The Rules

Recently, we've been interviewed a fair bit, and everyone wants to know how the the Deadly Nightshades started. Well, after Venus's blood gave birth to us on Mt. Olympus, we largely bonded out of saying "F YOUR RULES". 'Cause know what? We can rock up to fashion week and glam parties on our bikes. We can create amazing fashion without hurting the environment or using semi-slave labour. We can have a design collective slash bike gang. Why not? Hello, it's the millennium!

So when my friend Brady (amazing founder of the Projecting Change Film Festival) sent me this link from Brain Pickings on a Lists of Don'ts for Women Cyclists circa 1895 that was published in the New York World, I laughed and laughed and laughed. Here are some examples of "The Rules":

• Don't faint on the road
  
• Don't boast of your long legs
• Don't cultivate a "Bicycle Face"
  
• Don't chew gum. Exercise your jaws in private.
  
• Don't scratch a match on the seat of your bloomers.
  

Oh, and it gets better. I suggest you young lady cyclists out there read up on it. I am so grateful to all the women cyclists before me who broke barriers and helped create a better world for women on the road. I pledge to help in every way I can to make sure bicycles are not just for boys.



On the other hand, DNS was also largely formed out of having rules- moral rules that is.

Amisha Ghadiali's and Joana Casaca Lemos collaborated on 12 Rules to Dress By, an amazing visual lists to inspire and help everyone have a more sustainable wardrobe. I support their goal that 2012 will Be The Year Of The Sustainable Wardrobe. When you go to their website, they have the checklist in French, Jurjati, German, Japanese, Portuguese, Turkish, and much more with more languages to come. Making this information accessible in more languages is a very challenging step to undertake, but it shows a forceful commitment to equality and global change.



Congratulations Amisha and Joana. Happy 2012 World! With so many amazing people in the world making changes, I am so excited for what humans are going to be writing about us in a century.

Lovelovelove,