THE MUSE: Sophia Loren

“I was blessed with a sense of my own destiny. I have never sold myself short. I have never judged myself by other people’s standards. I have always expected a great deal of myself, and if I fail, I fail myself. So failure or reversal does not bring out resentment in me because I cannot blame others for any misfortune that befalls me.”

— Sophia Loren

As a reaction to the severe lack of quality content about women in gasoline culture at large, that is both by women and for women, this blog had to be everything I wanted from that gap in the content. It had to represent women as independent in their choices, who dress for no-one, have full control over the way they are perceived, who don't subscribe themselves to labels and as a result (hopefully) inspire other women and men in their courage to express themselves honestly.

Who better to be guided by than the ultimate goddess of truth and beauty herself, Sophia Loren. In the lead up to launching this blog my friends were probably getting tired of my obsessing over her. 

Why Sophia Loren? Well from my research I could not find any evidence that she rode motorcycles, other than this one image of her riding side saddle in the 1970's romance Sunflower (swoon!).  Equally as attention demanding was her Mercedes Benz 300SL Gullwing within which she would arrive to events and no-doubt effortlessly climb out of, wooing crowds with what would have been an arresting entry.

Sophia Loren was an unconventional beauty by Hollywood standards at the time she cracked the scene, however she by far outlasted and aged better than her acting companions while still maintaining her relevance as a female icon. She stood for beauty as a belief. She stood for wisdom through integrity and a life fully lived. She believed women cannot be truly beautiful unless they have lived their lives, experienced hurt, sadness, regret, made mistakes but aimed to gain wisdom from those moments. She also believed that people around you will believe you are beautiful (or invisible) if you believe the same. She advocated for integrity as a beautiful thing and lived her life that way.

The women on IVV ride, drive, fly, and boat because it is an expression of their own personality. Whether they are perceived as "babe" or "butch" is irrelevant as they don't subscribe themselves to any one label. They live their lives their own way, and are beautiful, powerful, timeless and ultimately know they can survive anything life throws their way and be better for it.

Hx