Who's Next: Snow (Hey Ho!)

The winter 2013 Who's Next fashion and ready-to-wear show was held on the occasion of the Parisian Fashion Week, at Porte de Versailles, just like this summer.
For a thorougher description...

The Winter version of Who's Next was indoors only, contrary to the Summer version where we were treated with bales of straw... which was +1 for the summer atmosphere but -10 for the slipperiness!
This time, snow was covering the whole city outside, while a strong tropical climat hung heavy inside thanks to the heating and the spotlights. Those same carpeted grounds with conceiled sewer drains underneath would make us trip at random, but hey ho! We knew what to expect!

Brand New Key



Crazy DBX5 boot + Venus plate + Rewind Grip XXX 90 A Wheels

"I ride my bike, I roller skate, don't drive no car

Don't go too fast but I go pretty far

For somebody who don't drive I've been all around the world

Some people say I've done alright for a girl

Well, I got a brand new pair of roller skates

You got a brand new key

I think that we should get together

And try them out, you see"

Melanie Safka

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3 Stripes Challenge: La Main Vs. Adidas

There is this video challenge to win this undefined and unclear sponsorship with the brand. The aim is to prove that you have a great social network in enhancing your friends to go on the brand's website and like the video of your crew. The video with the more <3 wins.

As explained in a previous post, for the challengers, it is above all the opportunity to get free visibility and create a buzz.

I presented you earlier the western spaghetti movie remake "Le Ref Sifflera Quatre Fois" by the Paris RollerGirls, and now I am going to introduce the video of the second crew I am part of. No preferential treatment!

3 Stripes Challenge: Le ref sifflera quatre fois

The brand with the three stripes launched a "crew" challenge, the aim of which is simple:

1. Upload as much multimedia material as possible on their website
2. Share them with as many friends as possible
3. Make them <3 your crew's production(s) on the brand's platform
4. Pray that you have the most views/likes to win an official sponsoring.

By lauching the operation, the brand gets new advert ideas for free.

By taking part in the operation, the crews are highlighted for free.

I am not quite sure that it is totally fair, but I guess it must be a good opportunity for both parts...

You have 15 days, starting NOW. Tempting, isn't it?

RollerCon '12, Las Vegas: Day Life

Last year's RollerCon was an Epic Fail for me. Remember...

This year was faaar better and I could enjoy all the facets of the event. At least the two main ones: Day life (i.e. derbying) and Night life (i.e. partying).

 This year was particularly huge. 5 to 6 thousand derbypeople in the same hotel, the Riviera down the Strip in Las Vegas. 5 days of non-stop events, on skates, off skates, on track, in pool, on dancefloor...

Off-skate workouts, conferences, on-skate classes, scrimmages and bouts constituted the day-time events and were organized in parallel in several rooms.

The off-skate part was made of workout classes and conferences on various subjects. Except for the pool workout for which the pool of the hotel was reserved (obviously), the workout classes took place at the very last floor of the Monaco Tower with a large bay window onto the city and the desert in the background. Stretching classes at 7PM with the sunset over the city were great.

Freestyle Patchwork

I MADE IT!

I made a presentation video edit of Chloe Seyres.

... Oh wait, that's me!

I was always worried when asked "show me what you do" because I did not have any representative video material. Then I was forced either to put my skates on and "do my stuff" or show various videos for the person to get a general overview of what freestyle slalom is.

One or two years ago, Seba gave me great hope when he told me that I was going to have a profile edit. But I was soon disappointed in seeing the result: I had ordered something like this and I received something like that, which in my opinion severely lacks editing talent. Unrefined, slow, lacking details and video material, crucial shots cut and useless shots inserted... and last but not least it does not match the music rhythm! It is a shame because it was the first time I had the opportunity to get such a quality of image...

Then, in addition to the slow-motion failed profile, I would show some nice edits such as Around the 20 which is the exact opposite: great editing but poor content, a fan video shot during a winter session, and a couple of competition videos...

This week, I found the long-awaited motivation to gather youtube material and make a compilation, as I had promised to rest after my 4-week rehab stay and my weekend of rollerdance demos. I set my mind up in watching the edit of a b-girl that I met in the rehab center. It was exactly the kind of breathtaking punchy video that I wish I had.

