So Ladies…
…Let’s talk about fashion. Or not.
Because I’m not much of a fashionista. And never have been.
I have gotten a little better since then. But my life doesn’t revolve around clothes. I really enjoy looking looking like crap some days.
Or a bit dirty and grungy.
And some times I even dress up (and look like Lovely Bicycle on accident.)
However when I started biking I didn’t know what to do about clothes. Or bikes. Or anything. I just wanted to try it. I didn’t see anyone on a bike who looked like any version of me. As a newbie, this was all I really knew about cyclists:
You may have noted that neither of these figures appear to be women. And I knew I was not an athlete or a hipster. Or a man.
So when I came across a certain European street-style blog of stylishly dressed women riding bicycles I signed right up. I went and bought the Dutchiest bike I could find in Los Angeles (which was actually made in China) and a bunch of flouncy dresses from H&M and promptly started biking up and down Sunset Boulevard leaving a trail of bolts and washers behind me.
But as I got more confident about with bicycle commuting, I realized something bothered me about this bike sheek culture.
It was just another stereotype.
So I moved on. I agree about wearing ordinary clothes when I bike. But now I wear my ordinary clothes which don’t happen to be dresses or heels or terribly stylish most of the time– my biking does not revolve around fashion.
Like you, I’m conflicted about the ‘Cycle Chic” thing, although I find that the vast majority of pictures on CCC are not overly objectifying- they just look like street photos of people riding bikes. I don’t check it very often, so maybe I’m missing the “ordinary black lace panty” shots. And I know that there are lots of soft-core porn plus bikes sites, but I choose to ignore them, just as I ignore all other porn sites.
It feels like we need a term other than “cycle chic” for the many blogs that show women going about their business on bikes in clothes that reflect their personal style.
I have nothing smart to say, but you make me laugh every time. Love the cartoon style too!
Love it. I dread the day I must make my biking fashion decisions on top of already scary pedestrian (maybe in both senses of the word!) fashion decisions! 😉
Michael
Thanks to biking every single article of clothing I have (including dress shirts) have either grease or rubber cement from patch kits on them to the point where some of my plain old tight fit jeans are now somewhat chic. I should carry extra pants arund with m so when the hipsters look at me while sipping their expensive unpronouncable coffee shop drinks or their pbr and want to buy them I just get changed. And yes that’s happened more often than id like
A gal after my own heart. [Love that Lance Armstrong drawing! Had to look.]