First it was the Guardian in the UK, now it’s the National Post in Canada picking up on something called ‘normal people in normal clothes on normal bikes’….ok, ok, Cycle Chic. There you go.
My 2 cents:
- It’s absolutely evident that the mainstream media is scrambling to catch up. But that’s always been the case. No matter how much they call themselves ‘in tune with society and/or so called trends.
- It’s absolutely evident that the mainstream media is completely in debt with bloggers and such, relying more and more on us for interesting ‘journalism’. (Ps. there are way too many lazy ‘professionals’ out there who assume I’ll just write up their article for them, instead of getting up from their asses and investigate themselves)
- It’s absolutely evident that the mainstream media is slowly ‘getting it’, it’s still hard for them not to frame anything of this cycle narrative in a hyped fashion (read: celebrity, expensive, general bs).
All in all, not a bad article, but not really in tune either. Well, at least they’re listening. I hope they’ll dig a little bit deeper in the next news cycle. For instance, they could have found out about an Ottawanian couple, ditching their helmets and lycra gear, buying their new Dutch bicycles in Amsterdam and cycling around the Netherlands for 2 weeks, completely enriching their (cycle) life.
(What, you thought I was going to roll over and drool on the floor? Think again :-p)
Stilettos on wheels: Cycling goes chic
Karen Burshtein, National Post
Published: Friday, September 19, 2008
Jorg & Olif. Fashion, they say, comes and goes in cycles. Now, it’s cycling that’s in fashion; the style brigade has taken up the two-wheel ride and, in doing so, is changing the image of the cyclist.
Winnipeg • I often get around town by bike. So curious is this behaviour to the Lexus-drivin’, lunch bag-packin’ crowd I encounter in suburban Winnipeg, that it is often discussed, sometimes behind my back. When it is to my face, at least I can defend myself. “I am not a hippy freak,” I say, oozing frustration and impatience, like Jerry Seinfeld when he started carrying a man bag. “I’m being European.”
Indeed, few hippies pedal around in four-inch Manolos and Birkin bags. But a growing number of cyclists do.
Fashion, they say, comes and goes in cycles. Now, it’s cycling that’s in fashion; the style brigade has taken up the two-wheel ride and, in doing so, is changing the image of the cyclist.
“A different type of cyclist is emerging - a cyclist who is not concerned about sport or how many gears they have on their bike but who simply wants to get from A to B, and look good doing it,” says 29-year-old London cycle-chicster Caz Nicklin, who started cycling in the English capital little more than a year ago and quickly became frustrated by cycling’s “geeky image.”
Cycle chic predated Chanel’s 2007 $13,000 bicycle with custom-made quilted leather side satchels, or Gucci’s $6,000 red bike, a relative bargain, released this summer.
Many trace the crystallization of the trend to prominent British model Agness Deyn. The Manchester-born runway strutter is endlessly photographed cycling to and from fashion shows astride her retro-looking Amsterdam Electra bike, wearing her trademark rabid chic.
The sight of a stylish person cycling pleasurably can improve an urban landscape immeasurably. “I’m always struck by how well it looks together - an amazingly dressed person and a vintage bike,” says Winnipegger Catherine Arbour, an art student and mother of three, who rolls around town on a white Free Spirit roadster, dressed, on this day, in a straight knee-length skirt, V-neck sweater and long thin scarf.
Europe, of course, is known for its bike culture, even among the corporate class. The sight of a briefcase-toting 50-year-old suit cycling to work is as common as pâté at a picnic. But in North America, despite biking’s many credentials - eco-friendly, economical and a practical way to get exercise into your day - cycling, outside of sport activity, still lacks the thing that most drives our society: status.
But some highly esthetic bikes and a growing list of Spandex-spurning Web sites dedicated to stylish cyclists is shifting the template. I recently found more than 50 Web sites promoting the fashion/cycling relationship - for example, amsterdamize.com, copenhagencyclechic.com, and Caz Nicklin’s cyclechic.co.uk.
Nicklin launched London-based cyclechic.co.uk in November, 2007, to highlight cycling’s “style potential,” she says. “Cycling can be an extremely graceful and ladylike mode of transport. Though the public’s perceptions is often Lycra and chunky calves, women can look especially elegant and graceful on a lovely vintage bike, with a great outfit on.”
Copenhagencyclechic.com publishes daily photos of stylish cyclists spotted around town. Amsterdamize.com (subtitle: “100% Cycle Chic Guaranteed Lycra-free”) does, too, though it also has a political angle, introducing us, for example, to Japanese cycling mothers and their tradition of Sannin-nori - three on a bike, one kid in front, one kid behind - pointing out how politically influential they have become. Stateside, there is urbancyclechic.com (”Make your street a catwalk”). And Scott Schuman, who photographs stylish pedestrians for his blog, The Sartorialist, has been adding cyclists to his site simply because on his daily outings he has noticed growing numbers of very fashionable ones.
