Stuff Swedish People Like: Dressing Similarly

Swedish people constitute probably one of the easiest markets in selling fashion trends to. A walk through downtown Stockholm is a parade of clones. Let it be that there are various styles of clones, but within their demographic, the willingness for adaption is quite stunning.



Sweden has for decades, around 40 years, with smaller breaks, been run by the Social Democrats. One of that party's aims was that all Swedes should be equal. No one was better than the next man, and it was a sin to boast, basically. The ideal was that everyone should be similarly successful, and with equal opportunities. This is a sympathetic idea theoretically, but a bit difficult to implement in reality. Anyway, what it has done, is made us Swedes a bit conformistic. This pattern is hard to break, but the Swedes are working on it, slowly.

Swedish females are especially keen on following fashion trends, There are a few fashion bloggers, who have a deep impact. If one of the top bloggers says women should wear clogs the summer of '09, so be it. Swedish women will transform into a swarm of Egyptian grasshoppers and empty shoestores of said items. You can imagine these fashion bloggers get plenty of offers to mention certain brand names.



But men are not that different. In winters, one can see subway cars full of guys wearing coats with the same logo. And the style and brand of jeans worn give the impression there are laws on what to wear or not.

But Swedes like to think they are individualistic, so the snobbier ones buy the top of the line items of the hot brands. This will make them stand out in a crowd, but in a subtle way. For many Swedes, this is really daring, and makes them feel very special. To befriend a Swede, you might say something like: "Wow, that's a really cool Peak Performance jacket. I haven't seen that type before!" or to a lady: "God, your clogs are so hip, where did you get those?" This will make any Swedish person feel like they are on the cutting edge of fashion, and might even give you tips on what fashion blogs to read.