The importance of personal style was instilled in Alex Olson by his father, the legendary pro skateboarder, Steve Olson. “Everything else was secondary after that,” says the 28-year-old renegade, who unpicks his DIY approach in today’s film Streets on Fire (Island). 

After witnessing skateboarding ride the fashion wave during his 10-plus years of professional sponsorship by Girl Skateboards and Nike SB, Olson began his very own “experiment” earlier this year, in the form of a unisex label under the moniker Bianca Chandon. It’s a name that neatly sums up his labor of love—a hybrid of sports culture and 1970s music and fashion, inspired by an image of Bianca Jagger riding into Studio 54 on a white horse, and the glamorous yet tragic French racing driver, Olivier Chandon. 

The project has taken shape in the form of a meticulously edited line of T-shirts, accessories and skateboards: “It's based on all the things I'm into and always liked or found interesting,” says Olson, whose inspirations include Wolfgang Tillmans’ early shoots for Purple, Tom Bianchi’s book on Fire Island and, of course, disco. “I feel like people cared a lot more about craftsmanship and had pride over what they made—and the way girls looked back then.”