I came upon these two bike related photos while surfing aimlessly at 5:00am. They are from the highly regarded The Satorialist site.
Why are Parisians so elegant? Take this Lady, despite being strangled by a blond rat she just oozes style.
And this fellow from Milan is me in a few years (if only).
20 November, 2008
Style
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27 comments:
both riding cheap, easily replaceable bikes made for comfort and utility.
Neither of those bikes would be comfortable or useful for my commute.
Not everywhere is Amsterdam.
True. In this case it's Paris and Milan.
I just came back from a vacation that included five nights in Paris. Most people were riding (in my opinion) ugly Velib rentals and not the elegant and inexpensive utility bikes pictured.
Parisians are elegant because their primary mode of transport is walking, they do not overeat, they do not go through life with soda cans and hi-calorie coffee drinks permanently attached to their hands, and they care enough about their appearance not to go out in gym clothes.
While Parisians don't walk around with soda cans, and high caloric coffee drinks, they do walk around munching an baguettes.
They also don't smile much, which might make them appear more serious, elegant in the eyes of visiting yokels like me.
And don't forget Copenhagen Cycle Chic: http://www.copenhagencyclechic.com/
Chris, you never fail to point me to some other site that I would otherwise not have visited but enjoy once you link to it. Cheers for that.
I couldn't care less about fashion. Superficial crap for shallow people.
The previous comment obviously comes from a deep and sensitive individual. Fashion and style are forms of expression, a minor form of art if you will. To obsess over them may be shallow, but to be oblivious to them is to be out of touch with society.
That woman could be my wife - except my wife is younger and has brown hair and wouldn't wear an animal around her neck. And we live in the USA.
I see people like this every time I ride around NYC. I've also seen stylish commuters in Portland, Boston and SanFran.
I don't mean to judge or disrespect those that gear up to ride - that certainly has it's place, but I do find it really refreshing to see folks riding/using bikes in non-bike clothing.
nv
It seems to me people who call fashion a "minor art form" or a form of expression, are the type who like to judge others by what they wear. Shallow indeed!
It's vanity, not art. And yes, vanity is B.S.
Anon 15:30,
Sounds like you are being pretty quick to judge. I'll leave it at that.
As Joe Pesci said in Easy Money, "Men don't have style-men wear clothes".
Ditto on our Parisian brethren not smiling much.
Might as well cite the Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog if you got tipped by them...
The French tend to look chic because they are, generally speaking, comfortable with being alive and being themselves. They see life as art and do not view 'drab' as worthy of their time. I wish more people did (not because i am shallow) because it is that view that gets things like large public bike systems and universal health care and public art and descent food.... of we see our lives as beautiful and creative then that is what our lives will be.
As to 'comfortable' bikes, we all have different needs. I for one can not ride drop bars and my seat has to be lower than my hand position or I can't ride, so don't hate on the rides just love your own.
Two words: Pantani and Cipollini. Euros are just as capable of slobbery as North Americans. Judging their 'best' against our 'worst' doesn't do anybody any good. I bet it would take as long to find a fat slobby person dressed in acid wash and a dirty t-shirt in a Parisian (or Milanese) suburban mall as it would to spot its American counterpart.
mb
i guess its all context - acid wash and a dirty t-shirt is high fashion in willaimsburg.
Anon 14:56..you should reread the post you are commenting (trolling?) about. The word "fashion" is never mentioned.
It strikes me that the Parisan would be rather ordinary EXCEPT FOR THE RAT! not in spite of it.
I'm pushin' the old gentleman in age, but I don't look like that. I don't agree with 14:56, but I do dress like I do.
Have you ever noticed that the Anonymes, as a group, tend to have so much apparent pent up anger? (I am ever so tempted to post this as an Anonyme)
"if we see our lives as beautiful and creative then that is what our lives will be."
"Beauty will save the world" it's up to us to see the beauty in others, and to act beautifully ourselves-there is beauty in everyone. Rather than flagellating ourselves, think about it. :)
I agree Gunner. I'm never surprised to see how defensive and reactionary Americans are when confronted with how much better the Europeans have it.
Riding keeps you young and they don't fall into the bike scene and wear all the bike gear, they just ride there bikes to get somewhere and get on with there lives.
Ps. It's faux fur.
I notice that the first photo was also pick up by Copenhagen Cycle Chic and by Velorution. Great minds... :<)
Excuse me while I put on my wingtips and blazer and go for a ride. What color pocket square goes with a silver frame?
Huh.
This is an odd venue for hating "fashion".
Why are you drawn to these bicycles and accessories? Aren't they superficial crap for shallow people?
I look Great, and I like it that way. These bike stylings in here only aid me in this pursuit.
The anonymous postings in this blog are oft ignorable.
As Oscar Wilde said, only shallow people don't care about appearances. That's the elegant way to say it. The un-PC way to say it is, No Fat Chicks.
;-)
Those bikes wouldn't work for me either for the distance and terrain I ride in L.A., but those are nice 3-mile bikes for sure.
Fashion and style are two different things. There's nothing "shallow" about recognizing that certain clothes are more becoming and flattering on a person and dressing accordingly.
Parisians eat smaller quantities of satisfying, often fatty foods. They aren't guilty about indulging a bit. Their government doesn't fund corn like ours does as as a result they don't have nearly as much corn derivatives in their diets. They tend to eat local and organic by default. They walk or ride everywhere.
It's simple, really. Eat satisfying food, know what you eat, and be a bit active.
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