Those bright young things

The sun wasn’t the only bright thing on the sand at Huntington Beach for last weekend’s finals of the Hurley U.S. Open of Surfing. Near nuclear neon hues of pink, orange and yellow radiated from board shorts, bikini bottoms, cheap sunglasses (a $5-a-pair booth sold retro Ray-Ban styles with flip-up lenses) and hats. Many of the latter bobbed through the throngs in a blaze of orange -- thanks to the branding mojo of Nike 6.0, which has co-opted the color as its signature and was handing out swooshed trucker caps and handkerchiefs to the masses. The “6,” by the way, represents the sub-brand’s six-sport focus: surf, snowboard, BMX, motocross, wake-boarding and free ski.

The beach scene also served up what seems to be a new trend in undressing -- young girls wearing super-short jean shorts unzipped, unbuttoned and folded down over bikini bottoms. It was shockingly sexually suggestive.

Where did this trend come from? “We just copy our friends,” said a trio of teen girls. When asked if their parents objected, the response was incredulous stares.

Maybe it’s actually the revenge of the muffin-top girl. Leaving the shorts unzipped and unbuttoned minimizes stomach spillover -- then again, so would buying a larger pair of shorts.

-- Adam Tschorn and Booth Moore

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