Cycle Chic & Muuse.com - Match Made in Heaven

Readers may recall the post about Cycle Chic's film shoot with Muuse.com from a while back. We're pleased to finally be able to present the film we made in collaboration with Muuse.

We shot it out at Amager Beach in Copenhagen a couple of months ago. It was a chilly day but we are pleased that the film has a hint of summer to it.

For us at Cycle Chic, Muuse is the perfect playmate. Not only are we good friends socially and professionally, the whole concept of Muuse is appealing to us. The fashion industry is hopelessly unsustainable. Big companies produce piles of clothes and, if they don't get sold, they are shredded and thrown away. Muuse features top young designers and customers can order the outfits on their website. When a certain number of orders are reached, Muuse puts the outfit into production. Ethically and locally.

The designs chosen for the film are all harmonious with the bicycle and go hand in hand with the inherent aestheticism of the two-wheeled machine. Bike geeks will bang on about goofy "cycling clothes" with reflective bits and pieces or "urban cycling trousers" (we've been riding bicycles for a century without needing them) but we'll just send you to this blogpost for our point of view about this. And while we're at it, this little film explains why we prefer to be citizens who use bicycles to get around instead of "cyclists".

Anyway... these outfits are haute couture, sure, but we love them for their flowing fabric movement. Bicycles, by their very nature, create a movement of air around us. Designs that accentuate and compliment this natural flow of air add to the appealing nature of seeing Citizen Cyclists on bicycles. Not surprisingly, we filmed the bicycle shots from a Nihola cargo bike. And thanks to Velorbis for loaning us the bicycles used by our model.

The designs used in the film are by Linda Vasel, Nathalie Fordeyn and Laura Baruël - three designers collaborating with Muuse.com.



Director: Mikael Colville-Andersen / Cycle Chic
Cinematographer: Theis Mortensen
Model: Maria Bloch-Jørgensen
Styling: Muuse.com

Muuse.com

Cycle Chic Meets Muuse.com

Cycle Chic has teamed up with our friends at Muuse.com to make a film combining Muuse's brilliant fashion with Cycle Chic's eye for bicycles. We headed out to one of the many beaches around Copenhagen last Friday to shoot and here are some of the still photos from the day. Thanks to Velorbis for the bicycles, too.

It was a brilliant day. A little chilly, if you ask us, but our model Maria is a viking and she put on a brave face. We wrapped her in fur and blankets between every take and took good care of her. Most of the shooting featured many of Muuse's creations from their talented designers but we always included some classic Cycle Chic bicycle ridin'. Of course we did. We couldn't live without it.


Muuse.com has also written about the behind the scenes action from the film shoot over at their blog.








It goes without saying that when we did the mobile shots, we used a cargo bike from Nihola. Mikael rode the trike and Theis, the cinematographer, sat in the box.

Right then... we'd better get started editing the film. Keep your eyes on this space. It's coming soon. Well... kind of soon. Soonish.

Muuse.com - Welcome to Slow Fashion

Gitte Jonsdatter and David Denker from Muuse.com

We here at Cycle Chic love our friends. When our friends are visionary, creative and passionate - it's even better. Gitte and David, above, are on the cusp of launching a fantastic new fashion concept.

MUUSE.COM

Tomorrow they are lauching their concept and website and we're pretty excited about it. Muuse is all about Slow Fashion. Small batch, made-to-order pieces by young independent fashion designers, made right here in Copenhagen.

Gitte and David describe the fashion industry as a "hopeless, unsustainable business" - retail shops are filled with uninspired clothing that is being mass-produced and then thrown out when it doesn't sell, while talented young designers waste away in 'day jobs' hoping to launch their own work someday.

Here's what the website will look like after the launch. Above and below.


Setting up on their own in order to have things produced and sold to retailers is too complex and expensive for independent designers, so most of the new design is never produced.

Gitte's background in design education plus David's in social web business models gave the two of them an idea: why not give young fashion designers a place to show their work, see whether people will buy it, offer production support the designers need to produce and sell? On www.MUUSE.com, designers show off their concepts and prototypes. If you, the customer, order it, MUUSE will have it produced just for you. You have to be one of the first 100, though. The pieces are all limited edition.


Gitte and David are launching fashion democracy. There is no need for fashion editors to tell you what is hot or not. There is no need for multi-kabillion dollars fashion houses with factories across the third world. There is just You and The Designer. With Muuse in the middle.

We're looking forward to the Muuse launch tomorrow and we're wishing Gitte and David best of luck with their passion-driven venture.