We all know riding a bicycle makes you look and feel cooler. Well, big earphones tend to do the same. What about wearing both at the same time? The look just becomes unbeatable. It's effortless coolness that reflects a chill, good time. The bicycle and the big bugs are two items that guarantee a good time. Here's a small collection of moments of people enjoying urban fabric with their bicycle and big headphones on.
Cruising through Paris with Velolib' bicycle is a common thing, but this lady stands out with her casual yet stylish look.
What can describe femininity more then heels, stand out accessories and confidence.
Beige and blue.... Keeping it simple and playing with tones... Can you spot the little heels?
Freshen it up with a colourful piece. This is Parisian style. What else do you need?
And if you can... match your bike with your bag.
This woman just represents them all!!! Chic yet simple. The vintage bike and red lips, all black and red nails! She's got it!
We were in Paris for 5 days and we need to admit that CycleChic loves Paris! In Paris you can spot all kind of urban cyclists - the sporty ones, the chic ones, the "I don't care" ones... But what connects them is cycling through one of the most beautiful city in the world - Paris. More posts with the recap of our Paris journey coming up in the next days!
These two Parisiennes, Virna and Omar, are leaving Copenhagen tomorrow. Which is regrettable. They have been guests at Casa Cycle Chic, renting out my guest room through Airbnb.com and riding around the city for five days on my guest bicycles. It's always regrettable to see guests leave.
I've been hosting guests through Airbnb since last year and it's been fantastic. I grew up in a home where the doors were never locked and friends, family and neighbours waltzed in unannouced and made themselves at home. That's the kind of home I try to create for me and my kids and Airbnb has helped inject a splendid amount of cosmopolitanism into our humble home.
Most of the guests who visit know me through Cycle Chic or Copenhagenize.com or the company, but there are also others who end up here for whatever other reason. When I tell my kids that guests are arriving, they ask where they're from and look forward to meeting them. The kids are bilingual, so it's great for them to practice their English, too.
When Virna and Omar were leaving, The Lulu - aged 4 - announced that she missed them already. I take that as the ultimate accolade for any guest who visits. Virna and Omar enjoyed playing with Lulu and they got the biggest hugs from her when they left.
And not only that, they were kind enough to buy a present for me from the bookshop at the Danish Design Center. Perfect for my many work-related journeys with Cycle Chic and Copenhagenize. Merci! You're welcome back anytime.
This is what the internet does. Bring people together. I experience it every time I travel, meeting people who read this blog and who thank us for it. It strikes deep in the heart each and every time.
Now I have the chance to welcome guests here at home and that just doubles the joy.
Paris. City of cities. And now also city of bikes. Especially the Vélib' used above - a public bicycle sharing system - has been a huge success with lots of daily users.
Here a guy looking cool on his vintage bike at Notre Dame. When I was a student in Paris in the 1980's you would hardly see any bikes at all. Now the streets are full of lovely Cycle Chic Parisians.
A colourful and innovative Russian inspired combination.
Sharon from The Nightfly blog sent us the link to the video for Danish singer Tina Dickow's Sacre Coeur number. Classy Danish singer cycling chic in Paris on the Vélib bicycles. Deux villes - deux roues - in heels. Brilliant.
Our friend Richard over at the US bike blog Cyclelicious spotted these vintage Cycle Chic shots in the LIFE magazine archives. Brilliant stuff. They were taken by photographer Ralph Morse in Paris, 1945. As we all know by now, elegance on bicycles is as old as the bicycle itself. Citizen Cyclists of both sexes have used the bicycle to get around - in style - for more than 125 years.
Cycle Chic is just the name (and now trademark) I gave to the genre. It is, however, wonderful to see shots similar to the ones we've been taking for over four years dating from Paris just after the war. Now, the bicycle is back. History is repeating itself. The world will be a better place.
Classic photograph from the hand of Henri Cartier-Bresson, taking in Paris, May 1968, during the society-changing demonstrations iniated by the students.
I was asked in an interview recently what the best cities for Cycle Chic are and it was a good question. I figured I'd whip up a Top 5 List of the Cycle Chic'est Cities on the planet. I limited the list to larger metropolises. Being a Cycle Chic Metropolis requires, basically, two elements. A high fashion bar among the population and... bicycles. It requires that a city has a developed bicycle culture, meaning that the bicycle is an important and respected transport option that is used by regular citizens. Citizens who don't identify themselves as being 'cyclists' or members of a sub-culture but who merely use a bicycle to get around. In many ways, Cycle Chic is synonomous with Mainstraim Bicycle Culture.
1. COPENHAGEN,DENMARK This probably doesn't surprise you, but we're going with Copenhagen at #1. The reason, apart from the fact that bicycles are an integral part of life in the world's cycling capital, is that the fashion bar is frightfully high in Copenhagen.
