Roll Model: Margaret Mary Riley

"I broke so many medical id bracelets that I got the tat," explains Margaret Mary Riley. One of eleven tattoos, a caduceus adorns her right wrist along with the explanatory word, epilepsy. Living car free is more a necessity than a choice for the Grant Park resident, whose seizures are part of her life. Riley moderates their effects using a combination of vegan dieting, sleeping well, and an exercise regimen of ballet, yoga, and cycling. "People have told me 'You should not be alone' and that just makes me feel victimized." Once she seized during a ride when another cyclist who had stopped to help realized her condition, and berated her for taking such a risk. "A passing homeless man told him off, then gave me a bottle of water," she remembers gratefully. "I spent a lot of time in New York City, so I think yelling at people is totally fine."
It was the Occupy Wall Street movement that found her in Manhattan, practicing her hard won medical skills in the service of the protesters. She also met her partner, a bike messenger, there. Back in metro Atlanta, they revived the Clarkston Community Center's Communicycle program, and organized refugee rides for kids around the Stone Mountain path. Now the recent Agnes Scott College political science alumna works as an apprentice bike mechanic while applying for graduate studies so she may pursue an academic career.

Roll Model: Nedra Deadwyler

Kirkwood resident Nedra Deadwyler tellingly names June 7 of this year as the birthday of her company, Civil Bikes. It was a day of pop up shopping along Auburn and Edgewood Avenues to celebrate the Atlanta Streetcar route. Like those rails linking Centennial Olympic Park and its Center For Civil and Human Rights to the MLK National Historic Site, her vision is transformational. "My goal is preserving history through tours. It's a passion that pulls many things that I love together. Riding my bike puts me in a good mood automatically, keeps my body healthy and builds relationships with people."

With help from Neil Walker of Cycles & Change, Deadwyler obtained funding for sixty-eight Raleigh Talus mountain bicycles. She then distributed half of that bounty among youth programs in metro Atlanta. The remainder became her business fleet, either for rent or guided tours. "Right now it's Old Fourth Ward and downtown, concentrating on civil rights."

Other days find her studying historic preservation at Georgia State University. "I like to ride downtown on Peachtree Street. Motorists are mindful and don't go that fast. More people are riding and acknowledging one another. A stranger called to me, 'Have a nice ride!' I ring my bell all the time and people ring back." Civil behaviors, indeed.

Roll Model: Sharif Hassan

Kirkwood resident Sharif Hassan wears many hats, from mixologist at TOP FLR and Argosy to doorman at the Tabernacle. His photographs from the streets of Cairo during the Arab Spring are a tribute to both his eye and daring. Now he has partnered with his brother, Ezz-Eldin, to test and market clothing for commuter cyclists. Called The Spindle, their venture began “in April 2013 as a blog, a pre-interview, to become a resource for community and manufactures to give them feedback for what works and what doesn’t, like the placement of a seam.” A former bike messenger, he knows from frequently blowing through pants and once took five pairs of jeans to bag maker Dustin Morado for stitching.
Hassan relishes riding in bad weather because “We test all the clothing we carry. Here it’s snowing one day and 70 the next, so I just dive into the bad weather when we get it. It’s nice to see how other people are decked out and what works for them. There’s no such thing as foul weather. There are only unprepared people.”
“Swerve makes a pair of jeans I pretty much live in,” he says of today’s outfit, which includes a jacket from Mission Workshop and DZR all weather clip-in shoes for his “urban assault vehicle”. Of its fixed 52x15 gearing, fat tires for the potholes and no brakes, he explains, “I like to build up death traps. I like to ride things other people won’t.”
The rest of us benefit from his hard won knowledge. “The whole idea is to create a new community of riders who are not hardcore. Introducing them to commuting apparel opens that door as a viable option for a new category of people who bike to festivals, art shows and bars.”

Street Scene: Millinery in Kirkwood

The revelation of one’s creative calling is an epiphany. Mine came from the photography stacks of the Richmond Public Library.
Tina Kite found her destiny reading about milliner Amy Hamilton of Granville Millinery Company in Ohio. All I had to do was hit the streets with camera in hand, Doisneau and Erwitt in mind. Kite searched in vain for an Atlanta tutor before reaching out to Hamilton, who invited her to visit Ohio for lessons. She returned from this introduction wanting more. When Waltraud Reiner of Australia announced a millinery workshop in the northeastern US, the plucky neophyte persuaded her to add an Atlanta event. Doing so required becoming its hostess. A friend skilled in public relations found them ink in the AJC and students traveled from as far away as Virginia and South Carolina. Talk about paying it forward. From these auspicious beginnings, Kite’s practice flourishes today. Ever generous, she gave an afternoon and valuable counsel to the model and me. These images are the fruit of our collaboration.
Intrigued? Crafty, DIY types should know of a workshop led by North Carolina milliner Jan Wutkowski at the Spruill Center in May. Please follow this link for details.

Georgia Tech Style

Cindy Wang remembers her life before fashion. The Georgia
Tech sophomore was then 14 years old when she discovered
Dior and Chanel runway shows on television. "When I got
back to my closet I was mortified." Following that epiphany,
the self-described tomboy began modeling for her dad's
designer friends in China. The styles were "edgy with an
Asian influence, but tailored for Americans or Europeans."

European travel broadened her fashion sense when she
realized how both the natural and built environments can
influence sartorial choice. "I definitely noticed this in Sweden,
where it gets dark early and people wear lots of solid and dark
colors-wooly, comfy clothes." Parisians appeared "sweet and
polished" amid their romantic architecture.

Today Wang distinguishes herself in a ruffled neckline Ann
Taylor blouse, ruched Zara shorts, patterned tights and shoes
from Betsy Johnson and Banana Republic, respectively.
"It's a soft, feminine look that I can wear day and night," she
explains. That litany of labels needn't be a budget breaker.
Last year she discovered thrifting at places like Salvation Army
and Rag-O-Rama.

Her friend, Tech Junior Heidi Vreeland, grew up with the habit.
"Mom wouldn't buy new things very often, so I inherited her
thrifting ability." Vreeland shops with eye for mixing and
matching, which shows in these shades of grey. The H&M top
was tried first as the inner layer, but looked best outside the
silvery summer dress. Her choices are intuitive: "I know right
away whether something works," and she enjoys discovering
new combinations in her closet. "They might look bad, but they
might surprise you, too."

People do notice these efforts. A Chattanooga fashion blogger
admired her jacket and dress, both from Goodwill. The proprietors
of that city's Collective Clothing shop recruited her to work for
them. "I never pursue, it but I get opportunities for fashion modeling, perhaps because I'm tall," says she of appearances in a campus show of sustainable fashions and a Wes Anderson-themed, vintage celebration at the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

While the ladies met in class and bonded over clothes, worldly
interests have deepened their friendship. Wang studies biology,
Vreeland Japanese and international affairs. They are living and
learning what Coco Chanel noted:
"Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only.
Fashion is in the sky, in the street; fashion has to do with ideas,
the way we live, what is happening."