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Photo courtesy of Briana King.
On Display
Skateboarding multihyphenate Briana King offers a
counterpoint to skateboarding’s boys’ club with her ultra-
inclusive meetups, Display Only.
By Sumiko Wilson
F or Briana King, every day begins with a scream. “It’s like a lion
waking up in the morning,” she says with a grin. “I just happen
to be loud. It’s a release.” The uninhibited practice has ripple effects
throughout her day. As a former introvert, skateboarding pushed the
Los Angeles–native outside of her comfort zone and propelled her to a
deeper sense of purpose. Today, she helps other skaters master their craft
and find community with her TikTok tutorials and her travelling skate
meetup, Display Only.
After an ill-fated first attempt as a preteen that ended with an injury,
she didn’t get back on a skateboard until she moved to New York City
in her mid-20s. “It took an entire year for me to feel confident just going
in a straight line on flat ground,” the model, actor, skateboarder, and
community organizer recalls.
When she finally landed her first trick, the feeling was euphoric. While
on a group skate from SoHo to the Lower East Side, she noticed her
friends hanging on to the back of a truck. At the time, she was still a
beginner. “I thought, ‘I can’t do it. I don’t want to get hurt.’ But then I
thought, ‘Dude, I just have to send it.’ So I pushed so hard and held on
to the back of the truck like all the other girls.” Suddenly, Manhattan’s
cacophony was brought down to a hum. “You can’t hear anything that’s
happening around you in the city. It’s just you and all the skateboard
wheels,” says King. With Display Only, which is geared toward women
and the LGBTQ+ community, she hopes to create a space for enthusiasts
and experts alike to experience this for themselves.
At the meetups, King—who counts brands such as Dior, Calvin Klein,
Golden Goose, and Mejuri as collaborators—is both a cheerleader and
a coach. “I always give a pep talk beforehand,” she muses. And since the
first one in 2018, establishing the right vibe has been key. The first thing
you’re bound to notice at one of King’s meetups is the outfits. Typically,
at a skatepark, toned down fits are the norm—attracting attention means
more eyes on your mistakes. At Display Only, that’s not the case. King
attributes the over-the-top outfits to the inclusion-oriented vibe—skaters
can feel confident showing up as their most authentic selves.
Oftentimes, she’ll see attendees come alone to their first meetup, then
carpool to the next one with their newfound skater friends. “It’s really
just a safe space and some of us happen to be skateboarding,” King says.
“People come back [even if] they don’t ever want to skateboard again,
they just want to be in a place that makes them feel good.”