Of course, the quality of image sucks... you cannot ask too much of youtube!

But yet the edit is dynamic, and it even makes ME want to slalom again.

If you want something done, most of the time you'd better do it yourself...

Who's Next: Violent & Funky

Who's Next is a semi-annual show presenting trend forecast collections and up and coming designers. Lasting 4 days, the event is huge and covers 6 halls with women's and men's wear, urban wear, leather, shoes and accessories.

All the stands of clothing brands are displayed in the halls. In order to liven up the atmosphere, some Dj stands are scattered here and there and you can have a drink, a snack or even a full meal if you are ready to pay the price.

The halls are all carpeted in white, in order to "hide the hideous damaged floor". Indeed we quickly realized that underneath, there were various traps to avoid: cracks, holes and sewer drains for the most common ones... And like any white public floor, it didn't survive the first day and turned into a black-spotted carpet.

I am Legend... am I?

Lately, SebaSkates added me to the "Legend" skaters of the team!

Seba is my inline skating sponsor who, in 2007, offered me to enter the freestyle skating Dream Team, the Seba Team. Since then, I had the chance to travel around the world and take part in hundreds of freestyle competitions thanks to Seba. I'm still representing the brand each time I get the occasion, and I recently started to take part in SkateCross competitions under the Seba colors.

The "Legend" labelling is a great honor and I'm proud to achieve this position while I'm still alive (haha).

Have a look at my PROFILE on the SebaSkates Website.

...and if you want to know more about that addictive sport and the life I had before, check out my freestyle website: Close Yr E's -- It's all about rock'n rollerskating...

Skate Cross in Haining

Last week, I was in China for a Skate Cross competition.

"...A what?!"

I'm sure you derby girls will agree with the concept of the discipline. Actually despite all the differences, there's quite a lot of common points with derby. Despite that...

We use inline skates, no quad-skates.

You're alone against the world, no team.

The competition is unfolding on a street/skatepark, no flat-track.

Team France Donations

At first, when you learn you're selected for Team France, you jump for joy. Then you start thinking and you realize that OMG you need money!

Indeed, just like the other national teams that are going to take part in the first derby World Cup ever next December in Toronto, each single one of us is paying for their own trip. And flying to Toronto is quite expensive...

The whole stuff is already well explained by yours truly

on the French Team WebSite...

We're looking for sponsors and for any kind of help, including yours! Feel free to help: we'll be eternally thankfull and we'll hold you in our hearts forever (maybe a little less 'cause forever's a f***ing long time!)

RollerCon 2011

MISCELLANEOUS

• 4 tracks and a huge off-skates room 
• A gigantic hotel in which you can get lost just like that (tested and approved) 
• Waiting lines to get tickets to attend workshops 
• Over-secured check-in – too bad for you if you don’t gather on time your ID, your RC pass, your Workshop ticket and your RC sticker on the left side of your helmet 
• Stickers, badges, goodies a go-go 
• A crowd of rollergirls AND rollerboys from all over the world 
• Tons of love, tons of flashy “lift-n-separate” short pants, and tons of workshops’n scrimmages all day long

The experience was very instructive, attending such a huge event, observing the organization, remembering tips and drills of the workshops I took, meeting people I didn’t know, meeting others I knew and I hadn’t seen in a while. I was there only for two days, but I tried to enjoy these 48 hrs as much as possible.

Brand: Crazy -- Model: DBX

This is the name of the prototype I’ve been testing for 2 months.
New brand coming on the market. And it’s hot!

The boot prototypes were extremely promising, with two revolutionary major points: rigid for a better reactivity, and super comfy. They had a couple of drawbacks which have been fixed on the last prototypes I saw, a couple of days ago at the RollerCon when I met the guys at last.
The skates look just awesome – they didn’t have my size… so I’m just guessing. I tried them (two sizes too big), and compared to mine the pressure points around the ankle have totally disappeared, it’s not biting the Achilles tendon or the malleolus anymore.
It took me weeks to break the prototypes in, but the new ones will only need a couple of hours.