Over the next months I hope to bring you a host of reports about street fashion trends in Sweden and Denmark for both male and female. At the risk of sounding a little sexist, I think window shopping is more of a female pastime than a male. And so In this report I have concentrated on female fashion shops.

 

 

The obvious place is to start with is what is available on the high street, what lines they are offering and how they mix the style.

By segmenting the shops into groups I’ve tried to illustrate how the high street fashions shops & secondary suppliers all identify themselves with their perceived customer in visual form and presentation.

I want to show the high priced market shops as well as the smaller retailers who go for a special ‘look’ that they endorse and encourage the wearer to purchase.

 

 

Age groups are important and its logical that the young are attracted

to shops which offer good prices as well as garments which are well made and as individual as they are.  I have started the series by choosing to ‘window shop’ in a medium sized City close to Denmark, Helsingborg. Its international in outlook and has a cosmopolitan yet unhurried feel about it. This is reflected in the fashion on the street.

Traditionally swedes have favoured natural materials, cotton, linens and wool rather than the man made textiles. The higher market shops still lean towards this preference as in ‘Window One’. Clean lines with natural colours in linen. This company has a long tradition of quality and caters for the middle age groups.

 

 

Presentation tends to be simple and uncluttered, this accentuates the

exclusivity and concentrates the viewer on the garments. You may notice the double wrapped necklace which is currently seen being worn by almost every age group and can be considered an extension of the ubiquitous “scarf” accessory which swept Europe last winter and seems set to continue.

 

 

In ‘Window Two’ I looked through the entrance and viewed an example of a new collection for late summer, early autumn.

The light delicate materials are playfully layered and accentuated by a wide waistband. This is typical of the shops with a less formal approach to fashion and actively encourage their customers to create a more unique look. ‘Window three’ Shows a similar approach but here the styling is more severe with heavy patterned and complex accessories, such as the bracelets and the leather belt which plays a leading role in the overall presentation of the designs in the window.

In ‘Window four & five’ we can see a double wrapped necklace and bracelet and waist accentuation again. In window four this is contrasted against a black cotton top and the casual cut linen trouser, whilst in widow five we see pleated skirts and lacy tops, again finished off using a scarf or necklace.

 

 

‘Window Six’ is a mix match of “teens-bias” styling yet again we can see the use of belts and necklaces, layered clothing and original head coverings. In general it seems that the overall style preference whether its a high street shop or not is consistent. Perhaps one particular ‘look’ peculiar to Scandinavia is shown in ‘Window Seven’. This is a Danish company although there are a number of Swedish and Finish fashion houses which follow similar design and materials. In each case it is generally pure linen wear, patterned or plain.

 

 

In this instance the colours almost jump from the window and display

a very simplistic clean cut line. The necklaces are there again but this time are co-ordinated cleverly with the colours of the dyed linens.

In ‘Window Eight’ we can see how the theme of layers has been carried

through and a ‘Quant’ type ‘60’s flower introduced onto the top.

 

To finish off I ‘clicked’ this shot see below, which I think demonstrates the sort of look I have been talking about and which has been advocated in all the windows. It clearly shows the style of the Scandinavian young individual, plus it leads me very nicely onto my next report, “Swedish winter Colours”.

 

Happy window shopping and

I hope to speak with you soon,

Marianne Arnberg,

‘gazing out from my very colourful, sunny, warm and

summer studio window in Sweden’.