(Forgive me, folks, I'm a couple of months behind on my blog reading, but I had to share my thoughts on this...)
So. Wanting to wear stylish clothing on my bicycle makes me a tool of the patriarchy?
*Eyeroll*
Heaven knows there are lots of sexualized 'cycle chic' photos that have been circulated that have almost nothing to do with bicycles and everything to do with the male gaze - for amazing commentary on that see Sweet Georgia Brown - and lots of other 'cycle chic' photos that have everything to do with selling us stuff we don't need. The criticism that the cycle chic movement is vulnerable to being co-opted by sexism and consumerism is a valid one. However. That doesn't mean the movement itself is sexist and consumerist.
On a continent where girls stop using their bikes sometime in their teens because they think it makes them look dorky, and where the idea that bicycling is a fringe activity is used to justify rolling back funding of much-needed bike infrastructure, I believe that photos of women and men (of all ages, sizes, and shapes) enjoying bicycle rides to go places and do things help to make cycling more accessible.
As for the perception that cycle chic prescribes a particular, exclusive, commercial version of fashionable: I do not believe that expensive clothes, or expensive bikes, are a prerequisite for cycle chic. That line about your clothes being more valuable than your bike in the Cycle Chic Manifesto? I think its author is talking about using the bike as a tool for living - along the lines of his post about your bike being like a vacuum cleaner. I stand with Velouria on that topic, and think emotional attachment to bikes we've customized to our tastes is part of what makes bicycling appealing - but the point is that perhaps he's using 'value' (not expense) as a stand-in for relative importance. He's saying it's not about the bike, it's about your personal style and your needs, and that your bike should suit you, not the other way around.
I don't believe that youth and a standard definition of beauty are requirements of cycle chic, either.
It doesn't matter if you wear something you've made, something you've thrifted, something you found in a big-box bargain bin or something you had to get on a haute couture wait-list to buy. It doesn't matter if you're twenty or forty or eighty. What matters - with both personal style, and cycle chic - is that you feel great about yourself, and that you're having fun. To me, the most attractive thing about any photo of a bicyclist is the sense that they're having fun on their bike. They look great because they feel great, no matter what they're wearing.
I'm a 40-year-old plus-size mother of two who lives in the suburbs. I ride relatively inexpensive workhorse 3-speeds, for fun and the occasional grocery run, and I stop riding when the snow flies (icy roads plus drivers not expecting to see cyclists in outer-ring subdivisions is a bad combination). I have a closet full of jeans and t-shirts and thrift-shop finds and handmade jewelry. I rarely wear makeup, and I don't do designer labels (Well, I have this one scarf, but it's not an obvious status piece.). I am a chic cyclist, and a feminist, and an advocate for better bicycle infrastructure and more sustainable living.
None of these facts preclude any of the others.
What a shame that some bicycle advocates don't see it that way. I guess they're just not listening.
(PS: Yes, I know there's an issue with the Disqus comments right now - I am waiting on their support people to tell me how to fix it. Apparently they upgraded their back end and broke the CSS somehow. Meanwhile, you can read the white-text-on-white-background if you highlight the comments.)
Showing posts with label cycle chic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cycle chic. Show all posts
02 December 2011
11 July 2011
More Japanese Cycle Culture
Although all my coolest cycle-chic photos from Japan have already been posted, I have a few more photos to share with you - I'm especially excited about the ones of an old Bridgestone Cycle rod-brake bike that I'd forgotten all about seeing.
