Palm Angels

Featuring large-format photographs of skaters in Venice Beach and Manhattan Beach, Palm Angels is the definitive book on the L.A. skateboarding scene, capturing the style and street culture of the world's most elite communities of skaters. Photographed by Francesco Ragazzi, the Italian art director of Moncler, Palm Angels features a special focus on the look and fashions of skate culture. While it emphasizes dramatic movement through stunning images taken in various Los Angeles neighborhoods, it is less focused on describing tricks as it is about conveying the sensation of men and women engaged in an epic, all-consuming activity. Through art photography, this book hopes to do for skating what Bruce Weber and others did for surf culture, elevating it from what once was an exclusive and localized American pastime to a far-reaching cultural phenomenon. In the spirit of the photography taken of the legendary Z-boys of Dogtown, Ragazzi provides readers with a firsthand glimpse into skateboarding in its modern form, still very much infused with effortless style. Palm Angels includes an introduction by Pharrell Williams (known to the skate community as Skateboard P), who has been instrumental in popularizing the skate look and has propelled it all the way to the high streets of fashion capitals like Paris, New York, and Tokyo.