Style in Sweden

“There hasn’t been anything new in fashion, music and art in general during the last ten years. The latest trends are only modified copies of old ideas. We are done!” argued a friend of mine who is an art student a few days ago. We ended up in a quite heated discussion. I just couldn’t agree on this statement even though I am usually a critical and rather pessimist person.

On the other hand, I could understand her point. If I describe clothes I often relate to cities (“That is so Berlin…that is so Stockholm…”) or I associate them with former trends. At the moment for instance fashion is strongly influenced by the 1980s. Looking at the latest collections of great designers such as Marc Jacobs but also H&M’s current line, it is striking that typical 80s elements like shoulder pads, leather, fur or high heels are back.

My mom is always kind of amused when I show her my new clothes. “I should have kept my old clothes for you. I had exactly the same dress when I was at your age”, she usually says. I also remember that my friends and I were talking about the comeback of the neon rave look of the 1990s two years ago. At that time I didn’t reflect about it so much but today I am wondering if it isn’t a little bit desperate to talk about a comeback just 10 years after the first appearance of a trend?

Maybe there have been so many trends and changes in fashion during the last 100 years that people need to take a break and look back now. Every fashion decade has its particular features. The 70s were the years of flower power, the 80s were characterised by consumption or punk and the 90s were the decade of neon colours and rave music. I suggest the 2000s are the years of taking a break and enjoy all beautiful clothes that have been designed so far. I mean the good thing is that you can’t do anything wrong in fashion at the moment because everything goes.

However, I am sure that we are not done! There will be something new soon. Something that we have never seen before! Don’t they say that people become more productive and creative after short breaks?!

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Gender roles are changing. Slowely but they do! In particular Sweden is known for shaking up traditional ideas of male and female behaviour. Here porn movies can be feminist and men wish to breastfeed their children.

The world of fashion is usually an area that is characterised by a strong gendered division. However, there are indications that fashion finally also starts to be more open towards gender-neutral collections.

Typical women’s wear consists of dresses, skirts or high heels, which sexualise the body by underlining the female silhouette. Classical male clothing such as the suit symbolises money and power. However, when women started entering the labour market, especially the public sector, in the context of the 1960s revolutions designers such as Giorgio Armani or Coco Chanel invented a female variant of the suit.

Today it is not strange anymore if women wear pants or even a tie. However, if men want to try skirts, dresses or high heels people usually think they are gay, on the way to a costume party or crazy. This attitude is changing according to the Swedish ELLE and the German lifestyle magazine Tush. It will become more and more accepted that men adopt typical female clothing. From dress code to cross-dress?

That would be fantastic! Looking at Swedish fashion, there are at least tendencies for a more gender-neutral focus. The labels Cheap Monday and Acne currently belong to the country’s most successful fashion exports and design lots of unisex garments.

I see this development also in my personal life. My boyfriend and I often buy the same type of pants and if I consider my wonderful friend Niklas I see the perfect example of a style that is not associated with gender. His style is just fantastic, special and unique! I wish there were more people like him!

Picture: Ulrich Hartmann

Picture: Christian Kuhn

Picture: Vanessa Leißring

Picture: Yannik Willing

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Many gay people fortunately don’t hide their sexuality anymore. However, I read in the German lifestyle magazine Neon that some gay men started avoiding this topic again – but not because of shame and outmoded traditional values. They are annoyed by ‘gayophile’ women who desperately seek a gay best friend to use him as fashionable accessory, according to the magazine. Queer is cool!

I thought about this article since I have quite a lot of gay friends. When I was in high school I took dancing lessons and almost every guy who continued after the basic course was gay (I don’t like clichés but that’s actually true). Anyway, I made lots of gay friends there so that I started to go to gay prides and clubs when I was 17. Here in Sweden I don’t know so many gay people but sometimes I still go to the clubs. The music is fantastic (Madonna is best!) and there are no annoying men who don’t understand that I role my eyes and don’t wink at them.

Of course women love partying with their gay friends! It’s not just about that the most popular clubs are gay clubs like the Berghain in Berlin or that many gay men are interested in so-called ‘female topics’ such as fashion. It is also a certain statement and way of life that is conveyed if a woman goes to a party with her gay friend: I’m independent but not alone!

There are for sure some women who consider their gay best friends as fashionable accessories and that’s of course not ok. However, most women who ask their gay friends if they want to be their ‘plus one’ don’t have in mind to pep up their outfit. I think it is more likely that they don’t want to go alone to a party full of couples. Or what about the possibility that they like their gay friends and want to spend time with them??

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Swedish guys are known for their good taste when it comes to clothes. I have often heart that Finnish guys call them gay because of their interest in style. Generally I also think that many Swedish guys put a lot of effort and time into their outfit and, yes, many of them indeed look great. There is just one thing that confuses me every summer here: being topless…everywhere.

Maybe it is just my personal impression but I have the feeling that, as soon as it becomes warmer outside, Swedish guys throw their fantastic shirts away and prefer the more airy variant. I have seen topless guys at the supermarket, gas station, on their bikes, just everywhere. Moreover, it is not just one type of guy who likes to strip to the waist. You see all kinds of bodies from the six-pack stomach to the beer belly.

I’m wondering if it is more socially accepted if guys are topless in Sweden. Maybe I’m wrong but I think topless guys in Germany are more rare if they are not at the beach, drunk on Mallorca or working on some construction site.

