Style in Sweden

Andreas Kleerup is not only a great Swedish musician. He is also one of Sweden’s coolest male style icons at the moment. It’s his “I don’t care how I look” style that many guys imitate. Just some pair of jeans and a t-shirt combined with long hair that looks (is?) unwashed and a beard. I always call it the Jesus look because the hair and the beard reminds me of how Jesus usually looks like in bad movies.

However, the fashion industry decided on another term: homeless chic. Designers use the style of homeless people as a source of inspiration and do not focus on colours, forms and materials. They just mix everything together as if they don’t care how it looks like.

The German designer Patrick Mohr even included homeless people in his runway show when he presented his spring/summer 2010 summer collection at Berlin Fashion Week in July. They didn’t receive any money for the job but they could keep the clothes.

I think this is really tasteless and politically incorrect. OK, fashion has never been a business that is known for political correctness but isn’t that a little bit too much? This “I don’t care” style is really cool since it looks so real, unpolished and human but the homeless association is discriminating.

Lots of journalists and bloggers praise Patrick Mohr for his arty and political perspective on fashion. They argue that he called attention to the difficult life of homeless people and consider the runway show a contribution to a political discussion. I have the impression that he rather exploited them in particular when it comes to the “payment”.

Can’t we call it Jesus look as I suggested in the beginning? Maybe that would be a problem for Christians but as I said fashion is not known for its political correctness and I find a reference to Jesus is more acceptable than the exploitation of homeless people.

Patrick Mohr runway show, Berlin Fashion Week spring/summer 2010.

Thanks to Gianna, who gave me the tip for this blog entry.

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When I was a teenager I really loved Dr. Marten boots although they didn’t suit me at all. I was small, very skinny and had quite big feet for a girl at that age. In other words, my clothes were often too big and my shoes were huge so that I looked like a clown. But I liked Dr. Marten boots so much that I wore them anyway. It was like smoking. I knew it was bad but, like every teenager, I did it.

When I saw in fashion magazines, blogs and runway shows that Dr. Marten boots are back this season I wasn’t sure in the beginning if I like that or not. First of all, I felt very old, as I had to realise that the trends of my teenage years were coming back. I also immediately had the picture of “Mareike the clown” in my mind.

Mads Nørgaard spring/summer 2010, Copenhagen Fashion Week, Sasha Maric.

Like almost every fashion trend in Sweden these days, Dr. Marten boots are related to the nerd look. I am really wondering how the word “nerd” succeeded in achieving such an image change. When I was in high school nobody wanted to look like a nerd and nobody wanted to be called a nerd. Or did Swedish nerds look much better than German ones during the 1990s?!

I associate Dr. Marten boots with London, punk, generation X and grunge. If I think of a current fashion icon I relate the shoes to the British model Agyness Deyn.

Anyway, I wasn’t sure for quite a long time if I should buy them again or not but last week I saw the perfect pair of boots for me at DinSko. They look not as clumpy as the real Dr. Marten boots, which is perfect for my feet (yes, they are still not small). The best thing is that they only cost 449:- SEK so 1500:- SEK less than the original ones. They perfect boots for a rainy and snowy Swedish winter!

By the way, check out DinSko’s autumn and winter collection. As usual they have some really cool and modern shoes for low prices, normally not more than 800:- SEK.

My new boots.

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Generally I don’t care so much for lingerie but when I read in the Swedish fashion magazine Glamour that granny knickers will be the next big hype I was somehow astonished…and interested. The models on the pictures of course look fantastic. But it’s their job to look fantastic in every kind of (shitty) clothes, isn’t it?

I am not sure if a woman with a “normal” female body would also look so great in granny knickers. On the other hand, they are for sure very practical as they can cover unwanted flab in the belly region. But the best thing is that they are probably very comfortable. I mean they are so huge that they can’t end up as a thong at the end of the day (what many other normal panties often do).

Yes, granny knickers have some advantages. However, I think they really need a new name! I mean do we want to think of grandma when other people get to see our underwear? What about 1960s lingerie? Sounds much better in my opinion!

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