The Bike Life

So it's Friday afternoon and this is a Friday afternoon kind of post.

It's about bikes. Beach cruisers by fashion designer Cynthia Rowley to be exact.

The Charleston influence is easy to see in all four styles, including the tandems. 

Here's why: she came here last Fall and opened a charming store on King Street, and that trip was her first to Charleston, a city where you can count at least five leggy blonde girls on beach cruisers for every block you walk—rain or shine, winter or summer. They are, as they say, part of the culture. Just a few months later, she had her models at New York's Spring 2009 Fashion Week ride down the catwalk at the end of the show on her whimsical line of beach cruisers.

Every last one of them flew off the runway (not literally). One even ended up on an episode of Gossip Girl.

Photo courtesy of coolspotters.com

Now the shop in Charleston has two, propped cheerfully in the plate glass windows between the mannequins wearing adorable things like this:

Photo courtesy of cynthiarowley.com

So what does Rowley have to say about it all?

"I think everyone wants to customize the things they use and love a lot, make them their own. I wanted to do something that is just as stylish as people are in other areas of their lives. And bikes are the best way to get around town, whether in New York or Charleston. They're good for you and for the environment."

Without further adieu, here they are: