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Women
bikers want to have it both ways. They want to look like
bikers — but more than that, they want to look like
women. Even — or perhaps especially — if it means
pink chaps and orange bandanas.
"Everything
has evolved away from black," said
Christy Koethe
, an avid motorcyclist from
Cottage Grove, Minn.
"The girls want a lot more colors. It's all over
the color spectrum: whites, blues, pinks, greens,
purples. We can even buy pink leather if we like."
That has
helped make motorcycle shops a lot more vibrant
visually, with splashy head-to-toe apparel and even the
bikes themselves in brighter hues. Women make about 12
percent of U.S. motorcycle purchases, according to
J.D. Power & Associates
, but only in the past decade have they had attire
geared for them. Before that, Koethe said, "we
ended up wearing men's clothes because that's all we
could find."
Now
gatherings such as lasat weekend's International
Motorcycle Show at the
Minneapolis Convention Center
even feature fashion shows.
"For
years, women were dressed basically in a husband's or
boyfriend's boxy gear, which didn't fit their shape. By
2000, women had tired of wearing the men's stuff,"
said
Brenda Trumbo
, product specialist for the
California
-based Icon apparel line, which will be part of the
fashion show here. "For women, we go for matching
outfits, with the helmet to match the jacket to match
the chaps to match the boots. We have hot pink chaps
with a helmet and jacket to match.
"Red
has made a comeback, but pink continues to dominate, and
I don't think it will go away."
There's
another kind of "match game" in play, said
Jim Kaempfer
, owner of
Afton
(Minn.) Leather shop (formerly Leather and Lace).
"Women like to match the outfit to the colors on
the bike, so you see a lot of reds and oranges," he
said.
Indeed,
Koethe's headgear is "metallic ruby like my bike.
But I see a lot of girls wear bandanas with rhinestones,
especially with long hair. You do the do-rags because
your hair would be a complete mess.
"And
we all love our boots. You see a lot of tall heels, the
taller the better. The toe jewelry, the buckles, we see
a lot of that, the more buckles the better. You see
chaps with fringe and beads on 'em."
Are they
worried about looking a little too, well, girly?
"No,
not with all the ribbons and fringe and other froufrou
stuff available," Koethe said, adding that most of
the women in her riding circle go the froufrou route.
"I would say probably at least 50 percent, because
you have a lot of women who are heavier-set and they
tend not to wear the deep
V's
and the backless tops."
Kaempfer
— whose store sits along
Minnesota's
busiest motorcycling road,
Hwy. 95
— added that many riders are gravitating toward an
alternative to the tried-and-true leather jacket. A
nylon-based material called Cordura, he said, is
"tougher than nails and a lot lighter than
leather."
Many
women still often opt for leather, of course. Koethe,
who said she "climbed on my daddy's Harley as a
small child," admitted that "it's interesting
what leather will do to a female, and to people's
perceptions."
Still,
unlike their male counterparts, these women want to look
not only good but distinctive.
"We
believe all bikers want to look good," said
Kaempfer. "They want to be classy-looking, but they
don't want to look alike."
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