Imagine this mash-up of modern pop culture: Heather Graham’s Boogie Nights disco queen Rollergirl, 70’s early athleisure wear, hip hop royalty, rock ‘n’ roll, punk, dance and snappy dressed pro skaters decked out for an after-hours club. They all came together for a kinetic night of fashion at Dover Street Market downtown on Thursday, Sept. 4, for the release of Flipper’s, a new line of skating and clubbing clothes by Liberty Ross.
Surrounded by Dover Street’s wares — exalted avantgarde luxury clothes by Comme des Garçons, Margiela, Phoebe Philo and more, with exalted prices to match — were roller girls and boys decked out in Flipper’s shorts, slip-sliding through designer racks with their serving trays of canned Gin & Juice like something out of a 60’s outdoor movie with a hip-hop twist. Not your usual clothing launch; you rarely see a reasonably priced sporting line (with most items ranging from $200 to $500) in this kind of store.
Then again, not everyone’s Liberty Ross. The famed British model was discovered at age 13 by Mario Testino, and has appeared in many issues of Vogue, walked many runways and been the face of Givenchy. Not to mention her grandfather was Lord Killearn, and her father, Ian “Flipper” Ross, founded pirate radio with his creation of Radio Caroline, changing the tune of British radio — British music itself — forever.
These days, the U.K. transplant and her husband, mega-mogul producer Jimmy Iovine (co-creator with Dr. Dre of billionaire dollar headphones brand Beats), are active art collectors and philanthropists. But Ross’s true passion? Roller skating. “Ask any of the serious skaters here,” she said at the release soiree of the line that she has planned for years, with input from business partner Usher. “Why do you love skating?’ — they’ll say one word: freedom.” A purposeful choice of words from a woman named Liberty?
She and Iovine built a full rollerskating rink in their home, a sort of private club where they welcome mostly VIP friends and skater pals. “It’s really about community,” explains Ross. “Though people come over, see it and say, ‘I thought I’d seen everything in L.A.: in-house theaters, basketball or tennis courts — but never a roller rink!’ My favorite date with my husband is skating. We have so much fun. We feel like five-years-olds. Skating is like the fountain of youth.”
The party really got cooking with the arrival of Iovine’s megawatt music pals, including Dre, plus Benny Blanco, Swizz Beats, will.i.am, all imbibing Gin & Juice. Also in attendance were Liberty’s fashion friends RSVP’d, as well as her brother, Atticus Ross, Oscar-winning co-composer, with Trent Reznor, of numerous soundtracks including The Social Network.
Piles of her colorful, nostalgic coffee table book Flipper’s Roller Boogie Palace sit on shelves. It tells the story of her dad “Flipper” Ross and his notorious Hollywood club of the same name, which burned hot and fast for just three years, 1979 to 1981 — the same duration of another cult club Studio 54. Flipper’s Boogie Palace at LaCienega and Santa Monica was also the A lister’s night spot of its time, the roller disco home of the trendy (including a young Laura Dern), many in glitter hot pants ready for the rowdy rink.
On Thursday, waiters and skaters wear Flipper’s pieces, as, naturally, does Ross: the line’s black net tunic, cropped-tube top, to which she added black leggings and six-inch tight black boots, your not-so-average skater punk/rocker chic, with some requisite goth eyeshadow for cool measure. “Everything’s about layering,” she explains. “You can wear Flipper’s on wheels or not, it works with everything. The skating community has really taken to it. I’m so close with them all now,, after doing Flipper’s pop-up rinks all over we’ve created (New York’s Rockefeller Center, London, the Hollywood Palladium). So the clothes have been a very natural evolution. First, we put out our book in Dover Street in 2021. Then we did the Hollywood Palladium pop up, NYC, London. I actually got Rockefeller Center to “lend” us their ice rink, which we covered — I don’t know how I pulled it off for two summers.”
Now, following international pop-ups, a book, the clothing line, would Ross and husband Iovine build a permanent L.A. roller rink, in addition to their own?
“I never expected to do a clothing line or any of this,” she laughs. “So, maybe. Skating is clearly in my blood. And for some reason, it’s always been a minority sport. I’m trying to change that, champion it.”
Across the store, we spy some super cool pro-skater gal friends donning Flipper’s best piece: the Night Spin Crop nylon bomber ($257), looking like something straight out of a Loewe campaign. A re-do of her parents’ 1979 original roller skates design is already selling at Dover and Flipper’s website: blue suede, red laces ($500).
“Many many skaters all have my number,” Ross laughs. “They come and stay with me; I invite the whole community over to skate every month. Our rink events are like L.A.’s best kept secret — an amazing sound system. Skating a moving meditation. I say: “less scroll, more roll!”
Yeah, it would be hard, yacking on an iPhone while you’re roller skating. Social media was hardly a distraction in 1979. Clearly, skating at that time was the distraction.
“A lot of what we do is reimagining, rehashing what my parents did. The graphics, the iconography. I’m so honored to do the launch here — my favorite store in the world. This was a great place to start.”