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| This sign above the sidewalk in Tokyo explains that it's a multiuse path. |
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| Tokyo, May 21st. |
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| A delivery trailer outside a courier company - the same one that delivered our rented cell phone to our hotel. |
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| You can rent bicycles for use on the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, so chances are pretty good that this white guy rented his sweet ride. Rain during the last part of our trip dissuaded us from returning to try this out. |
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| At the Asakusa Kannon Temple in Tokyo. |
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| Notice all the bicycles parked to one side of the intersection! A lot of the famous neon signs in Shinjuku were still turned off to save electricity at this point. |
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| Parked inside a shop in Hida-Takayama (Gifu prefecture) in the early morning after a rainy day. |
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| The narrow streets of the Edo-period Kami-Sannomachi district before opening time. Once the shops open, these streets are crowded with pedestrians and bicyclists, but at this early hour (about 8am) the delivery trucks can have access. May 24th. |
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| By the time we returned, the pretty loop-frame had been moved outside the shop doors. |
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| A narrow alley between houses in a residential district of Hida-Takayama. |
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| I was taking a photo of the shrine, I swear. |
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| This lovely old-timey rod-brake bike was squirrelled away in a storage area in one of the old houses at Hida No Sato, an outdoor architectural museum of mostly Edo-period farmhouses on the edge of Hida-Takayama. |
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| Bridgestone-stamped plastic (celluloid?) handles with brass caps. As you can see the bars themselves are pretty rusty. |
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| I had to reach over the bike to get this shot of the chainguard. It was definitely not set up as a display. |
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| Even the leather saddle is Bridgestone (Tokyo) branded. I wonder what the top tube is wrapped with? |
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| Headbadge shot. The poor thing could use a good cleaning but I bet it's still in working condition. Bridgestone Cycle Co Ltd was started in 1949, so it's no older than that. This headbadge is one of the ones in this photo. Given the crazy humidity and the fires kept inside each building, it could be that rusty and dusty without being particularly old. |
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| Cars, electric trolleys, pedestrians, and bicycles share a busy intersection on a rainy day in Hiroshima. Notice the two ladies riding while holding umbrellas. May 27th. |
31 October 2010
Antique Cycle Chic: part 2
After months of watch-listing, I have finally added to my collection of antique real photo postcards (or RPPCs) showing stylish women on their bicycles, which I wrote about previously.
I love RPPCs because they weren't mass produced (Our site stats show the last Antique Cycle Chic post has had hundreds of pageviews, so I guess I'm not alone!). RPPCs are actual photos of real people (that is, usually not models), printed onto postcard backing papers or stamped after printing with postcard markings, and the cameras that were used to take them very quickly became standard studio equipment and soon after were sold to the general public. This means they're unique historical documents, with only a handful of copies in existence, and they often show objects or events that were of interest to the subject, photographer, and recipient of the postcard - but not necessarily to anyone else. They're also relatively inexpensive to collect.
{By the way, I'm no expert. I haven't taken photography classes or learnt about the history of photography myself, so if anyone wants to add some information in the comments about to help contextualize RPPCs or describe the type of prints they were for people with those interests I'd really appreciate it!}
I already have great black-and-white or sepia portraits that show off womens' outfits and bicycles with skirtguards to best advantage, so I've concentrated on rounding out my collection with group shots, which are somewhat harder to find, and hand-tinted RPPCs, which were mostly studio portraits - not always true-to-life, with their painted backdrops and weird props, but great for showing the fine details of clothing.
(Temporary note: These images were screen-captured and cropped from the auction images on eBay after I purchased the items, so I could share them with you right away. As my items arrive in the mail, I'll edit this post to replace the images with higher-resolution scans, and add close-ups and more information gleaned from the backs of the cards.)
Detail of RPPC addressed to Miss E. Roberts of St. Clements, and postmarked Oxford (England) August 8th, 1905. The ladies are seen at a distance, but you can pick out straw boaters, puffed sleeves, ankle-length skirts, and bicycles with front rod brakes. This must have been a beautiful ride, as the photograph shows the most idyllic setting imaginable; that house behind them is the only one visible on the whole treed lane, which takes up most of the photo's foreground.
France, 1910s RPPC, postally unused. Long scarf on hat, long striped skirt, puffy sleeves, very Edwardian - this is pretty similar to a lot of the images in my previous antique cycle chic post. I wonder how many of the women in studio shots from this period are actually just using the bike as a prop? I can't imagine she really would have ridden a bicycle with a double top bar, no matter how covetable we now think it is.
1900-1920 RPPC, postally unused, in the French Fantasy style, with printed labels in French and German on the back. The red tint is gorgeous, isn't it? This sailor-suit type cycling costume seems to have been fairly popular, and her hairdo and lace-up boots suggest this was taken before 1920. Does anyone know if that's a culotte-style split skirt that would have been worn with this? Also notice the front rod brake, pale tires, and the placement of the bell on the head tube instead of atop the handlebars.
