Style in Sweden

I read in the Metro newspaper that Copenhagen becomes more and more popular among Swedes. People appreciate the relaxed atmosphere, the milder winter and the shorter distance to other European countries compared to Stockholm. Metro also mentioned that Copenhagen is more worth-visiting when it comes to shopping, especially vintage and second hand.

“It’s time to check out Copenhagen’s range of shops”, I thought when I read the article. I didn’t have high expectations since I assumed that no city could be better for vintage shopping than Berlin. I was wrong!

There are lots of wonderful vintage and second hand shops. The best thing is that they are all very close to each other and just a ten minutes walk away from the central station. Just go to Studiestræde and you will find shops but also cosy cafés and bars.

Regarding the atmosphere, I think Copenhagen is a god mix of Stockholm and Berlin: not so strict and boring like Stockholm but not so crazy and easygoing like Berlin. In one of the second hand shops the seller apologized for opening too late that day. “Sorry, I was just too tired to get up in time this morning”, she explained. Can you imagine a seller in Stockholm would ever say something like this?

Anyway, here are my favourite shops:

FN.92
My favourite vintage shop in Copenhagen. A must-see if you are looking for a unique hat.

Larsbjørnsstræde 6, 1009 Copenhagen K, Mon-Fri 11am-8pm, Sat 11am-4pm.

Kitch Bitch
Mostly dresses, skirts and blouses. Cheap but chic! Lot’s of 80s stuff.

Læderstræde 30, 1201 Copenhagen K, Mon-Thu 12am-6pm, Fri 12am-7pm, Sat 11am-5pm.

København K
Offers a wide range of street wear for both men and women.

Teglgårdstræde 4 (bigger shop on two floors), Studiestræde 32B (in the backyard), 1455 Copenhagen K, Mon-Thu 11am-6pm, Fri 11am-7pm, Sat 11am-3pm.

The Second Way
Great spot for accessory shopping! I found two cute scarves there for 50 DKK.

Studiestræde 15, 1455 Copenhagen K, Mon-Thu 11am-6pm, Fri 11am-6pm, Sat 11am-5pm.

My new scarves from The Second Way.

Retro Sales
Offers everything from shoes to jewellery. Their products are even available on the internet. 

Sankt Peders Stræde 47, Mon-Fri 12am.6pm, Sat 11am-4pm.

One Off (designer clothes in vintage style)
When you enter the shop for the first time you probably wonder how the 1960s shift dresses can be in such a great condition but then you see designer and owner Dørte Maado in the back sewing a new beautiful dress. You should definitely go there if you like 1960s style.

Studiestræde 16, 1455 Copenhagen K, Mon-Sat 9am-6pm.

The Sneaky Fox (mainly tights and socks, not vintage)

My favourite shop when it comes to tights and socks. Unique, chic and a good quality for acceptable prices.

Studiestræde 25a, 1455 Copenhagen K.

Check out this site for more vintage shops in Copenhagen

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Most Swedes proudly point out that they consider equality important. However, there is one area where they clearly prefer difference: fashion. Many people including me are tired of shirts from giant clothing chains such as H&M but don’t have the money for expensive designer clothes. Therefore online apparel stores such as Threadless have become more and more popular lately.

Young designers and illustrators send their designs to online apparel stores and either the users or a jury decide if they will be printed on a shirt and sold on the website.

I think these pages are a great opportunity for both young designers as their ideas become more public and people looking for more unique but cheap clothing. The shirts usually cost about SEK 100.

By the way, one of my favourite design duos, Yawn, sells a shirt at Ript Apparel today. The two girls have a very happy, colourful and cartoon-like 80s aesthetic, which suits men and women. They say that their favourite colour is rainbow. Can there be something better than some colours in the dark Swedish winter?

“Match Box 13″ is available at Ript Apparel today (November 7).

“Little Raccoons Tennis Club” will be available soon. If you are interested I’ll let you know when I know the exact date.

Anyway, here is list of my favourite online apparel stores beginning with the best ones.

Threadless

Design by Humans

La Fraise

Tilteed

Ript Apparel

A better tomorrow

Good Joe

Teextile

Springleap

Riot Creations

Uneetee

SwishSwosh

Shirt.Woot!

Tee Fury

Tee Invaders

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Malmö and Lund have very cool clothing shops. If you love second hand, vintage and fashion in the style of the 1960s you might find some interesting spots in this shopping guide. Of course, I often buy clothes at H&M, Gina Trikot and Topshop but if I want to have something special I go to one of these places:

Popolino

Davidhallsgatan 15, Malmö

Popolino is my favourite shop in Malmö. It sells men’s and women’s wear in the style of the British, French and Italian 1960s. Personally I like most the labels Ben Sherman and Popkitten. The clothes are quite expensive (not under 1000:- SEK) but if you want to have something exclusive in vintage style this should be your first stop in Skåne.

Chique

Kärleksgatan 3, Malmö

Chique is located very close to Popolino and mostly sells vintage women’s wear. I love the large selection of handbags and scarves. The prices are normal second hand prices. Scarves cost for instance between 75:- and 100:- SEK. I think it is Malmö’s best second hand shop.

Tjallamalla

Davidhallsgatan 15, Malmö, Mon-Fri 12-18, Sat 12-16

Tjallamalla is right next to Popolino. Not as big and up to date as the store in Stockholm but still one of my favourite shops in Malmö. It is known as the platform for Sweden’s smaller and newer designers such as Minimarket. The prices are in the same category like at Popolino.

Tweed

Holmgatan 8a, Malmö, Mon-Fri 10-19, Sat 11-15

Tweed only sells exclusive men’s wear. The style is very similar to Popolino so 1960s British, French and Italian fashion.

