People from the south of Sweden often say that Stockholm is full of brats who just think about expensive fashion, slicked back hair and fancy nightclubs. Even if a person doesn’t fulfil this stereotypical picture of a person living in Stockholm he or she is often considered snobbish because of the dialect.
I don’t care for Swedish dialects and if people sound snobbish. However, when some guys from Stockholm and Gothenburg started to party regularly with me and my friends a few weeks ago I realised how much more guys from bigger cities in Sweden care for fashion.
We went out on Friday and during the pre-party one of the new guys changed his shirt eight times (I counted!) while the other ones were talking about their great purple t-shirts.
I wouldn’t say that my friends who are from the south or smaller towns in Sweden don’t care for clothes but they seemed to be more relaxed. Some of them are these typical “jeans plus band t-shirt guys” and some of them have a very classic style. They usually wear a shirt and a tie when they go out. I think they need at most five minutes to get dressed before a party (OK, ten if they have to search in their laundry mountains).
I don’t like clichés and of course not every Swedish guy from a big city changes his shirt eight times before he goes out. However, I think there is a quite remarkable difference how guys from rural regions compared to the ones from cities value clothing and style.
This difference is nothing new but I think it is more remarkable in Sweden than in other countries such as Germany when it comes to guys.
In the end my friend changed his shirt a ninth time and took the one that he tried the second time. He said it would fit best to the topic of the party. By the way, the topic was rainbow…
I hear you! There are days when I’ll see boys around campus that I could swear take more time than I do to get ready for school. I could stake my life on it! Haha
It’s refreshing to see a man who devotes a little time to his appearance. But at the same time, I am not in any way turned on by a guy who wears more hair care product than I do, or owns more pairs of skinny jeans than me. *:P
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Ah, I would say it’s all a part of Swedish men’s project to reinvent manhood and turn it into something other than sports-with-the-mates and dressman outfits. We read of ‘foodies’ in the nyt and ponder “now, maybe that’s sometthing for me” or we vainly sift through the pictures at the sartorialist, hoping to find some validation for our latest buy.
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My girl called at 2:55 PM, said meet her in the coffee shop at 4:00 PM. I had spent the day at Turquette pistol range rolling around in the dirt shooting GLOCK Pistols with buddies and practicing AKIDO take downs in a dirt pit. Jumped in shower and realized no soap, so bathed with LYE soap from the laundry room and the dog’s Sergeant’s tick amd flee shampoo. Exit shower at 3:08 PM according to my Dive watch, threw on starched Khaki BDU pants, Clark desset boots, a last chance belt (can be used as a repelling harness in an emergency), a dress shirt that I left the collar open on, a COLT .45 cal. Officers Model in a GALCO Jack-ass rig sholder holster, and a loose Blue yachting blazer with a dive club patch on it. I hopped in my 2008 Ford Mustang GT and screamed out of the parking lot. Arrived at Coffee shop at 3:23 PM.
She walks in and says “What have you been doing, getting ready to go out all day, I will need a couple hours to get ready”. Those guys spending all day getting ready, are probably gay.
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…..Dan, you’re living in the U.S., aren’t you? lol
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It is the same in every capital city worldwide. I have never been in a capital city where it is different.
It is part of life in all capital cities.
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@ Dan
This blog article is about Stockholm which is the capital of Sweden.
Sweden is in Europe, not the USA.
Sweden is about 5000 kilometres north-east-east of the USA. That about 3500 miles in American.
The blog entry is not about any city in the USA, where it is always a competition between the men to be percieved as the most masculine and not to have any signs of gayness.
That is why when American men travel to Europe, everyone assumes they are gay, because they look like they are going to a gay theme party at a gay pride event.
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No way Mareike! What a thing!
Can’t you find anything better to observe with your glasses in Sweden than a guy changing his shirt?
Why is it that just about every article written on this site is by some bourgeois woman who’s idea of a weeks’ excitement is i) her Swedish language class ii) the date she had last night with a (wait for it..) Swede! iii) What Swedes wear or (the worst) iv) shock horror my Swedish boyfriend wants to sleep with me so ‘am I an American prude?’ (to which the answer is yes you are Yank, so sod off back to Mom and apple pie)
Is there something in the local water I wonder which makes people come over all vacant and vacuous once they are in Stockholm? No politics to report apparently (although I notice the Swedish Democrats are doing rather well),
no nothing of any substance according to the commentary.
It’s so unlike The Local’s German edition where in keeping with the land of Theodor W. Adorno and Erich Fromm the chatter is of more important matters.
http://www.thelocal.de/opinion/20091127-23563.html
Chuck the ies and their bad date problems off and get to the heart of some real issues in Sweden, they’re tedious in the extreme.