(Update: the vendor who sold me this RPPC is now selling reprints of it if anyone else wants a copy! Mine is the original though. =P)
This RPPC is from a Parisian studio and stamped in Dutch, "Happy Birthday". The vendor says it was postally used in 1926 (so stay tuned for more details from the message on the back). She has a sailor-suit too, and it does look like a split skirt here, but she's wearing it with a cloche, bobbed marcel-waved hair, and covetable t-strap heels. I do wish we could see more of her netted skirtguard. His outfit has the high-waisted dress slacks that you see all the actors wearing in pre-1950s movies, a shirt with cufflinks, a medium-width tie, and a newsboy cap that would do Yehuda Moon proud.
French Fantasy RPPC postally used in 1909 and stamped in French. Love the drop-bar bike with the huge chainwheel, and isn't he dashing in his newsboy cap, a tweed jacket, and cycling knickers? Maybe his moustache can inspire some of our friends who are fundraising for prostate cancer for the Movember campaign.
Circa 1910-20 RPPC, postally unused. The writing translates literally from Dutch as, "my kindnesses" (yes, I know, Google Translate has its limits). This stylish outfit would be so easy to replicate today: oxford shoes, accordion-pleated skirt, white button-up shirt, narrow tie, and a beret or tam with a pompom on top. The hat's the only part that looks dated, really - isn't that amazing? Her step-through frame with front rod brake, lamp bracket, and netted skirtguard are swoonworthy, too. Maybe someone can identify it based on the unique chainwheel and headbadge shape.
Update: that last one is actually part of a set of four found with another eBay vendor! So maybe she is a model, and these ones were printed as larger editions:
Printed in France, mailed from Bilbao to Lisbon, Portugal at the end of December 1927. He has quite a fine tweed suit, and her oxfords and teal dress are really divine! Why weren't any of the dropped bars wrapped back then? Google Translate confirms the note is written in Portuguese; on the front it introduces Yoana (Joanne would be the English version of the name) and her travelling companion, and on the back:
...that is a rather torrid love letter to the girl in the teal dress! "Good (priminsa) eve, a happy new year darling, prosperity and fortunes and the burning desire to press you see desired (untranslatable) and give you lots of kisses - Maria my queen" ...Wow. {Update: apparently Google Translate really sucks. See the translation below provided by Zizzo B by email. Thank you Zizzo!}
The seller didn't provide any information to date this RPPC, but the back is stamped "Fotografija K Audze, Viesite", which Google Translate says is Latvian for Photo Stand K - and Wikipedia has an entry for the town of Viesite. So these gorgeous girls and their beautiful bicycles with knitted skirtguards are probably from Latvia. I think their dresses and frame purses date them to the late thirties or early forties, don't you?
RPPCs seem to have fallen from favour around the time of the Second World War, so any later images I have are just regular photographs...
1940s snapshot, somewhere in the United States. They're riding rented tandem bicycles! The sign on the balloon-tire tandem with the springer fork reads, "...KE Attic / ... & BICYCLE STORE / 9702 - 51 AVE". Their outfits look perfect for the cool weather we're having now: boiled-wool jackets, leather gloves, berets, and skirts with opaque tights - and a cosy knit cardigan and dress slacks with a lovely drape to them on the lady in the rear with her feet in the air. If those are cross-shaped brooches, perhaps they're from a church group, about to embark on a delightful outing.
Pre-1950 8.5" x 11" ACME wire photo (ie, it was part of a newspaper archive's collection) taken in Palm Beach, Florida. Halter tops, t-shirts, and short shorts: classic fifties cheesecake.
15 Nov 2010 Update: the typewritten caption glued to the back of the photo reads:
Late 1940s or early 1950s, somewhere in the United States. The flip side of the snapshot reads, "Eeeegads it's Gracie". Check out Gracie's sweet balloon-tire cruiser! I think it might be a Rollfast. Penny loafers, bobby socks, rolled-up pedal pushers or jeans, thin belt, and a crew-neck t-shirt... she's wearing an early variant of every teenager's uniform for the next half-century.
I'm totally going to let these photos inform my everyday personal style. Clearly I need to go out and get myself a pair of t-strap dancers' heels, black-and-white oxfords, a beret, and an accordion-pleated skirt - and I'm still dying for a set of skirt guards. What about you? Do you see ideas here that you'll use for your everyday wardrobe or your next tweed ride?
