The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London, 1947–1957
It was at a chance visit to a museum outside Hong Kong last August when I discovered just how important CoCo Chanel is to me. At the museum was an exhibition entitled “The Golden Age of Couture: Paris and London, 1947–1957″. It housed among the most beautiful and important garments in the world of fashion. There was also a timeline on the wall that illustrated all of the couture designers that were prominent during that period. It was extraordinary to see all of the names, many of whom still exist today as recognizable clothing brands. But one, is little known to the general public… her name was Lucille Manguin and in 1947, she was designing what were called “practical” outfits for cycling and traveling by public transport. CoCo Chanel, meanwhile was busy tossing the entire fashion industry on its head by daring to introduce clothing for women that was inspired by menswear. CoCo Chanel took something common and transformed it into something completely unexpected. She caused people to have to rethink the traditional and consider that there might be other ways of doing things. THIS is the essence of GoGo Gear. You start with one thing and turn it into something completely unexpected. THAT is one of the most thrilling things I’ve experienced on this journey bringing GoGo Gear to life.
Lucille Manguin’s idea of “practical” outfits for cycling and traveling by public transport
Lucille Manguin understood that there was a basic need people had when riding two wheels or other forms of transportation and she designed accordingly. CoCo Chanel understood that women needed other things to wear besides the then “over the top” grandiose dresses that women were known for wearing. Beautiful though they might be, they certainly weren’t practical for a woman on the go. CoCo Chanel understood this because she was, dare I say, a “modern” woman AND a visionary who designed accordingly and out of that emerged the now famous “little black dress”.
Some sixty years later, we find some of the same needs, “practical clothing” for motorcycle and scooter riders and women on the go, but now there is another dimension to it that takes us beyond what is practical for the “modern woman” to what must be considered fashionable if women are to wear it.
CoCo Chanel’s little black dress, to me, is not so much a garment as it is a defining concept, one that shows us how to marry form and function and ultimately enabled us to consider the possibility that the same could be done for protective riding gear.
And now, we find the defining concept of “the little black dress” influencing the form and function of a little motorbike that I affectionately refer to as MY “CoCo Chanel” and the “little black dress”. Thank you California Scooter Company (www.californiascooterco.com) for making “little black dresses”!
Arlene
MY “COCO CHANEL” AND MY LITTLE BLACK DRESS
The GoGo Gear Bike Gas Tank
The GoGo Gear Bike
A lot of people think spending $5,000 for a 150cc bike is crazy but for me, the reality is this… I want something sublime, something so unique that there is only one of a kind… I liken this bike to my Dracula/Matrix coat. There is only one of them and it was made just for me (even though the model in the photo looks better in it than I do!). That is how I feel about this bike. It’s going to have my mark on it, be exactly the way I want it, be one of a kind and not take itself too seriously. 
The Twitter people we met in New York at the International Motorcycle Show, the “early adopters”, who fiercely believed in GoGo Gear, having never seen the jackets and coats and yet were willing to go along on this journey with us. It was absolutely thrilling to have them finally see the jackets and get their “thumbs up”! And, to have Paulette
The GoGo Gear Scooter Girl and Her Minibike Head South
Here it is Labor Day in the US and I am laboring over what I am going to be taking on my 2,200 mile journey to Cabo San Lucas and back. I am driving my GoGo bike, a 150cc, California Scooter Company motorbike with an amazing group of guys, all riding the same bikes.
While was reviewing the California Scooter Company blog for the list of things I should be taking, I saw something in a post from Joe Berk, who writes the blog at California Scooter Company (http://californiascooterco.com/blog/) that really resonated with me. As the organizer of the trip, he talked his feelings about the trip and said “Maybe I’m trying to relive my youth, doing the ride on a bike inspired by one that was in production when I was in grade school. Maybe I’m excited about spending quality time with Simon, Arlene, J, and John. Maybe I’m excited about the great photos I know we’ll grab down there. Maybe it’s the real Mexican food I know we’ll be enjoying. You know, as I wrap this post up, I know there’s no maybes…it’s definitely all of the above, and more.”
The “Minibike” from the 1960s
Joe talked about reliving his youth on a bike inspired by one from his youth and it got me to thinking about the bike from my own youth, a minibike that is, complete with a lawnmower engine! This is a bike the probably most young people have never seen or would understand the significance of for old people like me. This is the bike that a lot of us grew up with and rode. I had to borrow my friend’s minibike and ride in secret as I’m sure my parents would have never approved of me riding such a thing. I just remember how incredible it was and how much I wanted one. I can remember even seeing advertisements in the back of comic books for building your own minibike, all for $10 which was a LOT of money back then! You know, once you take to a motorized two wheeler, life changes, you don’t exactly know why, it just does. And so, now as we approach this big ride, I’m thinking about my own bike, the one I chose after all these years, my GoGo bike, made by California Scooter Company.
The Minibike Plans
I’ve said many times before that I’m not built for speed and I’m not very big and strong so this is the perfect bike for me, but more important, it is reminiscent of how I felt when I was a kid on that minibike. As I’m getting ready to turn 50 next month and have spent a lifetime working, just like most people, I look to this trip as a time of rediscovering youth, NOT that I want to be young again, god forbid, but more, a time just for me. I had thought for my birthday this year I would go on a photo safari of elephants in Africa or have a big party somewhere with all of my friends but at the end of the day, the two things I most wanted to do was take this trip and spend my birthday with my mom.
Life is a funny thing… all of youth is spent in pursuit of all the things we’re supposed to do, be, have, see and the older you get, the less you need, have to, want any of that. Age gives you the ability to let go and just live life in the moment, to see everything for what it is, to appreciate the smallest things in life and to embrace every chance you get to live life to the fullest. I’ll take turning 50 any day!
The GoGo Gear “minibike”
And so, this GoGo Gear Scooter Girl and her “minibike” are heading south on Friday, filled with anticipation, excitement and no doubt, trepidation for what’s to come, after all, I’ve never done anything like this before and that’s all the more reason to do it!
Arlene