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Some of you might have noticed that I have recently had a bit less of love left over for alamode.se and that is because I am currently working with the opening of the new beauty salon "by BARDA" that will open in Stockholm in the beginning of December.

 

It might be that it is in the name of my dear friend Jean-Pierre but I think we all know what would happen if we had a bunch of creative hair dressers, makeup artists and skin therapists try and start up a beauty salon. I very much believe that a person should do what he is good at and Jean-Pierre is better with hair than numbers and with me it is the opposite way around so... I was very happy when Jean-Pierre asked me for help with the start up and the running of the daily business.

 

 

Lets just say that, though immensely fun, it takes a lot of love and hard work to open a beauty salon and for some time I will have a bit less of this for alamode.se. The good thing is that in the end I will get a lot more with the site because I will work with a whole bunch of fantastic professionals that have promised to share their knowledge with all you readers.

 

Today is actually a very special day because up until know it is the property owner that has been renovating the salon for us. From today it is mostly up to us that everything gets done in time for the grand VIP opening on December 3 (guest list almost done...) so from now and for another month about a million details will run through my head every day.

 

Wish me luck!

The morning rush hour tube in London could be slightly depressing. You're rammed up against strangers - not nice (though occasionally not so bad!), people have only recently jumped out the shower and generally smell good - very nice, some people have dreadful breath - not one bit nice, no-one looks happy - not nice and a lot of people look a shambles - dreadful.

There's a whole bunch of stuff I could bang on about here but time is precious for us all so I'm going to do a swift sharp lecture on your hair. Ladies, please pay more attention! It's very nice to believe and live the "wash and go", but you look like a drowned rats. What's that all about? Since when has it been cool to look like the bag lady's daughter? Or like a schoolgirl just out of gym class (unless you actually are a schoolgirl just out of gym class). And, unlike the tv ads where the "wash & go girl's" hair dries to a radiant and compliant symphony cascading down her back, your's doesn't. It looks like a mishapen lump on your head.

Yes, I'm being dreadfully harsh but surely someone else can see it? Why in this day and age is this acceptable? Grunge is no longer fashionable so why? And it's not as though we're talking Mission Impossible here either. Get up ten minutes earlier - that's all - pay some attention and give your hair some big love as you smooth down those once unruly locks. Hair responds amazingly to a little care and attention and believe me, as you walk down the street, you'll feel great and both you and your hair will be your very own hair advert. *sigh* How lovely is that!

I’m sorry. I’ve been so lazy of late and haven’t written to you for months. I hope you haven’t forgotten me and still love me ‘cos I sure as heck still love you.  Can we put the divorce papers away and move on? Please? 

So what have I been up to? I’ve made a few friends, lost a few, made some beautiful memories and some not so beautiful. I’ve drunk enough wine to sink the proverbial battleship, eaten sensibly and worked like slavery was never abolished – all part of life’s fabulous merry-go-round. And I made a couple of discoveries. 

For ages I’ve been banging on about Weleda who are a bunch who create homeopathic medicines and extremely healthy beauty products for all parts of your body. They’re so passionate about what goes in, they grow their own plants (via biodynamic horticulture doncha know) so the quality is exemplary. Anyway, there I was, in this brilliant funky healthy food shop in Soho where all the female staff look like lezzers and the guys look like hippies and all proudly sport a pony tail, and I’m gazing at the Weleda shelves when I come across “Skin Food”. I instantly fall in love with the packaging and try it. Boy – it is gloopy! I try a bit on my arm and it feels beautiful and smells pretty good too (and the scent wears off quite soon so you won’t have scent wars with your perfume). I bought the stuff and now I am a convert. Apparently this product wins prizes all over the place, heaps of famous people love it and believe me, it is good. I even use it on the ends of my hair if they’re looking a bit frazzled.  And it looks good in your bathroom and you do feel extremely smug knowing how remarkably and scientifically healthy you have become. 

Even though not being fysically in Copenhagen this is the week when the industry really wakes up again after a long summer. Oh - sure there has been a lot going on but definitely in a more quiet manner. Copenhagen Fashion Week is always the first week when you know it is time to start work again.

 

Cph Fashion Week is also getting more interesting even for a publication like alamode.se since more and more Swedes are deciding on showing there and not in Stockholm. Last year in August Odd Molly decided to show there and this season it is hot labels like Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, Carin Wester and Minimarket that has chosen Copenhagen over Stockholm.