I love RPPCs because they weren't mass produced (Our site stats show the last Antique Cycle Chic post has had hundreds of pageviews, so I guess I'm not alone!). RPPCs are actual photos of real people (that is, usually not models), printed onto postcard backing papers or stamped after printing with postcard markings, and the cameras that were used to take them very quickly became standard studio equipment and soon after were sold to the general public. This means they're unique historical documents, with only a handful of copies in existence, and they often show objects or events that were of interest to the subject, photographer, and recipient of the postcard - but not necessarily to anyone else. They're also relatively inexpensive to collect.
{By the way, I'm no expert. I haven't taken photography classes or learnt about the history of photography myself, so if anyone wants to add some information in the comments about to help contextualize RPPCs or describe the type of prints they were for people with those interests I'd really appreciate it!}
I already have great black-and-white or sepia portraits that show off womens' outfits and bicycles with skirtguards to best advantage, so I've concentrated on rounding out my collection with group shots, which are somewhat harder to find, and hand-tinted RPPCs, which were mostly studio portraits - not always true-to-life, with their painted backdrops and weird props, but great for showing the fine details of clothing.
(Temporary note: These images were screen-captured and cropped from the auction images on eBay after I purchased the items, so I could share them with you right away. As my items arrive in the mail, I'll edit this post to replace the images with higher-resolution scans, and add close-ups and more information gleaned from the backs of the cards.)
Detail of RPPC addressed to Miss E. Roberts of St. Clements, and postmarked Oxford (England) August 8th, 1905. The ladies are seen at a distance, but you can pick out straw boaters, puffed sleeves, ankle-length skirts, and bicycles with front rod brakes. This must have been a beautiful ride, as the photograph shows the most idyllic setting imaginable; that house behind them is the only one visible on the whole treed lane, which takes up most of the photo's foreground.
France, 1910s RPPC, postally unused. Long scarf on hat, long striped skirt, puffy sleeves, very Edwardian - this is pretty similar to a lot of the images in my previous antique cycle chic post. I wonder how many of the women in studio shots from this period are actually just using the bike as a prop? I can't imagine she really would have ridden a bicycle with a double top bar, no matter how covetable we now think it is.
1900-1920 RPPC, postally unused, in the French Fantasy style, with printed labels in French and German on the back. The red tint is gorgeous, isn't it? This sailor-suit type cycling costume seems to have been fairly popular, and her hairdo and lace-up boots suggest this was taken before 1920. Does anyone know if that's a culotte-style split skirt that would have been worn with this? Also notice the front rod brake, pale tires, and the placement of the bell on the head tube instead of atop the handlebars.
(Update: the vendor who sold me this RPPC is now selling reprints of it if anyone else wants a copy! Mine is the original though. =P)
This RPPC is from a Parisian studio and stamped in Dutch, "Happy Birthday". The vendor says it was postally used in 1926 (so stay tuned for more details from the message on the back). She has a sailor-suit too, and it does look like a split skirt here, but she's wearing it with a cloche, bobbed marcel-waved hair, and covetable t-strap heels. I do wish we could see more of her netted skirtguard. His outfit has the high-waisted dress slacks that you see all the actors wearing in pre-1950s movies, a shirt with cufflinks, a medium-width tie, and a newsboy cap that would do Yehuda Moon proud.
French Fantasy RPPC postally used in 1909 and stamped in French. Love the drop-bar bike with the huge chainwheel, and isn't he dashing in his newsboy cap, a tweed jacket, and cycling knickers? Maybe his moustache can inspire some of our friends who are fundraising for prostate cancer for the Movember campaign.
Circa 1910-20 RPPC, postally unused. The writing translates literally from Dutch as, "my kindnesses" (yes, I know, Google Translate has its limits). This stylish outfit would be so easy to replicate today: oxford shoes, accordion-pleated skirt, white button-up shirt, narrow tie, and a beret or tam with a pompom on top. The hat's the only part that looks dated, really - isn't that amazing? Her step-through frame with front rod brake, lamp bracket, and netted skirtguard are swoonworthy, too. Maybe someone can identify it based on the unique chainwheel and headbadge shape.
