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Tag archives for fashion

What’s next for Swedish fashion?

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Seebright, a jacket made of synthetic fibres, polyamide, Gore-Tex and then coated with a thermo-chromic and fluorescent material. At over 27 degrees it changes colour. Photo: Håkan Lindgren

 

What’s in store for Swedish fashion in the future? After all, we might have a successful high street and mid price sector, but what more?

It is sometimes claimed that innovation in fashion really comes from new research in textile production. One reason that Italy is still so successful as a fashion country is because of the expertise in creating incredibly sophisticated textiles that can be found in the country.

In Sweden, as with many countries, the manufacturing part of the fashion business came to a halt in the 1970s. There are still remnants of the industry, and logistical knowledge is still strong, but the bigger factories are gone.

This leads me to believe that the future of manufacturing is probably somewhere else, both geographically and technically.

Smart Textiles is a project based at The Swedish School of Textiles in Borås. It aims to connect companies and researchers in order to create the textiles of tomorrow.

Sweden has always been a country of innovators and risk-takers. From dynamite to the zipper, we just love to come up with new stuff (some of it more useful and peaceful than other things).

So let me introduce you to what Sweden seems to think is the next frontier in textiles (and now I am not talking about the knitted blood vessel). Glowing textiles, patterns that appear when you sit on them, materials that cool you down, a carpet that lights up when you step on it. All these textiles may not make it into clothes and are perhaps better suited for furniture design (and sometimes things like these can seem a bit gimmicky). But here is a real possibility for a happy marriage between Swedish fashion’s love of functionality and practicality and the Swedish innovative spirit.

At the moment it seems the companies working with Smart Textiles are not the major fashion companies in the country, but rather specialist, niche interests. If Acne, Tiger of Sweden, Cheap Monday and Hope sat down with the researchers, perhaps new and wonderful materials would be invented. It might be a high-heeled, sexy shoe that could be worn in slush. Another idea would be a knitted jumper that gets more warm as the temperature drops. All these are on my wish list (OK, perhaps not the high heeled shoes but I’m looking out for the ladeez). So, get working guys!

With this blog post I bid you good-bye, at least for this time. Thanks for reading!

Daniel Björk - Fashion

March 1, 2012

The Swedish sensibility

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The invitation to the Björn Borg show. Photo: Björn Borg

 

A lot of my time, I’m not in Sweden, but in London. And when you get to the international scene, Sweden could sometimes seem a bit… hm… peripheral. At least it used to be that way. Because these days Swedish fashion is absolutely everywhere. London Fashion Week kicks off tonight with the opening of the new Cheap Monday store on Carnaby Street, while Björn Borg, the underwear brand, is putting on a fashion show at Battersea Power Station complete with performances by Robyn and Coco Sumner. This fashion show extravaganza will be livestreamed on MTV.co.uk.

Acne is showing their women’s wear line in London since a couple of season and it is one of the hottest tickets in town – the spring collection had the critics fawning and is sure to be another hit for the brand.

A few days ago, the Guardian ran an article about how “Scandinavian brands made ‘anti-cool’ fashionable”. Because behind Acne there are a lot of Swedish brands quietly moving onto the shelves of international stores. I noticed it myself where I lived until just a week ago, Windsor. In the more fashion-forward men’s stores in the town, Swedish brands were ubiquitous. From Acne to Our Legacy and Cheap Monday. These days even and old school geeky brand such as Fjällräven has some serious fashion cred. In fact, my intern here at Bon’s London office has one and she’s studying at Central Saint Martins.

To me, the success of Swedish fashion has a lot to do with the way style has moved into our everyday life in the last decade or so. Fashion is not just for parties or for the aristocracy; it is for everyone and every time, so what used to be Sweden’s Achilles heal is now its foremost strength. Having gotten used to making the most out of dressing for the Swedish weather and paired this knowledge with the practicality of Sweden’s fashion consumers (everything needs to be able to be washed in the washing machine, it shouldn’t cost too much, it should last a few seasons), Swedish fashion designers are well equipped for this new brave fashion world where we want to look fashionable all the time – yet still be presentable, professional and practical.

True, Swedish fashion is not only about this, but I believe this to be the core. And these days, when everyone talks about brand DNA, I think we can safely say that Swedish fashion has got it nailed.

