In 2014, Francesco Ragazzi, a Milanese art director known for his work at Moncler, published a large-format book of photography from Los Angeles’ skate scene with Pharrell Williams and Rizzoli.”Palm Angels,” the title of the tome—which would eventually inspire Ragazzi’s disruptively youth-centric fashion line of the name—offered an almost Herb Ritts-like naturalism to the blond-haired Z-Boys documented; capturing their movements in quiet pauses of light and isolating each as their own angel, so to speak. Both Palm Angels projects, the book and the streetwear brand, were largely inspired by an inspirational trip Ragazzi made out west  in 2011, the designer’s first time in LA. “I wanted to really express my own vision and feel free,” he recalls. “It was something completely new to me. I went around the city taking photos. The light and space that these images captured made me want to do something bigger.” Presented now for the first time, the archival series reveals the rawness of both Ragazzi’s style (“I don’t follow the rules or techniques that most photographers are trained to use,” he says, “I just follow my instinct”) and the vulnerable landscape.

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