Weekday

Södra Vallgatan 5, Malmö, Mon-Fri 10-19, Sat 10-16, Sun 12-16

Weekday is not really an insider tip in Sweden but I think it is worth mentioning the shop because of its great selection of jeans. In particular if you like Cheap Monday and Acne you will love it there!

Esposito

Kraftstorg 2, Lund, Mon-Fri 10-18, Sat 11-16

Esposito’s concept is to sell vintage and second hand clothing combined with newer labels. It is definitely the best shop in Lund. Especially if you look for a scarf, sunglasses or a tie Esposito is a good spot. However, best are the prices. I bought once three scarves for less than 100:- SEK.

Butik Gul

Kungsgatan 31, Malmö, Tue-Fri 12-18, Sat 11-16

Butik Gul sells second hand clothing as well as very cool furniture and smaller decoration stuff such as antique pictures frames. A great shop if you want to buy a present for instance.

You think a cool shop in Skåne is missing in this guide? You have an insider tip? Great! Why don’t you write me a mail? I would love to check it. I always look for new and interesting clothing shops!

Email: mareike.neumann@thelocal.se

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Thanks to my friend Grace I just found a wonderful Japanese Vintage shop in Stockholm. When owner Johannes came back from his latest Japan trip he brought two tons (!!!) of vintage clothing with him, which he sells for 300 crowns per kilo now. Yes, per kilo!!! This is so fantastic that I’m thinking about to drive 650km from Lund to Stockholm just to go shopping there.

Apart from that Japanese vintage is sold by the kilo, Tokyo Stop also offers shirts for 100 crowns and trousers for 200-300 crowns. You can even find purses, jewellery, underwear and other cute things such as Japanese dolls at Sweden’s first J-store.

When you are done with shopping or if you wait for your friend you can play Nintendo, read Mangas or enjoy Japanese art. Japan galore!

Here you can find the shop:

Frejgatan 17, Stockholm

Opening hours Wed-Fri 1pm-7pm, Sat 11am-7pm

Check also the blog of the store

Some pictures of the opening and the latest event “Lolitaloppiset”

Pictures from: Tokyo Stop

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I have never been a shoe nerd but when I bought a pair and wanted to put it in my cupboard yesterday I realised that there was no space at all. Then I counted them and I was shocked. I bought 27 pairs in one year. How could that happen?

When I lived in Stockholm last summer I bought heaps of shoes. I didn’t know so many people there and was bored quite often so the only thing I did was shoe shopping. When I came back to Skåne my friends asked if that was some kind of Sex and the City syndrome. Unfortunately, it was just the result of living in a big city without knowing anybody.

Nevertheless, my stay in Stockholm could just explain six or seven pairs. So where does the rest come from?

I think I bought so many shoes during the last year because you can get chic, modern and good-looking shoes in Sweden for very low prices. Low-cost shoe shops in Germany for instance are really crap. The style is often so old that it’s almost ‘in’ again and the quality is really bad.

However, if you do shoe shopping at Skopunkt or dinsko here in Sweden you can find really cheap and chic shoes. Ok, the quality is not always the best one and, of course, there’s an obvious quality difference in comparison with a designer shoe but who has the money to just buy designer clothes? And actually I find expensive clothes are not a guarantee for an interesting and modern outfit.

Here are some of my favourite shoes. Every pair cost less than 1000 crowns. 

Skopunkt 249 crowns.

Topshop ca. 850 crowns.

Skopunkt ca. 200 crowns.

Skopunkt 30 crowns (no joke!!!). I think you can't get a pizza for that price.

Skopunkt ca. 300 crowns. By the way, the tights are from Lindex and cost 99 crowns. They are an exact copy from some Chanel tights.

Skopunkt ca. 200 crowns.

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“Berlin is Europe’s New York – why doesn’t Sweden have such a great capital?”, said a Swedish friend a few days ago. First I thought that this statement was just the result of too many Mojitos but when I reflected on it I realised that Berlin is really very hyped here at the moment. Swedish fashion websites are full of Berlin bloggers, clubs are most popular if there is a guest DJ from Berlin and a lot of my friends plan a weekend trip to my home country’s capital.

Everybody loves Berlin…and Mareike, too.

Apart from its fantastic club and art scene, Berlin is also famous for the many unique fashion shops. With the help of a friend who lives in Berlin I did a shopping guide for you. Here are our favourite shops. 

Pale Blue Eyes, Kastanienallee 50

Let’s start with some Scandinavian fashion. This small shop is known as ‘Der Schwede’ (the Swede) in Berlin because Swedish people own it. You can find a lot of Cheap Monday stuff but also some rather expensive designer garments.

Extrafein, Kastanienalle 55

Chic and hip! A lot of designer clothes so it’s rather expensive.

Wood Wood, Rochstr. 4

One more Scandinavian export in Berlin. A Danish designer shop where you can find a lot of fantastic clothes from for instance Henrik Vibskov, Raf Simons, Commes des Garçons, Maharishi, Camilla Staerk orYazbukey. But don’t forget your Master Card Gold! It’s very expensive!

Apartment, Memhardstr. 8

Here you need luck with the prices. They vary from 50 until 500 Euro.

Traschick, Wühlischstr. 31

According to my friend, one of the best second hand and vintage shops in Berlin.

Jacuzzi, Rosenthaler Str. 19

Something between chic and casual and the prices are ok. Not too expensive but no second hand prices either.

And finally three typical Berlin second hand shops:

Made in Berlin, Neue Schönhauser str 19.

Garage, Ahornstr. 2

Colours, Bergmannstr. 102

I will add shopping guides for Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö/Lund soon. 

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