This post may contain affiliate links, which help to keep Discerning Cyclist rolling. Learn more.
One of the best things about biking in the summer is the pure pleasure that comes from biking in a skirt or dress and sandals. It’s a hard-to-describe feeling but it’s very freeing and relaxing. Of course, it can sometimes be too freeing, if a breeze catches you off guard and lifts your skirt or dress a bit higher than you might be comfortable with… Yes, it’s a problem.
I normally wear Jockey Skimmies Slipshorts under my skirts and dresses, so I don’t worry too much about flashing the world, but I’ve long lusted after the NOMONRO Dress Clips. I don’t remember when I first discovered them, but as a European product, they weren’t something I could easily get. The shipping from the Netherlands cost about the same as the product alone! So when my husband and I were planning our recent European honeymoon, I naturally searched the NOMONRO website for store locations. They were available in a store in Amsterdam, one of our destinations, so I wrote the address down, and dragged him across town (I say “dragged” but as an equally avid bicyclist, he was more than happy to visit another Dutch bike shop).
The tattooed sales guy at The Chopperdome was very helpful and happy to chat. He said his girlfriend loves hers and he demonstrated how she sometimes clips the front and back of her skirts together with the clip, to make sort of trousers. They are lovely – embroidered Italian leather over a metal snap clip. The range of design options of the NOMONRO Dress Clips is a huge selling point to me. I bought two, a pink and a blue one, so I can color-coordinate with my wardrobe.
So here is how it works – simply clip the Dress Clip to the hem of your skirt and go! I have tried three different dresses so far, all of different lengths and fabric weights. This is what I learned:
- It feels weird to have a 4” weight banging on my thighs. My bike has a top tube, and the Dress Clip bounced between that and my legs. It wasn’t bad with the shorter skirt, so I’m sure that for women who ride step-through bikes, this isn’t much of a problem.
- To counter the Dress Clip banging on my legs, I tried clipping it off-center, instead of dead center, but then it didn’t seem to weigh the hem down enough. So I will stick with leaving it dead center and just let it bounce around as I pedal.
- The slipperier the fabric, the more I worried about it sliding off, but it never did. I might be more concerned if I biked to work more than three miles, but if my bike commute was longer than that, I probably wouldn’t wear my work clothes, either.
- Once off the bike, the clips are cute to snap onto a purse strap, jacket collar, or scarf. The packaging shows clipping headphone cords to a collar as well, which I think is a brilliant idea and will definitely do.
There have been several options floating around on how to keep from flashing the general public when biking in a skirt or dress, including the recent “Penny in Yo Pants” video. However, I think the NOMONRO offers a classy, fashionable option that doesn’t wrinkles skirts or make you look like a college student (since not all of us are), and comes in a large enough variety of style that every woman can find one that works in her wardrobe. I know that I will get plenty of use out of my NOMONRO Dress Clip, and will feel stylish and unique while doing so!
For more information, check out the website and find NOMONRO on Facebook and Twitter.
You can read more from Elizabeth on her blog, tinlizzieridesagain, or follow her on Twitter: @TinLizzieBikes.
