Forget that nasty swine flu – New York has a fever, and it's a fever for bicycling! First came transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan, who installed 180 miles of new bike lanes; then the David Byrne-led bike rack design competition; and now, a fashion contest at FIT to design fashionable biking clothes, judged by the North American head of LVMH. The winner, 21-year-old Jessica Velasquez, dreamed up an envelope backpack that holds a garment bag and an adjustable-length poncho with reflective piping, which will be made into prototypes by DKNY.
But it doesn't take a contest to rustle up fashionable biking apparel; local indie label Outlier makes performance-wear disguised as office-friendly basics, including wool trousers and a merino wool T-shirt, while London-based Rapha offers up sharp tweed bike caps and a very of-the-moment cropped-trouser suit engineered for bicycling. And fave fashion blog Refinery29 has just posted their picks for hip, bike-friendly clothes – as it happens, the current trends for mesh tops, bralettes and bike shorts fit right into the new biking frenzy! Finally, if you can't get enough bikewear, fashion blog Copenhagen Cycle Chic has your daily fix of stylish cyclists.
Photo via WWD
