I always taught that the vintage illustration of the bike that I use for my cup cozy was both a man’s and a woman’s bike. But at my most recent show (the One of a Kind in Vancouver) I did have one gentleman ask me if I had a cup cozy with a man’s bike. So this got me thinking, was this ever a man’s bike?
The crossbar was lowered way back in the 1890s and because of this and other changes, women suddenly found the bicycle easier to manage with their clothing. In fact, feminist Susan B. Anthony called it the “freedom machine” and women did take it up in droves.
It is interesting to note that the bicycle craze fed into the so called “rational dress” movement which liberated women of their corsets and long voluminous skirts and ushered in bloomers — ever so shocking at that time! Blush.
What is not clear to me is whether the crossbar was lowered and then women found the bicycle more accessible or was it lowered for women specifically? The source of the illustration for my cup cozy is from 1930. The vocabulary that goes along with it simply calls this ‘a bicycle’ or ‘une bicyclette.’ My guess is that there is no differentiation because it was a style used by both sexes.
So, what do you think? Could this also have been a man’s bike in the 1930s? If so, my cup cozy is bi-sexual!
Oh, and hey you can buy this sweet cup cozy right here.
