Cycle chic
Encyclopedia
Today Cycle chic or bicycle chic refers to cycling
in fashion
able everyday clothes. The phrase Cycle Chic was coined by Mikael Colville-Andersen
in Copenhagen
, Denmark
in 2007 as the name of a fashion blog featuring cyclists - Copenhagen Cycle Chic. The fashion concept developed in popular culture to include the bicycles themselves and bicycle accessories. The first usage of the phrase 'Cycle Chic' was in KBH Magazine in Copenhagen in January, 2007.
In describing his phrase, Cycle Chic, Colville-Andersen is quoted in The Guardian as saying, "So many people in other countries have been brainwashed into believing that cycling is just a sport or a hobby and haven't entertained the thought that it could be a daily transport activity. So many Copenhageners ride in style, on normal bikes and in normal clothes. Even those who are not chic ride with an ease and elegance that borders on poetry."
in the 1880s - regular citizens on bicycles. Cycling was fashionable from the late 1880s and through the 1940s. At the end of the 19th century, the height of cycle chic was to play polo
on bicycles, using long-handled tennis rackets and rubber balls. Women's wear such as corset
s and petticoat
s was impractical for cycling and so rational dress was required. Divided skirts, bloomers
and knickerbockers were tried as fashionable women tried to resolve the matter without provoking hostility, ridicule or violence.
In the mid-90's, the rising number of bicycle messenger
s throughout late 80's and early 90's made bicycling very visible. The now-chairperson of Fashion Department at the Pratt Institute
, Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, then described the source of the styles as "when you see bike messengers in the street and then you see them walking in the building and how they mix street clothing with bike things" and fashion-brands such as Dolce & Gabbana
, DKNY
and FILA
would start making fashionable bikewear.
Today it is associated with utility cycling
in everyday clothes rather than helmets or specialist clothes usually associated with sports cycling and is especially prominent in cities, with many bicycle-commuters such as Amsterdam
(Netherlands
), Basel
(Switzerland
), Berlin
(Germany
), Paris
(France
), Berne
(Switzerland), Bristol
(England
) and, not least, Copenhagen
(Denmark
) and is promoted by news pictures of celebrities such as Agyness Deyn
cycling in this way encourages others.
s, and the Velorbis. Picking up on the Cycle Chic trend early on, various fashion houses like Chanel
and Gucci
designed their own bicycles. Vogue UK fashion editors mention Pashley
s and Ridgeback
s. Cargo-carrying accessories such as baskets and pet carriers have been re-designed. A journalist in The Australian
writes that bicycle helmet
s are notably absent.
s picturing men and women in stylish everyday-clothes on classic bicycles. There are over 100 Cycle Chic blogs and most of them are associated with the original blog, Copenhagen Cycle Chic, dubbed "The Sartorialist on two wheels" and selected as one of the 10 best fashion blogs by The Guardian
. Today the company Cycle Chic / Copenhagenize in Copenhagen behind the Copenhagen Cycle Chic and Copenhagenize.com blogs holds the territorial trademark of Cycle Chic and only allows usage "for the idealistic purpose of non-commercial bicycle advocacy". The company has published a manifesto.
A list of women's bike blogs worldwide includes links to many of the officially affiliated Cycle Chic blogs, as well as to others that also cover biking and fashion.
Cycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
in fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
able everyday clothes. The phrase Cycle Chic was coined by Mikael Colville-Andersen
Mikael Colville-Andersen
Mikael Colville-Andersen is a Danish-Canadian filmmaker, photographer and urban mobility expert with Copenhagenize Consulting....
in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
in 2007 as the name of a fashion blog featuring cyclists - Copenhagen Cycle Chic. The fashion concept developed in popular culture to include the bicycles themselves and bicycle accessories. The first usage of the phrase 'Cycle Chic' was in KBH Magazine in Copenhagen in January, 2007.
In describing his phrase, Cycle Chic, Colville-Andersen is quoted in The Guardian as saying, "So many people in other countries have been brainwashed into believing that cycling is just a sport or a hobby and haven't entertained the thought that it could be a daily transport activity. So many Copenhageners ride in style, on normal bikes and in normal clothes. Even those who are not chic ride with an ease and elegance that borders on poetry."
History
Cycle Chic is a modern phrase to describe something that has existed since the invention of the bicycleBicycle
A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....
in the 1880s - regular citizens on bicycles. Cycling was fashionable from the late 1880s and through the 1940s. At the end of the 19th century, the height of cycle chic was to play polo
Polo
Polo is a team sport played on horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team. Sometimes called, "The Sport of Kings", it was highly popularized by the British. Players score by driving a small white plastic or wooden ball into the opposing team's goal using a...
on bicycles, using long-handled tennis rackets and rubber balls. Women's wear such as corset
Corset
A corset is a garment worn to hold and shape the torso into a desired shape for aesthetic or medical purposes...
s and petticoat
Petticoat
A petticoat or underskirt is an article of clothing for women; specifically an undergarment to be worn under a skirt or a dress. The petticoat is a separate garment hanging from the waist ....
s was impractical for cycling and so rational dress was required. Divided skirts, bloomers
Bloomers
Bloomers may refer to:* Bloomers , the undergarment named after Amelia Bloomer.* Bloomers , the 1979 BBC sitcom by James Saunders, starring Richard Beckinsale....
and knickerbockers were tried as fashionable women tried to resolve the matter without provoking hostility, ridicule or violence.