Update: that last one is actually part of a set of four found with another eBay vendor! So maybe she is a model, and these ones were printed as larger editions:
Printed in France, mailed from Bilbao to Lisbon, Portugal at the end of December 1927. He has quite a fine tweed suit, and her oxfords and teal dress are really divine! Why weren't any of the dropped bars wrapped back then? Google Translate confirms the note is written in Portuguese; on the front it introduces Yoana (Joanne would be the English version of the name) and her travelling companion, and on the back:
...that is a rather torrid love letter to the girl in the teal dress! "Good (priminsa) eve, a happy new year darling, prosperity and fortunes and the burning desire to press you see desired (untranslatable) and give you lots of kisses - Maria my queen" ...Wow. {Update: apparently Google Translate really sucks. See the translation below provided by Zizzo B by email. Thank you Zizzo!}
The seller didn't provide any information to date this RPPC, but the back is stamped "Fotografija K Audze, Viesite", which Google Translate says is Latvian for Photo Stand K - and Wikipedia has an entry for the town of Viesite. So these gorgeous girls and their beautiful bicycles with knitted skirtguards are probably from Latvia. I think their dresses and frame purses date them to the late thirties or early forties, don't you?
RPPCs seem to have fallen from favour around the time of the Second World War, so any later images I have are just regular photographs...
1940s snapshot, somewhere in the United States. They're riding rented tandem bicycles! The sign on the balloon-tire tandem with the springer fork reads, "...KE Attic / ... & BICYCLE STORE / 9702 - 51 AVE". Their outfits look perfect for the cool weather we're having now: boiled-wool jackets, leather gloves, berets, and skirts with opaque tights - and a cosy knit cardigan and dress slacks with a lovely drape to them on the lady in the rear with her feet in the air. If those are cross-shaped brooches, perhaps they're from a church group, about to embark on a delightful outing.
Pre-1950 8.5" x 11" ACME wire photo (ie, it was part of a newspaper archive's collection) taken in Palm Beach, Florida. Halter tops, t-shirts, and short shorts: classic fifties cheesecake.
15 Nov 2010 Update: the typewritten caption glued to the back of the photo reads:
Four young misses discuss "shoes and ships and ceiling wax" --- and cocoanuts and bicycles under a cocoanut tree in Palm Beach, Fla.
COURTESY CYCLE TRADES OF AMERICAI think the writer meant coconuts and sealing wax, yes? The headbadge of the cruiser with the handlebar toolbag identifies it as an American Flyer; I can't read the other headbadge even using a magnifying glass.
Late 1940s or early 1950s, somewhere in the United States. The flip side of the snapshot reads, "Eeeegads it's Gracie". Check out Gracie's sweet balloon-tire cruiser! I think it might be a Rollfast. Penny loafers, bobby socks, rolled-up pedal pushers or jeans, thin belt, and a crew-neck t-shirt... she's wearing an early variant of every teenager's uniform for the next half-century.
I'm totally going to let these photos inform my everyday personal style. Clearly I need to go out and get myself a pair of t-strap dancers' heels, black-and-white oxfords, a beret, and an accordion-pleated skirt - and I'm still dying for a set of skirt guards. What about you? Do you see ideas here that you'll use for your everyday wardrobe or your next tweed ride?
17 October 2010
Everything Looks Better With Bicycles
It seems like I have been seeing bicycles in every second magazine I open.
Okay, I get that bikes are being treated as this year's must-have accessory,
but I think it's more than that: tastemakers have discovered that
everything looks cooler when it's photographed with a bicycle.
Ironic dust-collecting sculptures of wild animals.
{The otherwise covetable apartment of editor Kevin Sharkey
in the September 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living.}
Ridiculously unwearable floor-length skirts.
(Love the cloche though!)
{Promotional email sent 13 Oct 2010 by Anthropologie.}
Huge padded eighties-style shoulders.
{Jean-Paul Gaultier via Fashionising, from July 2010}
Fur.
{Saks Fifth Avenue print ad campaign from Sept 2010 via Benepe's Bike Blog}
Shorts as office wear.
{Anna Kendrick in ELLE's October 2010 issue.}
Beauty is a state of mind, but please buy our skin cream.
{Marcelle cosmetics print advertisement in ELLE Canada, March 2009}
Seventies-style chunky-heeled boots and a Relic toque on a hyper-skinny model.
Of course, this bike is a vintage Raleigh-built Robin Hood,
so it naturally has the power to make things alluring enough to make out with.
{Print advertisement is from the October 2010 issue of In Style.}
Wait, the guy you were just snogging with has a bike with rod brakes and a double top bar?
Is that a Brooks B-33 saddle?
...Carry on, then.
