Vintage bicycle fashion vol. 2: the Tweed Run - retro cycling

In Vintage bicycle fashion vol. 1 you could find insprations from the past. This time we will show you how they inspire people today and how vintage fashion, connected with cycling, became stylish and popular way of spending their time. If we're talking about stylish retro cycling, classic garments and vintage fashion on two wheels, we just can't miss the Tweed Run: The Tweed Run is a metropolitan bicycle ride with a bit of style. We take to the streets in our well-pressed best, and cycle through the city's iconic landmarks. Along the way, we stop for a tea break and a picnic stop, and we usually end with a bit of a jolly knees-up - we can read here, on official Tweed Run website. First edition took a place in 2009. From this time, year by year, people in London go across the city centre on their vehicles, in traditional British cycling attire. 

Of course, vintage cycling is popular not only in London. Other countries also have their version of retro cycling festivals, such as Tweet Ride in Alabama (below - photos by Todd Douglas, see whole series here):

and Tweed Run Budapest (photos by Zsolt Szabo, more - here):

See also vintage Cycle Chic from streets of Copenhagen, here. Those people truly show that bicycle is not only the lovely way of transport but also very stylish element of their vintage image. 

For more vintage inspirations check also our Pinterest set - Vintage Bicycles.

Posted: Jul 16, 2015 | Tagged: bicycle, cycle chic, cycling, cyclist, fashion, retro, vintage

Vintage bicycle fashion vol. 1: garments, posters, revolutions

Cycles + fashion + vintage - that's really nice connection. Regardless of whether you use the bicycle for everyday rides, or do not use it too often (or at all), you may know that cycling has quite rich story - not only as a kind of sport but also as (life)style, changing trends and much more: social revolutions. As fans of vintage cycling fashion (and, of course, of vintage cycling posters) we would like to present couple of sources which are a great reflections of vintage cycling. Just check:

Wheels of Change 

Today most of us have an opportunity to decide if it will be better to wear a flexible, convenient cycling outfit or to ride gracefully through the streets in a stylish retro costume. While watching dozens of female cyclists on the streets, we rarely wonder how controversial was a view of the lady on a bike (let alone view lady in trousers) in the past. There was even such thing as a list of Dont's for Women on Bicycles (circa 1895). Meanwhile, for many of our ancestors bike was more than "just" a comfortable, practical and environment-friendly way of transport. It was a symbol of social change and hardly acquired female independence. More about those changes you can read in the book Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way). More on Brain Pickings (picture source).

Cycling in Posters

The book Cycling in Posters is a collection of nineteenth-century bicycle posters, which can be regarded not only as a story of vehicles, but also of changing bicycle dress-code. You can see the ladies in long dresses, however - more and more often changed for equally stylish and more comfortable sport versions of women’s wardrobe.

Source: Season Books

Posters from Rue Marcellin's collection

First bicycle ads are often unusual, eccentric and fanciful. In our collection you can also find posters for vintage cycling lovers:

 1. Cycles Cottereau Original French 1896 Poster

2. Cycles RAD 1910 Original Poster

3. Pannetton Cycles 1900s Original Poster

In second part we will also show how vintage fashion inspires contemporary cyclists, how it still stays "alive" in our times... and much more. If you like vintage cycling, than stay tuned!

Posted: Jul 04, 2015 | Tagged: bicycle, cycle chic, cycling, cyclist, fashion, posters, vintage