I’ve spent hours observing stylish bike culture myself, especially in Paris, my second home. Cyclists there look so preposterously perfect as they cycle around town everyday, past I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid in front of the Louvre or the Tuileries garden, in their pencil skirts and stilettos, that you’d be forgiven for thinking that they were taking part in a Peter Lindbergh photo shoot for Vogue.
I cycle watch in Montreal, too, officially a chic-cycle city now, thanks to its excellent system of bike lanes and natural style. And, also, of course, in Amsterdam, which vies with Copenhagen as cycle capital of the free world.
Amsterdam has the fashion slave’s favourite bike, the iconic “sit up and beg,” or Oma (Dutch for “granny”) black roadsters.
I’ve been obsessed with these Dutch bikes ever since I first rented one years ago in Amsterdam. The bikes are so high, they allow you to peer over cars; you have a bit of a king-of-the-world thing going on when you ride them. But there is a slightly comic Buster Keatony aspect, too, because you pedal sitting ramrod straight.
In Amsterdam, I love watching various bike-passenger configurations: the popular tandem, with the girl sitting sidesaddle on the handlebars, for example, or the more racy three on a bike. I once saw a guy reading a book while he pedaled his “sit up and beg.” I wanted to own one so badly, I rerouted through Amsterdam and, between flights, beelined to a bike store in town, bought and boxed one up and flew it back with me to Canada. (Soon after, I learned that Jorg & Olif, a Vancouver bike shop and an early adopter of cycle chic, sold its own brand of Oma bikes.)
Deyn’s Amsterdam Electra is a new version of the vintage sit-up-and-beg bike, and is sometimes called the North American Dutch bike, but any vintage style will do; the main thing is to leave the curved-handlebar 10-speeds to the Lycra crowd. “It’s vintage Schwinns or Raleighs, three- or five-speeds, with high handle bars,” says Chung Pai, owner of Landmark Bicycle in New York, that city’s go-to cycle-chic shop.
It’s important to understand that the vintage style is not a recycling statement, but purely an esthetic choice. For instance, the other day, Pai sold a five-speed Schwinn to a fashion-conscious businesswoman. “She told me she wanted to commute to work on her bike and wear a dress,” he says. “She already has a road racer at home.”
Models, Pai says, like sit-up-and-beg bikes because, like the Dutch, models are tall. But the style is also eminently fashion-friendly.
Vancouver’s Jorg & Olif was started by two locals who had lived in Europe. They opened a shop back home in 2004, selling their own brand name of Dutch bike (made in Holland; $645 for the classic one-speed; and $1,495 for a more hill-friendly eight-speed). Jane Cox, J&O’s co-founder and creative director, says they sell the bikes more to fashion and design stores than sporting shops, as well as to customers who, until now, really didn’t cycle much.
“The whole concept about this bike is that it doesn’t compromise your style,” she says. J&O bikes have internal hub gears, so you don’t have to worry about getting grease on your Marc Jacobs or Pradas, skirt and coat guards, and mud flaps to protect shoes. Cox says the full fenders allow her to cycle wearing a white coat in winter and the chain guard allows her to wear flared pants without the need for unfashionable bike clips.
Jorg & Olif also sells the box seats for kids that attach between the handle bars, a common sight on European bikes. Seeing them for the first time, North Americans might think they look like grounds for a call to a child protection agency. But Cox believes they are preferable to the back-of-the-bike attachments. “You are at the same level, and they are positioned so that if you ever fall, you can see the kids,” she says. “And you can converse with them, too.”
Some yummy mummies are also trading in their SUVs for custom-made adult tricycles that look like pedicabs to transport kids and groceries.
As a (bad) rule, cycle chicsters don’t wear helmets (too nerdy), but fashion-forward versions are being introduced. Cox, who admits she never wore a helmet until she started cycling with her toddler son, now sells a Jackie O equestrian-style helmet in black or glossy red. “People who don’t bike have stopped me and asked me wear I got my hat,” she says.
Indeed, many of the cycle-chic Web site owners have also launched auxiliary online shops selling accessories and offering fashion tips.
“This fall, the one must-have item is a cape, an ideal alternative to a coat for a cyclist,” says Nicklin. “They don’t restrict your back or shoulders as some coats can. Most important, they look fabulous.”
WHAT TO DO NOW?