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A response to Shut up about biking in heels via Bike Musings from the West Coast. I'm not a regular reader of that blog and I have no opinion on Bike Musings in general. But the Shut up... post is chock full of my bike advocacy pet peeves. I found myself typing up the longest comment ever and decided that a post of my own would be a better response.

Why I Bike in Heels

Biking in heels is not a serious women's issue.

Now that we're all in agreement:

There is a point to demonstrating how easy it is to bike in heels. It's a direct counter to all the ways that cycling is presented as a sporty inconvenience.

If I can bike comfortably--in heels even--I'm sharing the message that riding a bike for transportation is an easy part of a fashion-conscious lifestyle.

Not everybody likes to wear heels. That's cool. The above message isn't for people that don't express themselves by wearing heels.

On the flipside, I resent when anyone tries to tell me that I need to know how to fix a bike in order to ride one. I ride a bike every damn day. I've done it for 10+ years. I almost always wear dresses & heels and I don't change into sneakers just to push the pedals.

But I've changed a flat like, twice in my life. I hate it. I'm happy to pay a mechanic at an LBS the $8 so I don't have to bother. Which I rarely have to do, because I'm empowered enough to roll with a pair of puncture-resistant tires. I refuse to believe that a basic mechanical competency is a pre-requisite for enjoying a dang bike commute.

But even that wouldn't be enough for the OP:

Stop it already and please talk about stuff like becoming self-sufficient, valuable resources for women like ladies nights at co-ops and women’s riding groups and helpful tips like carrying useful and portable layers, things that make rides easier or more enjoyable (saddle adjustments, anyone), developing environmental awareness, carrying things by bike, finding confidence in traffic, handling intimidation from drivers, experiencing sexual harassment on the street, pairing public transportation with biking, nutritional needs for women who ride.

Phew. That's a lot of homework. Think I'll go ride my bike instead.

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Holy crap, fashion magazines have a lot of style inspiration in them. Unfortunately, the good stuff is all spaced out over multiple publications and cluttered up with stuff like "words" and "advertisements". Fortunately for you, I consumed several thousand recent issues of style tomes, domestic and international, and hand-culled relevant images forming them into trend collages. I got the digital paper cuts. Now you don't have to. You're welcome.

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There's a clear trend for dressing like a high-tech space princess. To help you make the most of it, I used  specialized image recognition software to select a generous handful of cool bike helmets to suit your bike fashion needs.

1. Yakkay Helmet Luzern Faux Fur

Be Julie Christie in Dr. Zhivago on a motherf***ing bike and wear the furriest headgear you can find. It's cold out there, but it's nowhere near as cold as the windswept Russian snowfields. Of your heart. Also comes in black (the helmet AND your heart).

2. Nutcase Silver Sparkle Bike Helmet

This is the silver sibling of Nutcase's best-selling Gold-Sparkly lid. Close up, the satin-finish base has an all-over iridescent glitter effect, as if you jet-packed through a cloud of moon dust.

 

3. Nutcase Removable Ear Pads

Outer space is really freaking cold. If you choose a Nutcase helmet, add these ear protectors to keep you toasty while zipping through the cosmos. Once the axis of the Earth shifts back towards the sun, stow them away and enjoy the breeze.

4. Bern Muse Helmet with Black Fleece

A dome-style helmet with a built-in visor, like this number from Bern, is the classic shape for stylish commuters, male & female. The high-gloss black finish looks ultra-sleek, and the included removable fleece liner renders it suitable for all-seasons.

5. Lazer Street Checkered Helmet

Checkerboard patterns hit the scene in Marc Jacobs' Spring 2013 collection for Louis Vuitton, but this trend isn't going anywhere in 2014. Lazer deftly blends high-fashion and street style in this cool black & white lid.

  belle-helmets-hypercubesblack3_large

6. Glow-in-the-dark Belle Helmet

Independent helmet artiste Danielle Baskin has been expanding her line of hand-painted and hand-finished helmets. Here she uses phosphorescent paint to modernist effect on this matte black Hypercubes design.

 

7. Lazer Street Deluxe Chrome Helmet

Last but not least, this skate-inspired street helmet sports a mirror-like chrome finish that will get you noticed. Mostly because people love looking at themselves in the mirror. Oooooh shiny!

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Ready to step up your bike fashion game? Try biking in a skirt. But not just any old skirt. We're talking about the Iva Jean Reveal Skirt. This clever creation uses high-performance fabric and a strategically placed zip to keep you looking cute on your ride to work.

And lucky for us, Iva Jean is sponsoring a giveaway for Bike Pretty readers! The lucky winner of the random drawing will win one Reveal Skirt of her own. Available in sizes 0-16, the skirt is made in black Schoeller-Dryskin fabric. It's plenty stretchy, but not clingy. Check out my full review here.

It's easy to enter the drawing. In fact, you can enter up to four times by December 2. a Rafflecopter giveaway

The entry period ends on December 2, 2013. The winner will be announced within 48 hours. If the winner doesn't respond with their US mailing address within 72 hours, a new winner will be randomly selected. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Best of luck!

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You guys! Bike fashion is a real thing! Take the Perfect Bike Pant by Iladora, currently in the homestretch of their crowd funding campaign.

Designed by a couple of fancy ladies that love bikes, this commuter trouser has lots of yummy on-the-bike features. Like a raised rear waistband to combat whale tail. (Am I the only person that bikes in a thong? Is that TMI?)

They've thought of everything. Seriously, check out the sewn-in tab that holds up your cuff-roll. And it's powered by magnets. Magnets, people! How cool is that?

I'm sick of seeing bike commuter pants limited to men-only products (ahem, Levi's). That just doesn't cut it for my hip-to-waist ratio. So it's super exciting that these San Francisco based designers are taking matters into their own hands and filling this giant pants-shaped hole in the market.

Snag a discounted pair for yourself via the pre-order campaign, currently on IndieGoGo. They come in black and grey.

And if you would like to check them out in person, you're invited to try on the samples at Mission Bicycle Company this Saturday October 12.

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While searching NYFW street style photos for yesterday's post, I came across these shots from the Menswear 2014 shows back in June. I always look forward to the images that come from Milan's Fashion Week and Pitti Uomo in Florence.

Everyone seems to be having so much fun. And the way the men wear their fabulous suits so casually. Brings back memories of how boy-crazy we were as students at FIT in Florence. Wandering the exhibition halls of the Fortezza Da Basso once a year was an out of body experience.

Naturally Kelly and I would ride our granny bikes to Pitti Uomo. Not sure if we mastered  the effortless chic you see here, but we did our best to represent.

 

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