First I have to admit of course that anyone who really knows me would be able to tell you that I’m a clothes horse or obsessed with clothing and cool styles. I’m not sure what the proper phrase is, I’ll ask around so we’ll use “Clothes Horse” for now.

I was a new romantic then a goth punk back in the early 80’s and always obsessed with music and fashion related to music.

Back in 2004 I discovered a small independent brand out of Australia that was trying to get its toe into the United States and the California skate and surf lifestyle scene. I became instantly infatuated with the designs, the art in the designs and the subtle and not so subtle borrowing from an era I lived through. This brand manufactured clothes that my friends and I had to alter and make ourselves “back in the day”.

At an ASR trade show I saw a hat that used the artwork from a flyer from a show I was at back in ’83/’84; The Brand has grown quite a bit since then here in the U.S. with the guidance of Jesse Faen as CEO and it has garnered awards and recognition from the industry as well

INSIGHT is an emerging brand that will steal the heart and fuel the desires of any fashionista obsessed with melding music, art, film into their skate or surfing life.

INSIGHT was recently honored by SIMA (Surf Industry Manufacturers Association) at the SIMA Image awards, being awarded “Break Through Brand of the Year” as well as “Men’s Marketing Campaign of the Year” for their “ZOUP” campaign run in 2007. “Zoup” was a campaign so edgy and innovative it pulled you in and left you staring trying to figure out just exactly what you were looking at. You found yourself wondering how could this be real and how can I get there. Well at least that is how it made me feel. This recent campaign seems more directed and not full of such bizarre abandon but certainly follows the line of bringing elements together that you would never find in everyday life. It would seem that their new campaign “DOPAMINE” might again garner INSIGHT a nomination at the very least if not another award.

I only attended one ASR party this past September and it was a nice little get together for INSIGHT to show off their advertising campaign “DOPAMINE”. Many of the images in the campaign had been censored upon publication and INSIGHT wanted people to have the opportunity to see the campaigns images as they were meant to be seen. The address on the flyer rang a bell with me and I couldn’t quite figure out why, I thought is this at the Casbah?? The event was nestled into a dark and seedy area of town just off the airport in San Diego and near the famed music venue The Casbah. In fact right next door to the Original Casbah location. Thus my déjà vu with the street numbers as I spent some time in that spot many years ago.

Well the event rolled out with an incredible spread of alcohol for those diving into that and the much promised gallery of uncensored works from the mostly censored “DOPAMINE” advertising campaign run in magazines all over the world by INSIGHT clothing.

The campaign is award winning for a reason. The innovation, creativity and blending of images and physical textures in the locations and backgrounds utterly captivate and inspire, “DOPAMINE” is Dope if you will.

My favorite images from the campaign have to be “Zisco” and “Uba Skuba Canoe” Dustin Humphrey, the man behind the lens has created and captured some of the most amazing images of the modern surfing age,

Also see “Sipping Jetstreams”. Dustin is a great human being as well as a man headed for the photography hall of fame if there is one somewhere. It most also be noted there are other creative minds behind the campaign

I love eyeing creative works and, well here was a whole room to enjoy. Adding to the evening were two awesome short films included in the DOPAMINE campaign one involving skaters in the jungles and on the beaches of Bali and s surf short that included motion of many of the Dopamine images interlaced with other footage of team riders tearing about on the waves of Bali.
Musical enjoyment post film premieres included a couple DJ’s and a few bands. I was absolutely taken by the energetic and grinding set from the Tijuana Panthers.

DOPAMINE , INSIGHT , Insight clothing,