Roller Disco | DIANA KOENIGSBERG PHOTOGRAPHY

RAINBOW ROLLERSKATE

Earlier this month I did a really fun shoot. It involved two things I love, Rainbows and Roller Skating. A little background on me. I grew up in Los Angeles, during the 70’s and 80’s and did my share of roller disco. Up and down the block, in the drive way, on the boardwalk in Venice Beach, you get the picture, if not there’s one right here.

My sister and I had awful skates, and we walked to school in the snow…no we didn’t. We made up dance routine for ridiculous fake commercials. It was the time of Xanadu, Roller Boogie, Rainbows and Muppets. Then there were the clothes. It seemed to be the first wave of designer jeans, ( I think this is the second wave, or maybe the third )? Anyhow, it was all about the colored ones like Dittos, and Jordache, and the fancy denim like Sassoon Jeans, and the real fancy chemin de fer line. Well that was right around the time I really began paying attention to clothes and what everyone was wearing, needless to say it was an important time in my life for visuals that helped shape my sensibility and awareness of fashion, music and style. Any how I had the fever for skating…

Cut to last December I saw a show at the Palm Springs Museum of Art, and this Judy Chicago piece really jumped out at me. I started doing research online for roller skating imagery and found these amazing images from the SF Chronicle, from years ago, and I got inspired to create an image of clothing in rainbow colors on models roller skating.