The urban fabric in a Life-Sized City provides space. It provides space for mobility, expression and socialization. This shot from a Saturday afternoon in Vesterbrogade, one of the main streets in Copenhagen, is a simple example of the freedom . It was a busy day on the streets, but this girl knows how to work it all out riding on her bicycle and keeping it chic.
She knows she has enough space as a bicycle user and cars won't mess with that. She rides easy and glamorously carrying large cargo, talking on the phone and rocking a green, poncho sweater.
She shows off her style without endeavor because the blue lane is her runway.
Grey is a color of choice this winter in Copenhagen. Preferably spun in natural wool to underline the understated elegant streak. Easy to accessorize. Black/White, Red/Green. Grey is easy on the eyes and works well with almost everything.
Besides looking good, wool is great for keeping you warm on a cold morning ride. There are a lot of comfortable ride-friendly half-length coats and capes to choose from. Especially lots of Surtout drawn coats - with over-sized buttons to match. Above double lined buttons with dark-grey Grand Beret on top and below single line buttons topped off with a matching grey Beanie Hat.
Perfectly presentable and entirely practical. Top buttons only make for maximum mobility, with a wide overlap to avoid adverse winds creeping in. Oversized scarf and grey bag to go.
Grey poncho. Turquoise dress. Black leggings. All draped in the hazy morning greyness. The large buttons are set over her left shoulder and - another Copenhagen favourite - the mobile phone in her right hand.
That magical moment when the bicycle is pushed into motion. This time featuring Wifealiciousness. Simple Saturday evening shot. There is order in the percieved chaos.
The first snowfall of the winter over Copenhagen. It started gently. I was in a café taking a spot of lunch and when the flakes started drifting down the bartender put on Christmas music. So very cosy. The Copenhagener above didn't seem to mind.
It started snowing more as the light faded and Copenhagners sped through it on their way home.
It started to stick in the early evening. The bike lane snowploughs hit the lanes but until there get there, you just muscle on through.
In the centre of the city the snow quickly turned to slush but snow and slush are no good excuse not to take your bike and hit the town on a Friday night.
Copenhagener looking as stylish as ever in the evening. No doubt heading off to meet friends and have a great night. While others were heading out on the town, I was heading home, knowing all too well that sledding was on the menu for me and the kids in the morning.
For some strange reason this short film by François Truffaut popped into my head the other day. Les Mistons - The Brats - was one of his first directorial efforts, in 1957. It laid the groundwork for the adolescent themes in some of his later films. It's about five boys who quite fancy an 'older woman' and who subsequently get jealous when she takes a lover.
No, this hasn't turned into a film blog, I'm including it here because the first 3:30 of the film is a beautiful woman on a bicycle. Skirts a'fluttering. As they have since the bicycle was invented - so feel free to giggle when somebody tells you cycling is only a 'sport'. That's why I call it Bicycle Culture 2.0 [beta]. We've all been there before and we're going there again. Regular people on normal bikes in everyday clothes. All over the world.
”In the late 19th century, large numbers of women were already using bicycles to get to work, women office workers and shop assistants wending their way each weekday morning from the suburbs to the town. They found the bicycle a convenient form of transport for distances up to, say, ten miles”. John Woodeforde ”The Story of the Bicycle”, 1970
And they weren't wearing lycra or riding carbon fibre contraptions and they weren't restricted to flat areas. The Sartorialist - aka The Colville-Andersen on No Wheels - :-) posted a couple of lovely bicycle shots recently. The film above was shot in Nîmes and this photo is in Paris.
Nothing French about this shot, I just like it. Taken at the new Royal Theatre - Skuespilhuset - on the harbour in Copenhagen.
Autumn approaches and the poncho trend from last spring is revived as the days grow cooler. Here's a colourful version flowing past on St. Hans Square in Copenhagen.
Wifealiciousness knits her own ponchos out of pure Icelandic wool and she sells them on her website Modler.dk [Danish language] if anyone in Greater Copenhagen fancies one.
As Vince on the British show The Mighty Boosh says, "It is impossible to be unhappy in a poncho."
The Clint made them a style icon in his spaghetti westerns - around about the time this funky Copenhagener was a youngster.
