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.
It’s worth pointing out to all the CCC apologists that CCC was originally known as “Copenhagen Girls on Bikes”. Hundreds of leg pictures, no faces. Just sayin…
To Anonymous: that may be; I didn’t know that. But, still, it has clearly taken a better direction since then, hasn’t it? Today. the site has a great selection of photos of both sexes of all ages. Today, the site has inspired a huge network of people featuring both sexes of all ages in many cities.
Hahaha.
Dirty and grungy is/are hawt. But I think you know that.
Well done.
Oh, yes! What to wear while biking and female (and Black with natural hair)? This is a question with an evolving spread of answers in my life. I learned quickly how not to wear skirts while biking (in all the wrong ways), and now I’m learning just how much fleece-lined spandex I can bear wearing at one time (not much). Throughout, I’ve kept a healthy collection of legwarmers -worn by me in all seasons.
Thanks for bringing this up for conversation -and awesome cartoons. My favorite is the “I dare you not to stare” caption.
” I dare you not to stare” hillarious!