Butch Wax Style: 1960's "Old Lady" Biker Babe Chic

I have a friend, Leonard. He's in his early 60's now. He looks like the epitome of Santa Claus. He's an old biker dude. Ran with the Hells Angels and other various bike gangs all of his life for as long as he can remember. He comes out from Albuquerque, New Mexico and stays with my boyfriend and I for about 2 weeks, 2 times a year. 

Anyhow, so he always calls people's girlfriends or wives their "old ladies." "My old lady" this and "My old lady" that. One day, jokingly, I flat out told him that I thought it was plain rude, and if Jason (my boyfriend) ever called me his "old lady," I would deck him a good one. Leonard explained to me that it was a bikers term of endearment for their lady. It wasn't meant to be offensive. 

So anyways, that brings me to this morning. I'm sleepy eyed, in my big ol' bathrobe, looking through one of my favorite blogs, The Selvage Yard, and what do I see? An entry on the photography of "Old Ladies" aka Biker Babes from the 1960's, taken by the photographer Billy Ray in 1965. You can see and read about the whole thing here, with the really fabulous moody pictures. Quite brilliant, really. Gotta love that teased-out platinum blonde hair- obviously helmets (of the safety variety, that is) were not required back then! Ha!

Here's a few other really great "old lady" biker babe pics that I found randomly browsing online. I don't know if they were also taken by Billy Ray, but my guess is most likely. Gosh, this one of all of the girls at the bar is just too good. Look at those hairdos and outfits! And the broken nose! Man, wouldn't you love to know that story...

 

It also reminded me of one of my most favorite B-movies from the 60's, She Devils On Wheels. Leonard also loves really bad b-movies from the 50's and 60's. I was really excited to show him this one. Well, he hated it. Maybe it's because it's purely based on an all-women biker gang, and they're all such awesome man-eating b*tches. Whatever... it's so good.

And I'll leave you with a little montage of vintage biker babe images...