{Print advertisement from ELLE Canada, September 2010}
...Powerless to resist ...the allure of ....vintage rod brakes
...combined with mothering instincts
...must ...buy ...cashmere ...scarves
{From the Autumn-Winter 2009 Burberry lookbook}
14 September 2010
Inspiration boards and practical cycle chic
Today I played with Polyvore, and tried to recover from my cold. (Please don't ask how my #30daysofbiking is going. It's not. At all.)
Polyvore is basically a site where teenaged girls can make collages of fashionable outfits using images from shopping websites, then follow links through to shop for the items - or create I LOVE YOU NONTHREATENING HEARTTHOB! posters. I ran across it because it has some interior decor products available that you can collage as well - but not enough for my taste. Luckily, cycle chic is having a moment, so there are lots of photos one can use to create inspiration boards for outfits to ride in, especially if you are willing to dig past all the studded leather jackets and boots also labelled with the search term "bike".
The outfit above is essentially all from Anthropologie, with a skirt from the Gap and a Bern helmet. The bicycle is the first black loop-frame I found, which just happened to be the Hermes-branded one. The next collage was meant to be more of a vintage-style-girlbike-pron inspiration board, and the images also include some that came from various blogs:
Yes, that is a photo of Audrey Hepburn riding a bike while wearing a very shiny PVC suit - very practical for wet days. Heh. The eagle-eyed among you will notice the Yakkay helmets, Basil basket, Electra bell, and Brooks saddle, as well as cycles from Pashley, Electra, Republic Bike for Urban Outfitters, Gucci (in two colours) and Hermes. Oh, and three different vintage Schwinns.
The last thing I did was create this collection on Polyvore, which is basically meant as a quick visual guide to practical cycle chic to inspire the site's users to ride. I'd love your feedback on it!
(Also, via a photo of a hot boy on bicycle I found on Polyvore: famous men on bicycles. Mmm, beefcake and bicycles. You're welcome, ladies.)
Polyvore is basically a site where teenaged girls can make collages of fashionable outfits using images from shopping websites, then follow links through to shop for the items - or create I LOVE YOU NONTHREATENING HEARTTHOB! posters. I ran across it because it has some interior decor products available that you can collage as well - but not enough for my taste. Luckily, cycle chic is having a moment, so there are lots of photos one can use to create inspiration boards for outfits to ride in, especially if you are willing to dig past all the studded leather jackets and boots also labelled with the search term "bike".
The outfit above is essentially all from Anthropologie, with a skirt from the Gap and a Bern helmet. The bicycle is the first black loop-frame I found, which just happened to be the Hermes-branded one. The next collage was meant to be more of a vintage-style-girlbike-pron inspiration board, and the images also include some that came from various blogs:
The last thing I did was create this collection on Polyvore, which is basically meant as a quick visual guide to practical cycle chic to inspire the site's users to ride. I'd love your feedback on it!
(Also, via a photo of a hot boy on bicycle I found on Polyvore: famous men on bicycles. Mmm, beefcake and bicycles. You're welcome, ladies.)
22 January 2010
Antique Cycle Chic (1900s-1940s)
While I waited for a chance to bring Bert-the-Bike home and install my Christmas goodies on Mary Poppins, I creeped eBay looking for Objects Of Interest. It turns out that there are lots of wonderful early photographic portraits of stylish women with their rod-brake loop-frame lovelies available. Naturally I'm now a bit obsessed with them.
In the early 20th Century, getting a professional photographic portrait done was a Really Big Deal, and I imagine that having it done with your bicycle started as a declaration of independence, then as cameras became more common it gradually became more like a rite-of-passage (like teenagers getting a photo taken in the driver's seat of their first car now). I love that they're dressed in their finest suits and hats - oh, what hats! - and that they're looking so serious and pensive for the camera. I also love the later, more candid shots, which show how practical loop-frame roadsters with fenders, chaincases, and skirtguards were for riding in everyday clothes - but the early studio photographs with carpets and curtains are awesomely incongruous. Sometimes you can learn details about the bikes themselves, like how the skirtguards attached or how high the seats were set (no way could these girls put a flat foot on the ground, like my parents taught me was necessary - that must be a cruiser-bike thing).
These real-photo picture-postcards all came from eBay sellers. I scanned them on grayscale (some are actually sepia) at high resolution, which is like having a magnifying glass, then cropped them a bit and adjusted the fill light, highlights, and shadows so they weren't quite so dark.
