Nepal's Skater Girl Style

Meet Lora, Shristi, and Swati—three young women armed with skateboards, tattoos, a love for headbanging, and style that recalls a mix of '90s chaos and contemporary Gen Z elements.

- Upasana Das

A flannel skirt layered with baggy trousers—also flannel—cinched at the waist with the traditional patuki (waist sash) and her feet firmly on the skateboard.

This is how Samiksha Rai—or as her friends know her, Lora, rolls. The 23-year-old's lacha-tied hair (a decorative hair accessory) sways in the wind as she smiles—all teeth—in a monochrome photograph. In another, her friend dons a tiny bindi as she skateboards in black fishnet gloves and khaki pants—paired with black shoes and white socks.

This is the street style of late teenage and early twenties-something girls skateboarding and headbanging to hardcore metal and hip-hop in Nepal. Lora started skateboarding as a teenager and found herself quite alone as a female skater: “The one girl I looked up to stopped skateboarding and advised me to focus on a job,” she sighs, adding: “It didn't stop me, and skateboarding is what I pursued after high school.” Not only does this feed into a culture of sport and community, but these women are defining style for a new generation.