golden state of mind

While on our Santa Monica shopping spree, my friend Sara scored some super cute floral denim by Insight from Californian retail chain PacSun (yes, I know, why go all the way to the States to buy something from a Sydney based label). While in the store I was mesmerised by the imagery for their Golden State of Mind campaign.

The campaign, shot by Andrew Kuykendall, Nick Maggio and Harper Smith, centres around the amazing diversity and unique sense of adventure that California has to offer; from San Francisco to Big Sur and Los Angeles.

And in true California fashion, the campaign was kicked off with a pool party at the Ace Hotel, Palm Springs back in February. Here's just a sample of what Golden State of Mind has to offer.

californication

Ever since my days glued to the TV watching episodes of The OC i've had a quiet addiction to the California culture (and those cute little lifeguard towers). So when it came to planning the long awaited trip to Mexico it seemed silly not to include the Golden State in the itinerary too.

Unfortunately time meant we had to stick to Southern California (San Fran i'll get to you one day) and while LA wasn't exactly how I pictured it, strangely it wasn't disappointing either. Our road trip down the Pacific Coast Highway through Newport, Laguna and Huntington Beach was the epitome of the American surf lifestyle and whilst absorbing the alternative culture of Santa Monica and Venice Beach (or maybe it was the absorbing of something else in the air) I just had to mark the end of the trip with some new ink.