The pristine leather wingtips that 26-year-old pro skateboarder Dylan Rieder unpacks for our photo shoot look less like skate sneakers and more like the Barneys driving loafers he was wear-ing on arrival. Rieder, who designed the shoes for the streetwear brand Huf, is perhaps the first rider to inject some fashion sense into skateboarding's punk and hip-hop DNA. His tucked-in tanks, tight slacks and slip-ons -- not to mention the fact that he looks like an olive-toned River Phoenix with hand tattoos -- are almost as commanding as his legendary railslides.It's understandable, then, that the ratio of skateboards to models on Rieder's Instagram feed is about 1:1. Rieder has done some high-profile, if reluctant, modeling of his own, appearing in DKNY's Spring/Summer 2014 campaign and an Alexander Wang spread in Vogue two years back (both with fashion-savvy rapper A$AP Rocky). Seeing these shots or his part in Supreme's newCherry video, you start to wonder why every teen skater isn't already biting his style.
"The kids don't have the jobs to pay for that stuff," Rieder explains, lighting one of many, many Camels. "That's always been tricky, trying to hit that mark." But there are signs that, with the new Huf shoe, style and quality might finally trump thrift. "More recently, it's like kids want to spend an extra $40 on a shoe 'cause it looks a hell of a lot better than a canvas shoe wrapped in a fucking tire."
The day after we spoke, he flew to Berlin to finish a promotional video for Huf, one that will combine skate footage with a staged conversation between Rieder and model Kati Nescher. Jet-setting and models aside, his true obsession hasn't changed since he was a wiry Orange County tween: "I still think my fucking skating sucks. It's never good enough, no matter what. So I stick with skateboarding."
★ The Huf Dylan Pro will be available on HufWorldWide.com later this month. ★