Collective Commute Bike Fashion Show

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Originally uploaded by Cameron Adams

Sunday was the fashion show on bike and it was a blast!  Sondra of Collective Clothing and Cameron Adams of The Chattanoogan Blog   with the help of all at Outdoor Chattanooga put this together.

Much thanks to the hard work of EleaBlake for makeup and Epiphany Spa for hair. They had quite the job to do in getting 20+ models ready for the show.

And thanks for Trek Bikes, Chattanooga Electric Bikes and Suck Creek Cycles for providing the cycles.

The rains came and went, leaving us undecided whether to have it indoors or outdoors. At show time, it was looking clear enough to have it outside.

  This was another event just this month that was new for Chattanooga and proof of a coelescing biking community.  And it is fashionable!  This was our humble entry in the world wide movement of fashion on bikes.  Personally, since I am NOT the fashion diva, I would not have put the fashion on bikes.  But Cameron, the photographer, has been following this movement for a while and has been documenting the fashion scene here in Chattanooga for about a year now.  I was not even aware of how people were finding themselves fashionable on bikes until Cameron took note.

    Cameron matching up with Sondra was pure genius.  Sondra is eclectic, idiocentric and totally original in her fashion style and Collective Clothing is a FUN place to shop.  And the two of them together wanted to a join up with the biking scene.

    A call went out for models.  It turned out there were more people into fashion willing to get on bikes then those on bikes willing to get into fashion.  Many of the models had not been on a bicycle since childhood which made for some wobbly riding.  But I think they had fun and I know at least one that was inspired to go out and get a bicycle.

    As for me?  What I was doing in the show?  The biking connection was obvious, the fashion connection was not.  And I was over the age of twenty (by a great, great deal!)  Thanks, Blythe(who has been known to show style on the bike) and Rebecca for helping to bridge that large age gap-and for being fellow bikers. For a while, I thought I was going to be the odd man out.                                                   

                 

Reba rocking it!

 Here I am after Darin of Elea Blake worked on me.  This is the pre show shot.  I actually wore a different outfit in the show.  I hope to get more pictures  and I will post those.  Hopefully, there are pictures floating around on our bikes.

Ride to St. Elmo

     It was a beautiful day and closing in Easter weekend, cancellations were coming in fast. Suddenly I had an afternoon free. What to do? Hop on the bike of course.

    So out to St Elmo I go to check out the Collective Clothing, a fellow sponsor of the Collective Commute, Chic Cycling in Chattanooga Show. Got me a new outfit and Cameron was on hand to photograph it. Wow! I am on his The Chattanoogan fashion blog.  I am not sure I truly make it to his fashion standard, but it is to put out another notice about the Bike Fashion Show.

    And now I am enjoying an iced latte at Pasha Coffee shop.

    The ride out here is an official bike route which turns into actual bike lanes in St. Elmo. On the route the bikes are taken over railroad tracks. It is hard to go anywhere in Chattanooga without going over tracks. Just getting to St. Elmo from my studio I crossed railroad tracks about a half dozen times.

    The most treacherous ones were always the one on the street that runs parallel to South Broad. These were wicked, wicked and I have been severely jarred and almost thrown many times over those tracks.

But look! They have been fixed and all set for smooth sailing. Ahh! It takes a cyclist to fully appreciate what wonders that smooth asphalt can render.