Cycle Chic in Copenhagen and Beyond
You can trace the term "cycle chic" back to 2006, when Mikael Colville-Andersen launched his Copenhagen Cycle Chic blog. It means different things to different people, but basically, "cycle chic" is about riding in everyday clothes instead of specialized gear like spandex or cycling shoes.
]When I was in Copenhagen last December I had the chance to meet up with Colville-Andersen. After touring the city's first-rate bike infrastructure, I asked him about cycle chic. He said the number of collaborators and followers around the world is constantly growing, making cycle chic a movement-within-a-movement. So for this video, I crowdsourced video from a few other cycle chic bloggers to see what's so hot about using fashion and style to promote bicycling. Enjoy!
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<cite class="speaker_1" >Kristen Walker:</cite>
[0:06] Cycles Chic means different thing to different people. I think there's the element of fashion in having beautiful bike. But it's also more about a movement to move, and a lifestyle choice about getting out of the car, and getting back on the bike and feeling the wind in your hair.Henrietta Hajdu.</p><p>[0:26] With all those fashion pictures everyday, you can see people naturally, effortlessly, and smoothly riding their bikes in the cities. So I think, with out words, we can operate with their emotions and make them love cycling.
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<cite class="speaker_2" >Mikael Colville-Andersen:</cite>
[0:44] By starting this blog which featured elegant Copenhageners on bikes, of both sexes, I would like to say - it hit a nerve. I still don't understand how a global movement came out of one guy on his way to work taking one photograph of something which is like an Eskimo taking pictures of snow, a girl on a bike in Copenhagen. I guess the world was ready for Cycle Chic.Kristin Tieche.</p><p>[1:06] We just photographed the lovely people in their fantastic clothing and what they're wearing. And we talk about it.
</p><p>[1:10] Wiltold Kopec. [I started this blog because I wanted to see what cycle chic is in Todz, to create the Todz version of Copenhagen Cycle Chic]
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</p><p>[1:31] Mikael Colville-Andersen.
</p><p>[1:32] It's not just pretty pictures. It's also advocacy, without actually saying anything about advocacy. It's flashcards. It's showing people, "Look, cycling's easy, cycling's gorgeous, cycling's a great way to get around your city. See? See? See? See?" And hopefully it sinks in. Which it is, and you can see it all over the worlds.Henrietta Hajdu.
</p><p>[1:47] We chose to write this blog in Hungary because when we first saw Copenhagen Cycle Chic, we also realized that this was probably the best way to promote cycling here in Budapest.
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</p><p>[1:57] Mikael Colville-Andersen.
</p><p>[2:01] I often call It social documentary. For the past three years, all I've been doing is staring at this bicycle culture thing. Ironically, very few people had ever done it before in Danish history. It's just basically the way that we use the bikes. The effortlessness with which people ride their upright bikes. But also the way that their families use the cargo bikes. Just the way the bicycle is a fifth limb for the people of Copenhagen.
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</p><p>[2:21] Wiltold Kopec. [The number of cyclists here is not as high as in German, Danish, or Dutch cities, but when it comes to quality, the appearance and the kind of people who choose to bike as their means of transport, we are on par with the European class]
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</p><p>[2:43] Kristin Tieche.
</p><p>[2:45] If you are somebody who is on your bike, riding from point A to point B, wearing normal street clothes, you're part of the movement. You're part of the trend.
</p><p>[2:54] Kristen Walker.The point of Charleston Cycle Chic is to show people, locally, that riding a bike to dinner or to restaurants is possible. And I like to take photos of locals around town, and post them up to show off their great bikes, show of a really great outfit they're wearing.
</p><p>[3:10] On a larger scale, I'm hoping that the more people get on bikes, the more bike-friendly our city can become, and then better infrastructure we can build.
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</p><p>[3:19] Mikael Colville-Andersen.You know while I didn't invent Cycle Chic, Cycle Chic is as old as the bicycle as we know it. 120 years ago when the bicycle was invested, and gave this mobility to the working classes and to women. Women were hopping on bicycles in their regular clothes, just like we've seen all around the world now. It's beauty, it's the bicycle, its livable cities, really so... and it's all in the details.
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