People have been using moto gear to look cool for decades, whether they ride or not. It's our burden and curse to be so freakin' awesome that everyone wants to cosplay as us. Or so I'll tell myself.
And, throughout the years, you've seen fashion icons don fanciful versions of our jackets, boots, jeans, and suits for all manner of non-two-wheeled pursuits. But those have always been repurposed stock. You'd see someone throw on a full jacket, complete with armor and looking like they're auditioning for the next Power Rangers series. Or someone would walk the red carpet complete in adventure boots.
Few brands, however, have embraced that paradigm so wholly as Alpinestars, as its branding has always been the go-to for the fashion-forward and well-to-do. But the Italian company is taking things a step further with its new RSRV offshoot, which uses all the same materials as the moto side, but elevates it to the pages of Vogue.
According to the house that Anna Wintour built, Alpinestars' is aiming for the moon, already partnering with Balenciaga thanks to RSRV's Denise Focil. "If the broader fashion world didn’t yet know about Alpinestars," says Vogue's Corey Seymour, "the leaked photos of Kardashian stepping out in an oversized couture moto jacket on the eve of Balenciaga’s Paris show last October solved that. The piece she wore was the first collaboration between Balenciaga and Alpinestars RSRV, a new unisex luxury streetwear brand founded by Denise Focil that recently debuted with a capsule of nine fashion pieces, each of them constructed from deadstock Alpinestars racing fabrics."
The goal of RSRV is to elevate the already coolness of Alpinestars and, for the first time ever, it seems that the RideApart editors are ahead of the trend.
Speaking to Vogue, Focil said "Cool people pushing boundaries have been wearing motorcycle apparel forever. But while there isn't anything novel about that, it also tells you that this isn't going anywhere. The recent thing with celebrities and hip-hop stars and style-forward people wearing Alpinestars protective exoskeletons and very loud motorcycle apparel onstage, and in music videos—it seemed to take off organically."
The current RSRV collection consists of a total of six items, including the Racecraft leather jacket, an armored hoodie, a base tee, a slate balaclava, a shield hat, and a tech tee. All of these have slightly eye-watering prices for the common rider, but make a little more sense given their high-fashion status and approach.
My favorite of the pieces is the armored hoodie, though I'm a sucker for a hoodie and I'd probably just end up wearing it while riding, destroying it, and then crying because I just burnt $750.
But I'd look cool doing it, so...
What do you all think? Would high-fashion moto gear be your bag or would you just keep doing what you're doing and just be cool while wearing your regular moto gear?
