Trailer Trad Attire: LA BLEU

Trailer Trad favorite Alize Cornet of France fought her way through the third round of Roland Garros today while rocking the croc in French flag blue—stunning against the terre battue background.    ALLONS!

 

Off the court...

 

Trailer Trad Raleigh: Art Supply Store as Work of Art

In modern retail, spare display of merchandise, well lit and arranged is considered most effective. Cavernous, open selling areas are also considered best by those who dominate the retailing scene; from clothes to hardware to home building supplies. The best stores will make a big production about where and how a few of their 'legacy brand' wares were made. But there's a great, old family business on Glenwood that does things a little differently.

Askew Taylor is an art supply store on Glenwood South. Begun in the 1940s as an old-school paint supply store (kind of like Sherwin Williams) for house painters, it gradually evolved into an art supply store in recent decades that seems to cater to a wide variety of customers. But it's weighted toward art students from the surrounding universities and even engineers and like looking for top qualtiy drafting equipment. it harkens back to the days when racks were filled with German, American, French, and Japanese made goods stocked because of the demanding requirements of the customers and staff, yet not overly curated and pretentious. Yes, there are pen nerds, paper nerds, desk accessory nerds, etc. and they will all find things of interest here. 

What's also great about the store is that the inventory is 'askew' if you'll pardon the labored pun. Bunches of pencils, paint, paper and countless other knick-knacks are arranged in tiny, packed little rooms that stretch back from the street and even up onto the second floor. Yet the store is actually quite organized, neat, and clean. 

And you may even still get some expertly blended house paint there too.

Trailer Trad Tunes: Surf's Up! More Alt-Surf

I love high-energy, surf-inspired alternative rock because it reminds me of Summer days ahead. The genre borrows liberally from classic surfer music but adds fun, innovative twists that make most of it very contemporary. -Best of new and old. How trailer trad is that!

I'm showcasing a few new bands but perhaps the most interesting is Zack Mexico. Straight from the Outer Banks, the band is real deal garage and surf. They developed their own, unique sound at the beach where they incorporated their aquatic experiences into the mood of their music. DIIV and Taco Cat are just more fun rythms and lyrics. Enjoy!