In the mid-90's, the rising number of bicycle messenger
Bicycle messenger
Bicycle messengers are people who work for courier companies carrying and delivering items by bicycle. Bicycle messengers are most often found in the central business districts of metropolitan areas...
s throughout late 80's and early 90's made bicycling very visible. The now-chairperson of Fashion Department at the Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...
, Rebeccah Pailes-Friedman, then described the source of the styles as "when you see bike messengers in the street and then you see them walking in the building and how they mix street clothing with bike things" and fashion-brands such as Dolce & Gabbana
Dolce & Gabbana
Dolce & Gabbana is an Italian luxury industry fashion house. The company was started by the Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in Milan, Italy. By 2005 their turnover was €597 million....
, DKNY
DKNY
DKNY is a label of fashion designer Donna Karan. It is also the name of a clothing store in New York City featuring Donna Karan's associated line.-History:...
and FILA
Fila (company)
Fila is one of the world's largest sportswear manufacturing companies. Founded in 1911 in Italy, Fila has been owned and operated from South Korea since a takeover in 2007. Headed by chairman and CEO Yoon-Soo Yoon, Fila now has offices in 11 countries worldwide....
would start making fashionable bikewear.
Today it is associated with utility cycling
Utility cycling
Utility cycling encompasses any cycling not done primarily for fitness, recreation such as cycle touring, or sport such as cycle racing, but simply as a means of transport...
in everyday clothes rather than helmets or specialist clothes usually associated with sports cycling and is especially prominent in cities, with many bicycle-commuters such as Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
(Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
), Basel
Basel
Basel or Basle In the national languages of Switzerland the city is also known as Bâle , Basilea and Basilea is Switzerland's third most populous city with about 166,000 inhabitants. Located where the Swiss, French and German borders meet, Basel also has suburbs in France and Germany...
(Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
), Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
(Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
), Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
), Berne
Berne
The city of Bern or Berne is the Bundesstadt of Switzerland, and, with a population of , the fourth most populous city in Switzerland. The Bern agglomeration, which includes 43 municipalities, has a population of 349,000. The metropolitan area had a population of 660,000 in 2000...
(Switzerland), Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
(England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) and, not least, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
(Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
) and is promoted by news pictures of celebrities such as Agyness Deyn
Agyness Deyn
Agyness Deyn is an English fashion model, actress and singer.-Early life:Deyn is from Failsworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester...
cycling in this way encourages others.
Bicycles and accessories
Models mentioned in various early 21st century media as chic include vintage Schwinns, three-speed RaleighRaleigh Bicycle Company
The Raleigh Bicycle Company is a bicycle manufacturer originally based in Nottingham, UK. It is one of the oldest bicycle companies in the world. From 1921 to 1935 Raleigh also produced motorcycles and three-wheel cars, leading to the formation of the Reliant Company.-Early years:Raleigh's history...
s, and the Velorbis. Picking up on the Cycle Chic trend early on, various fashion houses like Chanel
Chanel
Chanel S.A. is a French fashion house founded by the couturier Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel, well established in haute couture, specializing in luxury goods . She gained the name "Coco" while maintaining a career as a singer at a café in France...
and Gucci
Gucci
The House of Gucci, better known simply as Gucci , is an Italian fashion and leather goods label, part of the Gucci Group, which is owned by French company PPR...
designed their own bicycles. Vogue UK fashion editors mention Pashley
Pashley Cycles
Pashley Cycles is an English bicycle manufacturer in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, England, established in 1926. The company has been making bicycles for more than 80 years.-History:...
s and Ridgeback
Ridgeback (bicycles)
Ridgeback is a brand of cycles under the Madison Brand which in turn is part of the H. Young group of companies. Madison, based in Stanmore, London, also owns the Genesis and Saracen brands of cycles....
s. Cargo-carrying accessories such as baskets and pet carriers have been re-designed. A journalist in The Australian
The Australian
The Australian is a broadsheet newspaper published in Australia from Monday to Saturday each week since 14 July 1964. The editor in chief is Chris Mitchell, the editor is Clive Mathieson and the 'editor-at-large' is Paul Kelly....
writes that bicycle helmet
Bicycle helmet
A bicycle helmet is a helmet intended to be worn while riding a bicycle. They are designed to attenuate impacts to the skull of a cyclist in falls while minimizing side effects such as interference with peripheral vision...
s are notably absent.
Cycle chic blog
The term cycle chic is also associated with a number of related blogBlog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
s picturing men and women in stylish everyday-clothes on classic bicycles. There are over 100 Cycle Chic blogs and most of them are associated with the original blog, Copenhagen Cycle Chic, dubbed "The Sartorialist on two wheels" and selected as one of the 10 best fashion blogs by The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. Today the company Cycle Chic / Copenhagenize in Copenhagen behind the Copenhagen Cycle Chic and Copenhagenize.com blogs holds the territorial trademark of Cycle Chic and only allows usage "for the idealistic purpose of non-commercial bicycle advocacy". The company has published a manifesto.
A list of women's bike blogs worldwide includes links to many of the officially affiliated Cycle Chic blogs, as well as to others that also cover biking and fashion.