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Tag archives for Agnes Braunerhielm

Swedish fashion blogs rule!

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Carolina Engman of Fashion Squad. Photo by Carolina Engman.

Fashion blogs are becoming ever more powerful in Sweden, even though there seems to be some confusion about which blogs are actual fashion blogs, as opposed to lifestyle blogs by girls who just happen to like fashion.

Some of the bigger blogs are becoming powerhouse publications in their own right, employing people left right and centre, but I thought I’d give you basic list of whom to follow.

Agnes Braunerhielm
My collegue at Rodeo is one of few well-known fashion bloggers who doesn’t post pictures of herself. She writes long, dwindling posts on the intricacies of Rei Kawakubo’s design and her love for Alexander McQueen. This blog shouts out for Google translation.

Style by Kling
Maybe the only Swedish blogger who is making a name for herself internationally as well. Elin Kling has her own magazine, collaborated with H&M for the Swedish market and is featured in the latest issue of Industrie Magazine (which might not be too surprising seeing they are working together, but still, it’s a magazine which is read by, well, the industry).

Chloé Schuterman
Twelve-year-old Chloé Schuterman caused a furore a year ago when she appeared on TV with her mother Nathalie (who owns luxury fashion boutique Nathalie Schuterman) talking about her Balenciaga bag she got when she turned ten. A year later she is blogging about her fabulous life. She turns 13 in July.

Rebecca Simonsen
Rebecca Simonsen is a club promoter with a penchant for dramatic outfits. This makes her into a rare bird in sleek and minimal Sweden, but it is surely also the secret behind the success of her blog.

Fashion Squad
Fashion Squad by Carolina Engman is more of fashion shoot dressed up as a blog. Engman is a freelance stylist and models the clothes herself in professional looking pictures.

Stockholm Street Style
Many people are impressed with the way Swedish people dress, especially in Stockholm. If you don’t have the opportunity to get here, just check out the Stockholm Streetstyle blog to see the best dressed people of the capital.

An Editing Eye
I wanted to include An Editing Eye, because it represents an undergrowth of budding fashion journalists who are dismayed with the lack of critique and actual writing about fashion among the Swedish fashion bloggers. For a good look into how many fashion lovers feel, Google translate like crazy.

Daniel Björk - Fashion

May 19, 2011

The great Swedish fashion blog debate

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The cover of Maria Soxbo's book about fashion blogs in Sweden.

In Sweden, the debate about young women who blog about fashion is seemingly endless. When I was preparing for this post I discovered that the recent outrage about “dangerous” beauty ideals had been copied – often with the exact same protagonists – from 2009.

It isn’t exactly true to say that the girls the debate focuses on (in 2009, Blondinbella, this time, Kissie) blog about fashion. They blog about their glamourous lifestyle, going to parties and premieres, doing lots of shopping, dieting, having plastic surgery.

The “real” fashion bloggers – people like Karolina Skande and Agnes Braunerhielm, Elin Kling, Sofi and Frida Fahrman (yes they are sisters) – have grown a bit tired of being put in the same category as the lifestyle bloggers just because they are all women.

In the recent leg of the debate, blog star Kissie, has been accused of promoting “sick” ideals, mainly because of her writing about her breast augmentation, lip surgery and dieting with baby food. To understand Kissie, you should know that her real name is Alexandra Nilsson and that Kissie is somewhat of a character whose intention it is to be provocative and shameless – that’s why the blog attracts around a million visits each week.

Kissie participated in the debate program Debatt on SVT and the aftermath followed the almost exact pattern with blogger and writer Alex Schulman criticising Blondinbella/Kissie, followed by women journalists and bloggers criticising Alex Schulman.

In these matters there always seems to be two points that people want to make. One side thinks these young glamourous bloggers are a problem. The other side might not sympathise with what they are saying but see it as important that young women and their interests are becoming part of the public discussion and arena.

Last year fashion journalist Maria Soxbo published the book Dagens outfit (Today’s oufit) about the phenomenon of fashion blogs. It is telling that she didn’t feature any male fashion blogger. This is a girl’s world.

In many ways this echoes a feeling in fashion in general. Women are no longer content in just being consumers of fashion, these days they want to be commentators and producers. They are taking charge and since they actually wear the clothes they have a certain advantage.

But there is also the sheer joy of actually talking about fashion, about showing what you bought to the world. We’re supposed to feel bad about our shopping habits for so many reasons. Now girls can talk about what they dream of, what they are actually wearing and what bargains they’ve just found. Why is that so provocative?

Daniel Björk - Fashion

March 16, 2011

Beckmans takes on couture

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Cueing outside NK.

Last night, Sweden’s foremost school for fashion design, Beckmans, opened the exhibition Something else – Visions of Couture, in cooperation with NK department store in Stockholm. The theme was meant to be an challenge to a fashion world more and more revolving around fast fashion, low-cost clothes and factory-made garments – all things which might be great for the average customer but which for a fashion designer with dreams of being something more than a skilled worker come across as somewhat depressing.

A jazz band played, drinks were offered and I met up with my fellow fashion blogger Agnes Braunerhielm and her posse of fashion-obsessives. We discussed the fact that haute couture these days seem to be created for an internet audience, something which favours spectacular shows in the vein of John Galliano, whereas couture, originally was a certain level of service, the ultimate luxury.

Dress by Anna Svensson

Top by Emmelie Karlström

Many of the students had gone for the spectacular and the craft-intensive and the result was often very special as you can see from the pictures. Was it wearable and covetable? Perhaps it depends on who you are; these were demanding clothes.

Still, this made for a refreshing evening. Swedish fashion needs a bit of craziness and fantasy. Even someone whose ambition it is to create fast fashion will benefit from something as irreverent, impossible and beautiful as these clothes. When they work at Cheap Monday, that creativity might not turn out a dress inspired by samurai uniforms, but it might help create a new jeans design.

Dress by Madeleine Vintback

Shoe by Madeleine Vintback

Together with the clothes there were also short fashion films created by the students of marketing and publicity at Beckmans. You can watch all of these films at the Beckmans homepage.

Daniel Björk - Fashion

January 28, 2011