Sept 16, 1996
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La Dolce Velocifero Italy's latest fashion export is a super-stylish minibike that is already adding a dash of Milano to Montauk Highway. |
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SCOOTERS, THOSE TWO-WHEELERS with bumblebee engines, have never been embraced by Americans -- this, despite considerable effort by the japanese motorcycle industry to create a market for them here. But the italians, the true connoisseur of moped culture, may have finally discovered a way to sell scooters to us, something that Honda, even with the help of Lou Reed's best pop song, has failed to do. How? make them fashionable. It is called the Velocifero, and it is nothing if not voguish. Linda Evangelista is said to use one to commute between fashion shows. The June issue of the relentlessly cutting-edge Brit magazine Arena not only ran an article on Velocifero, it launched a "Win a Velocifero" contest. The members of Oasis are Velocifero fanatics 9bassist Paul McGuigan has a collection of five). And British Vouge, always obliging, advised readers on correct riding posture:"...[T]he coolest way to ride is to sit astride italian-style, with knees spayed. And to look really chic, girls should steer and men ride pillion...." Canadian shoe designer Patric Cox, meanwhile, was so smitten with the round little vehicle that he designed a limited-edition "Wannabe" model for himself, complete with python-skin seat and custom black-and-white-with-metal-trim color scheme. -- Rene Chun |
LETTERS AUGUST 24, 1998 WOULD MARTHA STEWART SETTLE FOR ANYTHING less in her choice of motor scooter than Italjet's Velocifero ("Mogul Operandi")? Of course she wouldn't. Her scooter choice was incorrectly listed as a pistachio Vespa, when she is in fact the proud owner of a seafoam-green Velo, which perfectly matches the trim on her beautiful home. Anyone with Martha's style rides in the fast lane with other members of the growing legions of Hamptons Velo owners such as Sean "Puffy" Combs (four Velos, at last count) and Billy Joel. Is there a scooter gang in Easthampton's future? Susan Sacher
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