I was talking with my friend James Ellis of Cockroach Couriers ("We step on it!") in order to get the inside story on why messengers are so stylish. As a fashion historian, I know that in the past, fashion was hierarchical, trickling down from the elite to the masses. Ever since the 1960s, however, fashion influences have often come up from the street. Today bicycle messengers have created one particular kind of street style with atremendous influence on fashion. I wanted to know why.