I love clothes. Of course I prefer the well-dressed variant! But if I’m right and topless guys are more accepted in Sweden I’m wondering why. Maybe it’s the old weather story that provides explanations for every kind of Swedish behaviour. It’s getting warmer and everybody is so glad and avid for sun that they think the less clothes the better.

Or maybe Swedish guys just didn’t get the message of the Swedish feminist movement “Bara Bröst” (it literally means both ‘bare breasts’ and ‘just breasts’) who has fought for the right that women are allowed to bathe topless at public swimming pools. Who knows?

However, I am thankful if men at the supermarket counter wear a shirt!

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Fashion is all about accessories. You can change the cheapest and most boring look into an interesting and chic outfit with a few accessories. Therefore I love scarves.

I never go out without a scarf. I wear them in school, at nightclubs and sometimes when I sleep. Even if it’s 30 degrees outside I wear some small scarf. Of course, I have some dresses to which a scarf does not fit so well. If I have one of them on I do not wear a scarf (but I have one in my handbag…just in case…).

The day after a non-scarf night is always horrible. My neck cracks and really hurts so that I have to wear an extra huge scarf. I don’t know if that is psychosomatic or if I have an extreme sensitive neck (or maybe I should finally start working out…).

A friend from the US told me once that this thing with the scarves is so typical European. No one in the US would wear such grandma accessories. I heart that the general style in the US is more casual but is it really so out to wear a scarf? However, this friend also told me that American students often go in pyjamas to school and I’m still wondering if she was kidding or not. If that is true a US university must be the opposite of a Swedish one where students are so dressed up that I sometimes wonder if they are really on their way to school or a hip club.

Anyway, I love my little collection of grandma scarves. I think I have some 30 pieces now from different countries and shops in different colours and price categories.

Here are my favourite ones:

Some second hand shop in Berlin (Sorry, I don't remember which one).

H&M.

My grandma's wardrobe.

Beyond Retro, Stockholm.

Beyond Retro, Stockholm.

Lindex.

By the way, I wanted to wear a scarf on the picture of the banner but the photographer thought that would not look so great. Therefore you don’t see a scarf on that picture.

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I’m back in Lund and as you can see I survived the Norrland trip. Fashion saved my life (as usual). My new rubber boots were the perfect shoes in the swamps and were even comfortable in the mountains.

I also had a special anti-mosquito jacket that my boyfriend’s father gave me. The army patterns were not exactly my style but I was really glad to have some protection against the annoying insects. The jacket included also a mask, which I just used when I really couldn’t stand the massive mosquito invasion. I think if I wore the mask here in Lund people would think that I wanted to rob a bank.

Look here…

Perfect protection against mosquitoes.

Even on my head...sometimes...

My friend Dag was much tougher than me and forwent all useful anti-mosquito fashion accessories. He didn’t even want any sprays or creams. Well, in the end I had about 15 bites. He had approximately 50 ones…on one arm.

Dag and me.

Apart from the mosquitoes, I was really impressed by the nature.

Sometimes there was snow even though it wasn’t cold…

Gustav with winter jacket.

We even made a snowman when we climbed a mountain.

Sometimes it was really warm so it was possible to swim in the rivers and lakes.

Gustav without any jacket...

The rural atmosphere made me forget all the hair styling products and make-up that I normally use. I was “clean” during that week.

I really enjoyed the week in Funäsdalen in Norrland. Even if I really love big cities it’s a great experience to be cut off from the world for some days…

Dag.

Gustav.

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Does anybody remember the Sex and the City episode “Sex and the Country”? Carrie and her boyfriend Aidan spend some days in his summerhouse outside New York in the countryside and she behaves like an idiot in every respect. She is afraid of the animals, hates the mosquitoes and her fingers are all thumbs.

When I saw the episode first I thought that Carrie’s behaviour was extremely embarrassing and exaggerated. I changed my mind.

My boyfriend and me went to his hometown close to Borlänge in Darlana to celebrate Midsommar. Tomorrow we continue the journey. Next stop Funäsdalen, Norrland.

Since he told me that all my shoes that I usually wear would be totally inappropriate in Norrland I bought my first rubber boots at Skopunkt for 200 crowns. I think they look totally ridiculous but I understand that high heels or Ballerinas are maybe not the best shoes here in the countryside with all mud and insects.

My new rubber boots. Beautiful, isn't it?

However, when we celebrated Midsommar I wore a skirt and some Ballerinas shoes instead of jeans and rubber boots because I thought it would be too ridiculous. Big mistake!!!

I have now about 10 mosquito bites on my legs. Since I grew up in an urban area I’m really not used to so many and aggressive mosquitoes. The result is that every bite is now about 10cm big and I look like I have the plague. Thank God that the Middle Ages are over!  Otherwise, people would try to kill me because they would think that I had a horribly contagious illness.

I’m actually afraid of the trip to Norrland. What if mosquitoes bite me in my neck and I can’t breath? Aaah help!

I bought some sprays and creams against mosquitoes but my boyfriend means that they won’t help that much. I hope my new rubber boots will at least save my legs. I don’t want to sit with wet towels on the sofa (like I do at the moment) every night to cool my burning and horribly itchy mosquito bites.

By the way, I won’t have internet access in Norrland so I can’t write blog entries for a week. But I’m sure I can tell some funny stories when I’m back…

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