy towel.. get a Mayde towel (personally for the sandy leg problem the rainbow towel is the best). Actually its just the best towel out, it ticks all the boxes  needed for a great beach towel, and can be used for about anything, picnic rug, car blanket, shawl... look I'm sure you get my drift. Now all you have to do is go and buy one and see for yourself!


About a week after organising to shoot with Mayde products, i got a worried call from my mother asking what in the world id done because there was a huge parcel for me and she had no idea what is was.. she wanted to know how much id spent and whether id used her card.. (i thought mum was being quite unreasonable, seeing though i hardly ever use her credit card.. maybe once or twice, maybe a few more... but I'm sure it was with permission..) I rush home to the most incredible present, 5 Mayde towels all wrapped in adorable packaging with a lovely note. My day really couldn't get any better. I'm finally a fancy towel/(s) owner!

Mayde towels are an Australian owned brand and the towels are made in Istanbul with the best local cotton, with most being hand loomed, creating that unique one of a kind feel to your already perfect towel. From experience i can say the towels are beautifully made, versatile, quick drying, light weight, and are very compact. Best of both worlds or what?

So hey, if you're needed a little loving back from your beach towels and some extra spice about your towel life, get on board the Mayde train, get yourself a towel, treat yourself right!



I feel that this might sound a little bossy, but honestly I'm just trying to help out, so you can stop making the same mistake it did. you're worth it!


Visit Mayde on:

Instagram: @Mayde_Australia or http://instagram.com/mayde_australia
Webpage: http://www.mayde.com.au
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/maydeAUS

Peace and love. x

~ written and modelled by

Kiah Carter






Shown Below:

Rainbow Turkish Towel
Tangalooma Turkish Towel (lime and orange)

Ellington

//For the love of local talent//


I first came across the label Ellington as it hung proud in the form of the flamingo patterned shirt off a coat hanger in my mates cupboard as many other shirts lay scattered on the floor around it. It was my first encounter but it definitely wasn't my last.

Ellington seemed to be just about everywhere in Bondi, double up in a shirt and shorts combo, casually styled with a pair of jeans or dressed up to wear to the most prestigious events, everyone was oozing with flamingo radness. I started making friends with randoms just due to them wearing Ellington.. being a small town girl raised along way from Sydney i felt a sense of connection with the brand and the people wearing it. Becky (the mastermind behind Ellington) has managed to not only create a great brand with awesome pieces but a following of legends.



Some of my fondest memories were created wearing Ellington, including the time Grant Treblico (local Bondi Legend) and i dressed up both matching in our Flamingo attire for the Bondi Board riders comp and won the "most stylish" award.. Ive never really known clothes to have such an positive impact on a time in your life, being the "blow in" i finally felt like i belonged. And from then on every time i wore a piece of Ellington i felt as if I was wearing a bad vibe shield, the clothes are an amour to all the negative energy floating around.

I don't think I'm the only person that feels this way, i say this because i know people who have Ellington as their "go to" clothing piece/(s), people who you have to almost peel the shirt of their back just so it can be washed once every month or every three months...

Ellington is for everything and everyone, and I'm hard to please when it comes to clothes.
The garments are fresh and unique, they can be dressed up/down and worn anywhere around town, and more times than not if you wear it out someone will ask you where you got our outfit from or say "Hey that's Ellington".. more than likely it will be me saying that because i like acknowledging the fact that people are wearing the dream and passion of a young beautiful woman with some incredible talent.

I haven't as yet had the pleasure to met Becky, but as we organised to shoot in some of her pieces i was so happy to have been able to cross paths with her, she exudes good vibes and her pieces express that.

Ellington captures a lust for adventure, that glisten in your eyes for all things fun and exciting, maybe a little innocent trouble. A touch of frolicking or some sassy flaunting, how ever you like to show off or keep casual Ellington has you in its best interests.


If you're ever in need of some funk to add to your closet or a chat with a rad human at the Sydney markets, head down and see Becky the chick from Ellington... or check her out on:

Instagram @ellington_world or http://instagram.com/ellington_world/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ellingtonworld
Webpage: http://www.ellington.com.au
Tumblr: http://ellingtonclothing.tumblr.com

~ Written and Modelled by

Kiah Carter

Photos By Michelle Carter and Craig Andrews.

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