This studio portrait was taken in about 1910 and is labelled R. Guilleminot, Boespflug et Cie. - Paris. Check out her elaborate hat! This is definitely a corseted dress, and when you zoom in you can see she's wearing (lace?) gloves, as often seems to be the case in photos of Victorian and Edwardian ladies. There's a tantalizing glimpse of chainwheel and a clear view of the headbadge's shape, so maybe someone who knows the continental makers can identify her bicycle.
Also Edwardian, but taken in England (the back of the card says it was taken by Valentine of Canterbury and Guildford). Great gloves, and I love the way she's tied her hat on with a long sheer scarf. The skirtguards attach both in front of and behind the fork, and seem to be tied in groups of three cords. I can't read the mark on the chaincase, but perhaps a collector can tell us who made her sweet ride?
Another English card, with "Mother" handwritten on the back. Her straw boater and ribbon tie with pin are great, the blouse is polka-dotted, and she's wearing dark (leather?) gloves. What looks like a smudge on her forehead is actually wispy bangs. The skirtguard looks like it might be made of wire instead of cord, and I think her rear fender is chromed. Look at that quadrant shifter - swoon.
This pretty lady has a gorgeous netted skirtguard. Divine pleats on her dress, and charming layering of necklaces, but what I'd most like are frameless glasses like hers. Notice that she's not wearing gloves. The back of the postcard has a handwritten date of 23 Novembre 1918 and other markings in French:
If I'm reading the handwriting correctly, it translates as, "23 years old" (not shown) and "A souvenir of beautiful days passed (adverb?) in Veron - H. LaForge". (Maybe someone whose French skills surpass mine can help me with that word?)
This is a 1920s portait of a 'sportswoman', according to the seller. I love her flapper bob with pearl teardrop earrings, and the slightly rumpled pinstriped jacket and matching cap - which look almost like they might be her boyfriend's. Her dress might be seersucker, and has a couple of dirt smudges, probably acquired while riding to this destination. Is that a lucite bangle? The back of the card is unmarked except for CARTE POSTALE, Correspondance, and Adresse - so she must also be French.
I covet these German girls' cloche hats and swingy coats. Photograph (the only one that isn't an RPPC) taken in the 1930s, according to the seller.
I love this young lady's confident pose, the cardigan with mother-of-pearl buttons, matching hat, and long pearl drop earrings.
She seems to be wearing culottes, stockings, and ankle-high boots. Her bicycle has front-rod-brake handlebars, but where are the rods? Is that little flap between the front tire and the mudguard the braking surface? The logo on the chaincase says Brennabor, who were originally a prewar manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles in Brandenburg, Germany, and at some point became a Dutch-based brand instead. I'd guess she's from the 1930s-40s, based on what she's wearing, but the American seller didn't give any information to help date it. The postcard only has "Foto Bayer" (that's German) printed on the back, and two handwritten words: Kaaza (I think?), Kaan (a town in Rheinland-Pfalz).
Closeup of the Brennabor chaincase and netted skirtguard.
You can find more such photos on eBay or on Flikr by using the search terms "vintage", "bicycle", and "lady" or "woman". Sadly most of the Flikr ones are All Rights Reserved, so I can only link to my favorites: 1895, Edwardian, Edwardian, 1911, 1927, 1930s-40s slacks, 1966 culottes. Do follow the links - all these ladies and their steeds are magnificent. One of the commenters on one of these suggests that the girl is just there as window-dressing, since she obviously couldn't ride dressed like that. Isn't it telling that nobody (to date) has challenged his assumption in the comments?
This has me fantasizing about having a girly lets-dress-up bike meetup, in the Spring or early Summer, before it gets too hot, with a photo booth so we can all have great photos taken of ourselves with our steeds...
In the early 20th Century, getting a professional photographic portrait done was a Really Big Deal, and I imagine that having it done with your bicycle started as a declaration of independence, then as cameras became more common it gradually became more like a rite-of-passage (like teenagers getting a photo taken in the driver's seat of their first car now). I love that they're dressed in their finest suits and hats - oh, what hats! - and that they're looking so serious and pensive for the camera. I also love the later, more candid shots, which show how practical loop-frame roadsters with fenders, chaincases, and skirtguards were for riding in everyday clothes - but the early studio photographs with carpets and curtains are awesomely incongruous. Sometimes you can learn details about the bikes themselves, like how the skirtguards attached or how high the seats were set (no way could these girls put a flat foot on the ground, like my parents taught me was necessary - that must be a cruiser-bike thing).
