One of the hottest new skate brands to emerge from 2021, Limosine (yes that's how it's spelt) burst from the still-warm corpse of Alex Olson's Call Me 917 like an infant xenomorph, hungry for blood and ready to unleash terror on the streets of New York. The split came about as a result of a lack of proper management as well as creative differences among the team, with some of the skaters wanting to design their own graphics while Alex allegedly wasn't a fan of their ideas, which lead to Cyrus leaving the team and many of the others following. Fast forward a few months, and rumours of a new company with the Big Apple's fastest flicker, Cyrus Bennett, at the helm were floating around SLAP, supported by sightings of mysterious ads branded with the name 'Limosine' helping to further stir up hype.
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The brand officially premiered on the 17th of December, with their first impeccable collection of skateboard decks and clothing going live alongside their video, 'Paymaster'. Clearly unafraid of making controversial decisions, Limosine hosted 'Paymaster' exclusively on their own site for the first few days of its release - and via Vimeo rather than YouTube - as well as making it available for purchase as a DVD hardcopy. While the decision to release a skate video as a DVD is definitely pretty edgy in this day and age, it seems like it was a pretty good call seeing as the DVDs sold out pretty much instantly on their site. I guess you can take some risks when your roster boasts the incomparable duo of Cyrus Bennett and Max Palmer.
Alongside the dynamic duo, Limosine also features some notable 917 alumni including Genesis Evans, Hugo Boserup, Aaron Loreth, and of course Logan Lara behind the lens, alongside several exciting new additions: Nelly Morville, Karim Callender, and Santino Gagliarducci. The fact that Limosine burst out the gates with an extremely enjoyable, and lesser-known, female skater on the roster is a powerful move that's indicative of the brand's progressive attitude, and arguably reflects the ongoing steps being made to rectify gender imbalances in the skateboard industry. Politics aside, Nelly's just sick to watch, and probably had one of my favourite parts from the video, with her style reminding me of a cross between Maité Steenhoudt and Aidan Mackey due to her beaming smile and propensity for self-inflicted violence.
While I'm sure Cyrus hoped to distance himself from 917 with Limosine, it's undeniable that 'Paymaster' shares many similarities to 917's videos in the overall feel of the video - arguably thanks to the number of ex-917 skaters, and Logan's iconic filming, but also due to the strong homie vibes the video exudes. Yet, despite these resemblances, Limosine still feels refreshingly new thanks to Cyrus' noticeably grungier art direction - with Cyrus himself designing many of the company's graphics, including Max Palmer's pro-model deck - which is in turn reflected in the video's dark and gloomy soundtrack. The quirky, up-beat soundtracks which came to characterise 917's videos have instead been replaced by a more angsty ensemble, which leans more towards the emo and punk side of things, featuring delightfully sombre tracks from VilluVilduVeta and jonatan leandoer96 (Yung Lean's emo side project) - although Max Palmer is a notable exception to this with his typically jazzy accompaniment.
As to be expected, Limosine's products are all premium quality with exceptional attention to detail in their skateboard decks, T-shirts, hoodies, and beanies. Their decks are manufactured by BBS with steep concave, popsicle shape and various top graphics. As previously mentioned, Cyrus designs some of the graphics himself, and they're as tasty as you'd expect from one of the most stylish skateboarders of the modern generation, with subtle logos, pastel artwork, and embossed graphics. Limosine has already been selling like hotcakes since it landed in store and it's safe to say they're one of the most exciting brands in skating right now. You really don't wanna sleep on this one.
