Motorcycle Helmets

For daredevil motorcyclists the helmet is more than just a placebo sense of safety – it’s also a role-play prop with kinky connotations. Think of the oxygen mask drill in an airplane. When the masks drop, it’s green light for mouth-to-mouth with death, but the flight attendants perform their ritual anyway. It’s just like the pool of holy water in a catholic church: you wouldn’t go without it, but at the end of your life you’ll die anyways. – by Eva Munz

Safety measures are rarely sexy; helmets have always begged for design. Chanel did some, as did Louis Vuitton a couple of years back. Stunt drivers have no time for this kind of kitsch. The Bandit Helmets we used for the DERZEIT Accident Issue’s fashion shoot cater to the very needs of speed freaks on two wheels. Their heavily adorned hats are carefully cast characters that show the ›face‹ they want to put on for the ride. They’re irreplaceably personal, like the parachute that every parachutist packs himself, so when the fabric fails to unfold they have no one to blame but themselves. Every rider knows that if a helmet drops on a concrete floor from the hip, its protection may be gone forever, gripped invisibly by an evil spell. 
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The Berlin-based company customizes helmets with airbrush designs and also offers prêt-a-porter models with see-through grid textures, ornaments, dipped in flashy chrome or shaped like bizarro ghostlike masks. Helmets offer a great opportunity to identify with your tribe. Harley Davidson riders know this, as do Vespa Mods and Bangkok’s motorcycle-taxi drivers. Personally, I think men on motorcycles are always kind of lame: nothing beats a hot chick on wheels.
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Helmets GmbH, Roentgenstr. 14a, 10587 Berlin, www.motorbike.de