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Draw your own line | Kelis Kaleopaʻa. | X VANS duct tape PT 1

We’re thrilled and honored to present our first release featuring the winner of the Vans Duct Tape, Kelis Malia Lei Kaleopaʻa. We asked Kelis, “How do you DRAW YOUR OWN LINE?


Withitgirl team has SO MUCH to share with you from our collaboration with Vans during our Sayulita, Mexico sojourn…literally hours of interviews and stacks of photos.


Photo at Vans Duct Tape via Claire Murphy

Over the next few weeks, we will be peppering our usual stream of awesomeness with edits from our trip. Prior to the event, we came up with the main theme entitled “Draw your own line”. We felt this reflected the right balance of the classic withitgirl community — celebrating each person’s distinct individuality — and Vans’ commitment to prioritizing and lifting up the voices of womxm creators. For the curious readers, please check the entire concept below and please let us know your thoughts.


Kelis Kaleopaa on finals day shot by Grace Stiberth (April, 2022)

WITHITGIRL’S “Draw Your Own Line” uses the most simple and ancient gesture of describing points in space to discover and outwardly display an individual’s most expressive creative energy. Our team will have a thematic list of questions aimed at gaining a deeper understanding of the mindsets and motivations of the people around us, from event attendees to local community inhabitants. These social artifacts will be compiled into a visual representation of this experience across multiple forms of media including but not limited to simple line drawings, audio and visual recordings, and other imaginative forms of interpretation.


The concept of “line” offers a universal window into defining one’s own story, emblematic style, and attitude. By casually observing behavior through film and photos, moving from point A to B, surfing, skating, etc., we will find unique examples of lines through personal interactions via recorded interviews, impromptu line drawing sessions, musical performances, and events, hopefully providing a glimpse into one’s raison d'être.

When I hear “draw your own line”, I feel like it's just who you are as a person trying to figure out what you're doing in this stage of your life and where you want to go and just being who you are and sticking true to yourself.



"For me personally, that's me being grounded 100% and making sure things don't like take off and you get way too ahead of yourself and spending time with family and friends. For me coming from such a beautiful place, Waikiki, like, that place is like the epitome of drawing your line, because I've seen people, like all my Aunties and Uncles start off with such like a point in their lives where it wasn't that well and then continue on. It's a life path.


I feel like when you surround yourself, around people, things that keep you happy, keep you grounded, that's really all you need in life. Like, for example, like at the duct tape and at the Mexilogfest you have this big family and we're all here doing what we love with people that you love. That's drawing your line for you, like whatever makes you happy, whatever is going to make you succeed in the most respectable, humble possible way."


Major thank you to everyone at the Vans team who has made this possible.

 

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