Daniel Björk - Fashion

February 16, 2012

The Swede who ruled the world

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B. Åkerlund and one of Madonna's headpieces from the show. Photo: PRNewsFoto/B. Akerlund

 

It was the most anticipated performance of the year and everyone wanted to see what she would be wearing. When Madonna stepped onto the stage at the Super Bowl half-time performance in a Roman centurion’s outfit designed by the brilliant Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy it safe to say that fashionistas all over the world almost wet themselves with excitement.

But behind every superstar there is a super stylist and in this case, that stylist is Swedish – cue fireworks and celebrations. B Åkerlund has worked with the most famous pop stars of today, including Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Black Eyed Peas, but said about Madonna’s Super Bowl performance that it “was by far the biggest challenge I have ever taken on in my career, and I could not be more honoured to be a part of such an amazing and historical event. […] Nothing could ever come close to working with Madonna on this Super Bowl performance, her attention to detail and commitment to all of her projects is truly inspiring and life changing.”

It was clearly a mammoth undertaking with 500 costumes for everyone from the Material Girl herself to LMFAO, Cee-Lo Green, Nicki Minaj and M.I.A, as well as 100 drum line performers, 150 gladiators and 200 choir singers.

Originally from Stockholm B. Åkerlund left for Los Angeles when she was 14. Since then she’s clocked up an impressive roster of music videos, often in tandem with her director husband Jonas Åkerlund, as well as styling world tours for Black Eyed Peas and Robbie Williams.

She is known for over-the-top dramatic styling and dramatic outfits from the most forward-thinking of today’s designers – an aesthetic that might not seem very Swedish but that works perfectly in the world of superstar music.

And for the Super Bowl performance it fit like a glove, giving classics such as Vogue, Music and Like A Prayer a backdrop of Roman, Egyptian, ecclesiastical and high school influences. Spelled out like that I’m not sure it makes sense but on stage and on TV it sure did. Watch it on YouTube if you don’t believe me.

Daniel Björk - Fashion

February 10, 2012

The most glamorous night of the year

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I am back. With “I”, I mean Daniel Björk, who will be writing this blog together with Sabrina for a while. This is my report from last night’s “Ellegala”.

Even though I’ve been on the jury of the Guldknappen award there’s no denying that it is the annual Swedish Elle Awards that is the glamour-puss of the two. First of all, the setting in the luxurious winter garden in Grand Hotel makes for a great backdrop with it’s gilded interior and Versailles-like ambitions. It is also the industry awards in many ways, because Elle hands out awards for Photographer of the Year and Stylist of the Year. Read more » >>

Daniel Björk - Fashion

January 14, 2012

It’s gotta be the shoes?

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Pistol Short boots by Acne

I’m in Milan right now for Fashion Week. And though I’m a bad (read: indecisive) packer at the best of times, I’m not going to lie – I really agonised for days over what to bring/wear/take-just-in-case. Milan is notoriously well-heeled, while Fashion Week normally produces the best show of heels. Which brings me to the heart of my packing dilemma. I didn’t want to wear high heels to Fashion Week. Hobbling about from place to place is not my thing, though judging from the glamorous street style snaps and by loitering about the venues, it seems that everyone else here is doing fine. (Somewhere someone is probably trying to rip the “Fashionista” Brownie badge off my jacket. Good thing I left it at home.)

Now I realise that the goings on at a Fashion Week are not particularly representative of real-world style, but my rather vain dilemma and the sheer quantity of street style photographers here got me thinking. Is it an overwhelming sense of pragmatism that makes Sweden a darling of the street style brigade? Big-name photographers like the Sartorialist and Facehunter often cite Sweden as one of their favourite places to shoot and have the multitude of photos to prove it. In them, you’ll often find ankle boots instead of 120mm stilettos, loose trenchcoats in place of restrictive pencil skirts, etc.

It’s easy to look fashion-y. But to look stylish with clothes made for everyday life?  Not so much. Hey, “pragmatic” may not be overtly sexy, but it’s just as intriguing because what you’ll see first is individual style and not a piece from so-and-so’s collection.

To bring it back to shoes, my point is perhaps best illustrated by Acne’s Pistol Short boot. Considered to be part of their permanent collection (they have at least one each season, and will often come in different colours) and clocking in at 75 mm-high, Pistol Short has been called the “best ankle boot on the planet” and copied so many times over I’ve lost count. As a result, hordes of people around the world own a pair of Pistol Short boots, or at least a similar approximation of it, and without fail the boots effortlessly blend into any outfit. Adaptable, pragmatic and egalitarian… the Pistol Short boot could be the archetype of Swedish fashion and Swedes in general, no? And how many other countries can claim that?

 

Sabrina Shim - Fashion

September 23, 2011