Copenhageners are simply an incredibly well-dressed bunch. You'll see well-dressed people in every city but in the Danish capital style and textile æsthetics are a fabric extension of the Danish design tradition. If we measure the procentage of a city's population who are well-dressed, Copenhagen is way ahead.
Whatever they're wearing, Copenhageners just hop onto bicycles to get around. Crappy, squeaky bicycles, fancy bicycles, cargo bikes, whatever. The city gets extra bonus points for the rather recent development of investing in cooler bicycles. For over a century bicycles were black and heavy. With the economic boom of the last decade, bicycles were all of a sudden available in all sorts of colours and styles. Now Copenhageners can accessorize with their bicycles. Chic. Cycles. Cycle Chic.
2. TOKYO, JAPAN At #2, Tokyo. Fashion capital of the planet. Sure, we look to the catwalks of Milano and Paris to see what's coming, but it is in Tokyo that the clothes make an impact. Even the greeters who bow at customers inside the doors of department stores are wearing ensembles worth more than annual salary.
As far as bicycles go, Japan is third only to Denmark and Holland regarding mainstream bicycle culture. Bicycles abound in this major car-producing nation. You'll see more bicycles in the racks around Shibuya Station on any day of the week than you'll see on the streets of New York and London combined in the course of a year.
In the 'Well-Dressed Sweepstakes' Tokyo nudges ahead of Copenhagen but loses points on the bicycle front. There is less separated infrastructure for bikes than in Copenhagen and, say, Osaka or Kyoto. Cyclists often ride on the sidewalks, which is great for Style over Speed, but the city would be that much more Cycle Chic friendly with bike lane catwalks for the impeccably-dressed citizens.
3. AMSTERDAM, THENETHERLANDS To be completely honest, it's a tight race in the top three. Amsterdam breathes down Tokyo and Copenhagen's neck on the Cycle Chic Cities list. The bicycle is king in Amsterdam, no doubt about that. Amsterdam and Copenhagen are the Romulus and Remus of modern bicycle culture.
One thing that always strikes us about Amsterdammers is their fantastic individual style. They are so cool, unique and relaxed, with a high level of 'urban funk' in their style.
We find the Amsterdam affection for clunky old bicycles to be fantastically charming. They compliment their non-chalant attitude brilliantly.
4.PARIS,FRANCE Basically, if you don't include Paris on any list that has anything to do with fashion or style, they send a stiletto clad task force after you to blow cigarette smoke in your face and to shrug in your general direction.
Fortunately, including Paris at #4 wasn't a difficult choice. Ever since the Vélib bike share programme showed up in the city, the French capital has been under a constant and brilliant transformation to a much more liveable city. Here's a previous Cycle Chic article about the Vélib system's influence on the city.
Since Vélib started, 2 million private bicycles have been sold in the city and it shows. So... the city is virtually bicycle-friendly, which certainly counts on the Cycle Chic scale. Fashion-wise... well... it's Paris. The fashion bar is high and the people who are using the Vélib bicycles and private bicycles are people who you would otherwise ride the Metro with. Impeccably-dressed gents and fabulously-fab fashionistas.
If the city keeps up it's push for a more bicycle-friendly future, you'll see Paris muscling it's way up this list.
5. LONDON,UNITEDKINGDOM We had to think about #5 for a while, but London ended up rolling away with the honours. Cycling is up and coming in the city and there are a lot of positive players promoting it. Much of our decision for the #5 spot is based on a two-day photo gig in the city back in June last year. Sitting outside Lock 7 Café in Hackney and watching the morning bicycle traffic roll past was like sitting in Copenhagen or Amsterdam. It blew us away.
Sure, most are fairweather cyclists and sure, there is a lot of lycra about, but hey... it's London, innit. Global city and all that. Fashion centre supreme. "Get on with it, mate" attitude. If there's one global city that has the potential to follow in Paris' footsteps, it's London. From the Swinging Sixties to the Two-Wheeled Teens.
Waiting in the Wings So who's coming up fast from behind? What cities are - hopefully - soon reaching a level of mainstream urban cycling and therewith glorious Cycle Chicaliciousness? Three come to mind right off the bat.
TORONTO There is a great deal of effort being made in Toronto to push cycling over into the mainstream realm and already the streets are graced with chic cyclists of both sexes. MONTREAL With the success of the BIXI bikes share system Montreal is following in the footsteps of many French cities by bringing cycling as transport back to the people.
SAN FRANCISCO If there is an American city that has the will and the style to reach the heights of Cycle Chic, it's San Francisco. It's where I left my heart.