These real-photo picture-postcards all came from eBay sellers. I scanned them on grayscale (some are actually sepia) at high resolution, which is like having a magnifying glass, then cropped them a bit and adjusted the fill light, highlights, and shadows so they weren't quite so dark.
This studio portrait was taken in about 1910 and is labelled R. Guilleminot, Boespflug et Cie. - Paris. Check out her elaborate hat! This is definitely a corseted dress, and when you zoom in you can see she's wearing (lace?) gloves, as often seems to be the case in photos of Victorian and Edwardian ladies. There's a tantalizing glimpse of chainwheel and a clear view of the headbadge's shape, so maybe someone who knows the continental makers can identify her bicycle.
Also Edwardian, but taken in England (the back of the card says it was taken by Valentine of Canterbury and Guildford). Great gloves, and I love the way she's tied her hat on with a long sheer scarf. The skirtguards attach both in front of and behind the fork, and seem to be tied in groups of three cords. I can't read the mark on the chaincase, but perhaps a collector can tell us who made her sweet ride?
Another English card, with "Mother" handwritten on the back. Her straw boater and ribbon tie with pin are great, the blouse is polka-dotted, and she's wearing dark (leather?) gloves. What looks like a smudge on her forehead is actually wispy bangs. The skirtguard looks like it might be made of wire instead of cord, and I think her rear fender is chromed. Look at that quadrant shifter - swoon.
This pretty lady has a gorgeous netted skirtguard. Divine pleats on her dress, and charming layering of necklaces, but what I'd most like are frameless glasses like hers. Notice that she's not wearing gloves. The back of the postcard has a handwritten date of 23 Novembre 1918 and other markings in French:
If I'm reading the handwriting correctly, it translates as, "23 years old" (not shown) and "A souvenir of beautiful days passed (adverb?) in Veron - H. LaForge". (Maybe someone whose French skills surpass mine can help me with that word?)
This is a 1920s portait of a 'sportswoman', according to the seller. I love her flapper bob with pearl teardrop earrings, and the slightly rumpled pinstriped jacket and matching cap - which look almost like they might be her boyfriend's. Her dress might be seersucker, and has a couple of dirt smudges, probably acquired while riding to this destination. Is that a lucite bangle? The back of the card is unmarked except for CARTE POSTALE, Correspondance, and Adresse - so she must also be French.
Closeup of her netted skirtguard.
I covet these German girls' cloche hats and swingy coats. Photograph (the only one that isn't an RPPC) taken in the 1930s, according to the seller.
I love this young lady's confident pose, the cardigan with mother-of-pearl buttons, matching hat, and long pearl drop earrings.
She seems to be wearing culottes, stockings, and ankle-high boots. Her bicycle has front-rod-brake handlebars, but where are the rods? Is that little flap between the front tire and the mudguard the braking surface? The logo on the chaincase says Brennabor, who were originally a prewar manufacturer of bicycles, motorcycles, and automobiles in Brandenburg, Germany, and at some point became a Dutch-based brand instead. I'd guess she's from the 1930s-40s, based on what she's wearing, but the American seller didn't give any information to help date it. The postcard only has "Foto Bayer" (that's German) printed on the back, and two handwritten words: Kaaza (I think?), Kaan (a town in Rheinland-Pfalz).
Closeup of the Brennabor chaincase and netted skirtguard.
You can find more such photos on eBay or on Flikr by using the search terms "vintage", "bicycle", and "lady" or "woman". Sadly most of the Flikr ones are All Rights Reserved, so I can only link to my favorites: 1895, Edwardian, Edwardian, 1911, 1927, 1930s-40s slacks, 1966 culottes. Do follow the links - all these ladies and their steeds are magnificent. One of the commenters on one of these suggests that the girl is just there as window-dressing, since she obviously couldn't ride dressed like that. Isn't it telling that nobody (to date) has challenged his assumption in the comments?
This has me fantasizing about having a girly lets-dress-up bike meetup, in the Spring or early Summer, before it gets too hot, with a photo booth so we can all have great photos taken of ourselves with our steeds...
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