There are few other article pitches that have elicited quite as much joy and nostalgia as the “Billabong girl summer”. The briefest mention of the Noughties favourite surfer brand in the fashion features meeting sent the team thundering down memory lane. Commerce director Naomi Smart was misty-eyed about the time she dragged her begrudging dad to a remote shopping mall in southern France to get her hands on a pair of Billabong shorts, while beauty editor Hannah Coates recalled her teenage style obsession with a salty-skinned Kate Bosworth in 2002 surfer flick .
“Anne-Marie Chadwick, played by Kate Bosworth, has always been my ultimate girl crush,” Hannah says. “From her near-mahogany tan to sun-bleached blonde hair, the washboard abs to the bikini-rash vest combos – and not forgetting her surfer girl chill – I’m still saddened when I remember she’s just a character in a film, and not a real person.” Fast forward to 2024, and there are countless contemporary brands that have put their stamp on the “Billabong girl” look for a new generation: from Gimaguas’s colourful separates and Anni Lu’s bohemian beaded jewellery, to Mango’s recent collaboration with , which is essentially one big love letter to photographic flower prints and rainbow-coloured crochet.
Meanwhile, fashion analytics feed @databutmakeitfashion recently reported that turquoise was featured in 36 per cent of the pieces in Jacquemus’s autumn/winter 2024 collection, leading them to sp.
