Savage X Carmel Curves Bad-Ass Biker Ladies Were Born to Ride in Rihanna's Lingerie

[Image: Shaniqwa Jarvis/courtesy of Savage X Fenty]

When AOC saw the headline about Savage X Fenty’s newest lingerie campaign with ‘Carmel Curves’, we smiled big.

We wrote about the Carmel Curves Motorcycle Club, a 10-woman biker gang of some of New Orleans’ best Black beauties three years ago. Caramel Curves Motorcycle Club was founded 16 years ago by Nakosha “Coco” Smith and Shanika “Tru” Beatty. Back then, we wrote:

The group consists of 13 [now 10] women with a decades-long love of motorcycles and a desire to bike with other women. "The ladies wear helmets ridged with fluorescent pink mohawks and matching vests bedazzled in blingy patches and sequins. Finishing the look are Barbie-pink stilettos. Their bikes are big Suzuki Hayabusas (that they call “busas”) and Gixxers, and Can-Am Spyders, airbrushed in shades of pink, with brightly colored rims to match. And when they stunt, with curving burnouts or wheelies, their tires send off plumes of magenta-hued smoke."

In fact, the Savage X Fenty team read the same New York Times article that AOC did. Read our original post below.

Here’s the Carmel Curves Instagram Page. It seems that members also have their own personal page. Shaniqwa Jarvis [IG] is the photographer behind the campaign. We’re working on lining up the names of all the bikers featured.

I love it. Victoria’s Secret has got their VS Collective all lined up with star power that includes: Adut Akech, Amanda de Cadenet, Eileen Gu, Megan Rapinoe, Paloma Elsesser, Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Valentina Sampaio — totally fab women chosen to keep the brand on track with what women really want.

And then Rihanna swoops in with probably the most body-affirming, pro-woman lingerie video ever created to inspire American women.

If VS was really game, they would ask the VS Collective to critique this totally out-of-the box video. I promise you that at least five — if not all seven — members of the VS Collective LOVE the Savage X Carmel Curves campaign.

The Carmel Curve ladies don’t typically ride in lingerie. But they DO ride in heels. They ARE the sisterhood in action, and the body-affirming, pro-empowerment message of the documentary-style video cannot be overstated. It’s just absolutely the BEST!

The video begins with the women on their bikes with clouds of pink trailing behind them, as they narrate what being in the club means to them along with how they catch the eyes of passersby wherever they go.

With all due respect to the VS Collective, Rihanna’s “got this” when the topic is woman empowerment. I wrote a couple weeks ago with the debut of the Sports Illustrated Swimwear issue, that VS had better be careful in cleaning up its act.

Personally, I see sexy scheduled for a big comeback — and it’s on womanly terms — with strong input from Black culture.

Carmel Curve Biker ladies, you were born to ride. Thanks for the huge inspo-hit of self-confidence for AOC readers and women everywhere. ~ Anne

The Carmel Curves Biker Ladies Ride From New Orleans Into The New York Times Aug. 9, 2018

Nakosha Smith, also known as Coco, is a member of the Caramel Curves, the all-female African-American Motorcycle club based in New Orleans. Her tires have pink dye so the smoke appears pink when she does a burnout.CreditAkasha Rabut for The New York Times

Writer Shannon Sims drops into The New York Times, writing an in-depth look at the Caramel Curves, New Orleans’s all-female motorcycle club. 

The group consists of 13 women with a decades-long love of motorcycles and a desire to bike with other women. "The ladies wear helmets ridged with fluorescent pink mohawks and matching vests bedazzled in blingy patches and sequins. Finishing the look are Barbie-pink stilettos. Their bikes are big Suzuki Hayabusas (that they call “busas”) and Gixxers, and Can-Am Spyders, airbrushed in shades of pink, with brightly colored rims to match. And when they stunt, with curving burnouts or wheelies, their tires send off plumes of magenta-hued smoke."

The bikes are the glue that holds the women together, as their day jobs differ widely.  Nakosha Smith runs a nail salon; Dezel Bell, aka First Lady Foxy, works in a funeral home; Rochelle Francis -- Pretty Rocky to us -- is an armored truck driver; and Andrea Shepherd, named Hoodpriss, is a former prison nurse. 

Motorcycles gangs in America are most often associated with violence and outlaw culture in the minds of everyday Americans. Women who ride with the all-male motorcycles gangs are often called 'property' and are perceived as possession of the male riders. Testosterone runs at peak performance in the hearts, minds and bodies of the group members.

The documentary 'Outcast Forever' rode along with the infamous, oldest all black outlaw biker club in the US. 

Carmel Curves first formed in July 2005. a month before the devastating arrival of Hurricane Katrina. The ladies were dispersed as a result of Katrina, but their bonds remained strong as a way of healing and reconnecting after the hurricane. Around the world, they’ve captured a lot of other people’s interest: The Curves’ Instagram account now counts more than 14,000 followers. Since the publication of the Times article, the Instagram account now has 15,000 followers. 

For an in-depth read on a unique slice of American life, read on at the New York Times.

Caramel Curves members, from left: Nellie Brooks, a.k.a. Quiet Storm; Nakosha Smith, a.k.a. Coco; Kimberly Gilbert, a.k.a. Karma; and Andrea Shepherd, a.k.a. Hoodpriss.CreditAkasha Rabut for The New York Times