“Most of Jason Lee’s part in Video Days is filmed in Dickies.” Image via Dickies’ Facebookĭickies are perhaps the most basic component of a skater look and the clearest sign of core style’s obsession with workwear. That’s a classic look and it’s come in and out of style since the late ‘80s to now,” Barrow said. “One example would be the Dickies, flannel, Vans dude. He told me that core has many faces, but the first look he mentioned was what most people consider the traditional core outfit. Skatepark footage critic Ted Barrow enforces a similar aesthetic standard on his Instagram page, where he frequently reprimands submitters for tricks or pants he deems tasteless. In short, they’re aesthetic conservatives. These are the core skaters who take yesteryear’s standards of cool au naturale and mutter about how skating “these days” is full of kooks. Their affinity for Carhartt is just the tip of the disingenuous iceberg, inside of which are frozen twelve cheap beers, a learned hatred for nollie bigspins, and a VHS copy of Video Days they bought exclusively for decor and have no way of watching. Black beanie, flannel or hoodie, Dickies on the looser side, Half Cabs or Skate-His. You’ve seen them at the skatepark, complaining about being at the skatepark. Words by Max Harrison-Caldwell | Featured Image by Will Ascott CORE AS AN AESTHETIC There were, however, a few definitions that everyone generally recognized: 1) core is an aesthetic, based on clothing and trick selection, 2) core is about supporting skater-owned brands and shops, and 3) core is just about sincerely loving skateboarding and building a community around it. Their answers varied enormously, proving that core is in fact completely subjective. With so many definitions, does core really mean anything at all? Or is it just a made-up nonsense word like hipster or liberty? Hoping to arrive at some objective definition of core, I reached out to the moguls of alternative skate media for their thoughts. Core can mean that an individual is authentic in their dedication to skateboarding or just that they wear Vans and skate Anti Hero boards. It’s a strict set of values, a moral and aesthetic code for skaters who want to fit into established skate culture and, subsequently, gatekeep it. Core is a rejection of authorities outside of skateboarding and reverence for those within it. It could describe a skater-owned company, a commitment to VX1000 footage and backside flips, or a sweaty skater icing their black eye with a PBR after being knocked down in a moshpit. Of all skateboarding’s ill-defined buzzwords, “core” seems to be the most popular and the most open to interpretation.

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