Swedes have never been much for bragging. They have a modest approach to their achievements, and favour discreetly branded clothes whose trendiness is detectable primarily to their own circle of fashion conscious peers.
In Sweden, as anything to do with excess or show-off-y-ness is frowned upon, the formula for beauty rather lies in the term lagom (which is Swedish for “just right”)—something considered beautiful often embodies the sociopolitical and cultural awareness it takes to create, or wear, something that is “just right”.
Although I’ve already written about Jantelagen (the Swedish commonplace “don’t think you’re better than anyone else law”) in a previous post, I feel the need to mention it again, as it has created the sociopsychological backdrop from which Swedes’ inherent talent for minimalism has emerged, which has put the country on the global design map.
However, more and more people—notably the army of young fashion bloggers—have cracked the lagom dress code. This has forced the fashion conscious individuals at the forefront of Swedish style to seek out new ways of attaining their beauty ideal: that of a modestly elegant, well-travelled, forward-thinking and knowledgeable individual you want to befriend because of his or her interesting thoughts and clever stylishness.
Instead of taking the path of luxury and excess, per se the definitions of tastelessness (at least in this part of the northern hemisphere), some of the Swedish fashion brands have moved away from the classic minimal look, in order to explore the bohemian appearance of the poet and artist, and the populist elements of classic workwear.
Together, these looks, although refreshingly different, still fall into the Swedish style ideal of a creative and cultivated individual who knows his or her place in the crowd. These new trends can be seen in the SS12 collections of brands like Our Legacy, Acne, Back, Hope and Weekday, to name a few, and have fuelled a wave of hip, low key bohemianism in Stockholm’s fashion savvy crowd.