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Ah Sweden…. where the women are beautiful, and the men are too!
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@ Sarah
A lot of the men in Skåne are not that good looking. A bit further north is a lot better.
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@ Simon:
Do you really have only decent conversations over fika or lunch with “any substance” in this lovely country? In my experience it’s mainly “weather and rubbish” chat, so please, don’t expect discussion about politics or housing problems on a style&fashion blog….
Although I need to agree, toppics at thelocal seem to be a little off recently:/
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@ Simon & nsp,
She has a simple choice dioscuss inane things and have a pleasant conversation.
or
Tackle serious issues in Sweden, which if going by the comments on the local, will be like a war zone, populated by lunatics commenting who are not even in Sweden or Europe for that matter.
A lot of the commentators on the local are unhinged conspiracy theory right wing nut jobs from the USA. I can understnad anyone not wanting to engage with them.
Also on occassion, I do personally like to drop into a place which is friendly.
Andrea
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@Simon: I bet you are OMG-I-have-to-change-shirt-again kind!
Can’t blame you swedes…”I bet that you look good on the dance floor”. Don’t be so hard on her. I believe if Mareike was constantly discussing about Sweden’s politics one would be saying something like: “it’s not your business!”.. Personaly, I don’t know to what extent one living in another country should(n’t) be involved in such a thing…and talking about fashion male swedes is so much fun! 
cheers
@Sara
“Sarah says:
November 30, 2009 at 10:45 pm
Ah Sweden…. where the women are beautiful, and the men are too!”
I Totally agree
cheers
@Andrea
“Andrea says:
November 30, 2009 at 11:16 pm
@ Sarah
A lot of the men in Skåne are not that good looking. A bit further north is a lot better”
I must say I never notest that unprettyness there in Skåne…or maybe it happened that I just met Stockolmits and others who happened to be down south those days!or does it has anything to do with the flag colours?
just wondering…
cheers
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Andrea,
1. I believe we are on an Internet blog, which means by definition we will get an International audience.
2. The blogger is talking about men’s clothing, style is kind of International, so the topic probably effects me more than you (I’m a man), unless by implication you are one of those women who shave.
3. Business takes me to Sweden, can’t help it. I refuse to wear those clothes. Skin tight jeans, rainbow shirts, ladies skarfs, that’s in my girls closet, not mine.
4. If Gay men dress very mail in Sweden, I advise you guys copy them (for somebody ranting on about right wing nuts you are pretty homophobic).
5. Men’s clothing, should be what expresses him, not something he wears, because he is trying t look like something in a magazine. Why pretend to be something you aren’t? My clothes express a certain Lifestyle, whether running around a Saudi dessert orchatting up some girl in a Danish bar, my clothes don’t change for the natives.
6. The point of my post was traditional men spend more time keeping their girl happy, not standing in front of mirrors trying to look like a gay model.
7. My friend (a Swedish male) who is not an effiminate Fop forwards articles to me that he thinks will get me commenting, I do the same to him.
8. There are things you can do to relieve stress other than be a hag or a homophobe.
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Simon, you’re just rude. This is a style and fashion blog, not the main page of The Local. If you don’t have something to say about the content of this article, why did you come here and read it? Why did you even click on Mareike’s blog headline if you knew you were going to be dissatisfied with its lack of political commentary? Some poeple come to Mareike’s blog hoping to escape the unpleasantness that has come to characterize the rest of The Local, but you prove that The Local is an unpleasantness magnet, it’s unescapable on this site… it will find its way into every nook and cranny. Are you proud to have contributed to that?
Dan, you don’t really get that some guys express themselves in dress differently than other guys. The guys who are dressing up like magazine models are just expressing their own interest in clothes and fashion, just as your own clothes express your lifestyle, wherever you may find yourself. Nobody is telling you, or anyone in Sweden, to change your regular clothes to something you’re not comfortable in. I myself break all the fashion rules in Sweden because I’m lazy and like comfortable clothes.
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Truly intellectual and cultivated people with well-developped selves and interests and secure social connections , “fashion” is of no importance. Clean, simple,
comfortable, tasteful clothes are sufficient. I think those
who lack developped inner values search for a compensation
in “extreme” fashion. I have seen very many university professors, scientists, artists of world recognition, with a hole in their sweaters or unironed shirts or trousers.
Askin Ozcan
Architect and author of
STOCKHOLM STORIES, WISDOM IN SMILE, THE SECOND VENICE,
LIGHTNING AND A BOUQUET OF ROSES, SMALL MIRACLES , THE MINI-SUBMARINE.
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