The Animal - O'Neill Wetsuits 1991
As the 80's ended and 1989 rolled over into 1990 it was more than just diaries that became redundant. The new decade brought a wholesale change in youth culture and all the elements that defined 80's fashion were being pushed aside.
Out went angular haircuts, Shiny Happy People and gaily coloured clothes, in came long hair and despair, all dressed in black.
1991 was the year that punk broke and the streets of Seattle were lined with Grunge. Heroin made a brief comeback, and Nirvana released their second album with low expectations. It would become the defining album of that grim decade.
Amongst this backdrop of gloom O'Neill wetsuits managed to capture the zeitgeist in this 1991 ad. Foregoing fluoro panels and smiles, the O'Neill crew - Schmidt, Hoy, Collins, Gerr and Egan - line up po-faced and pensive. Serious men for a serious age!
And Gerlach, the longhaired posterboy for 90's rebellion, wears O'Neill's top of the line model - the Animal. Plain black wasn't enough, the Animal borrowed it's aesthetic from the Predator and featured corrugated rubber panels that made the wearer look more like a futuristic knight of the round table.
It may have been a wetsuit to match the era yet, strangely enough, I never saw any of them worn in the surf.
Comments
Is there anyone from O'Neill listening?
Bring back the Animal
Wasn't the over-the-top accesorising on the Animal that kept it out of the water, it was the cost. Bloody thing cost about $500 bucks! I reckon normal wetties at the time would have been around $200.
It is exacltly like heals say.
I have one, I bought at the time while I was in Los Angeles. I had to order without to see it, as no shops had it in stock, and we speak about Los Angeles not a little rural village. In order to order it, the shop asked for an important deposit. And yes, the price was more than double that of a first brand usual wetsuit of the time. Alltogether really too much for the average surfer...