 

 

These labels might not be among the biggest but I definitely think they are important and the start of a new trend where Copenhagen Fashion Week will grow even bigger than it is today with even more (and bigger) Swedish labels showing there. For years there has been different attempts to attract the shows as well as a new big international trade show to Stockholm but since the different parties never seem to be able to agree I think the battle is lost and Copenhagen will come out as the big winner of all the arguments in Stockholm.

 

One does not really care. The good thing is that one really has a multitude of reasons to go to lovely Copenhagen twice per year (and I am not talking about wander around in the sauna they call Gallery...) and be inspired of Danish fashion as well as Swedish. I definitely think this is the way forward and a good one too. Swedes, and especially Stockholmers, can be a bit self centered and most definitely have a bit of a Stockholmiocentric way of seeing things. Having to compete about attention with more labels, buyers and journalists in a more international environment can be nothing but good. Getting the knowledge that you (and your label) is not the centre of the world can be quite good every now and then...

Today I managed to tick off a few items of my sales list... Yeah - you heard right, I do have a list for each sales. I pretty much know what I wear and I also like to be smart about my money but at the same time buy quality so... a "what I need to update my wardrobe list" is essential.

 

Despite what I work with I am not a big shopper. I am incredibly happy that I am able to shop daytime when the shops are almost empty and make this count as work (well.. it almost is...). What really surprises me when out shopping is the lack of service attitude that I meet in most shops but also how incredibly different it can be, especially noticable when meeting two completely different attitudes in the same department store. In one of the shops it was smiley and happy to be of service and in another shop it was a bunch of people standing around (and letting me wait) whilst talking to each other.

 

Stockholm is not overly known as a shopping city but I still think it could be but then we have to think and act. The city is not big enough to offer the best and biggest selection so superb customer service is definitely something where we could take the lead and be very compatible. It just has to be done - now!

Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter (DN) has summed up the Swedish fashion wonder in figures today. It is interesting to read it and even more interesting to analyse it. On the list are the 20 biggest companies though the three big retailers (H&M, Lindex and Kappahl) are excluded. Top ten consists of Björn Borg, Filippa K, Gudrun Sjödén, Acne, Nudie Jeans, WeSC, J.Lindeberg, Odd Molly, Boomerang and Oscar Jacobsson.

 

The top ten all have a turnover of SEK 100 million whilst no 11-20 all sell for less than this (67 million - 8 million). Together the 20 companies have a turnover of about SEK 3.5 billion. H&M had a turnover of SEK 88bn last year, Kappahl 4.6bn and Lindex 3.1bn. For somer reason public company Gant is not included on the list. It had a turnover of SEK 1.4bn in 2007.

 

The interesting thing is that it is the top 20 on the list that are frequently referred to as the Swedish fashion wonder, or actually... when most people in the fashion industry refer to this - they mainly talk about the second half of the list since too big and too focused on sales is not a good thing for being fashionable.

 

The question is if the real Swedish fashion wonder is not located at Drottninggatan where H&M has it´s HQ. What other Swedish fashion company has a turover of almost €9bn, has worked together with a number of the biggest designers in the world, employs almost 100 designers and is frequently mentioned in the world´s fashion media?

The Ed himself was in a meeting and expected to miss the opening and opening show of Fashion Week by Berns but... everything was late lat late so I made it just in time to see Lydia Hearst and Marianne Bernadotte cut the yellow and blue ribbon and then enjoy the show from Dagmar.

 

Dagmar put on a much stronger show than last time. Still not really sure why I did not really like the a/w 09 show but this was definitely stronger and back to (Dagmar) basics. For some bizarre reason we were then rushed to the next show where we had to sit and... wait. Waiting is one of the big things during a fashion week (dead boring according to me and one of the reasons I these days prefer to come in last and watch from the back instead) but the colorful and playful show from Danish Islaet was well worth the wait.

 

The difference between Danes and Swedes is striking. Danes are colourful, playful and bohemian (genereally speaking of course...) whilst Swedes are more strict and almost a bit anxious.

 

Duirng the Islaet show Ms Blackwell was seated next to the lovely Zulphiya and this intelligent beauty joined us for lunch at Bistro Berns. Though the service stank it was a lovely lunch in the sun with the alamode-team, Ms Blackwell, The Ed (yeah - thats me), Jean-Pierre and Isabelle. We were also joined by the lovely Emma and Anders from the vintage fair. Phenomenal stylist Tina Törnqvist also joined us for a while. A lunch like this just can´t be finished on time and obviously we missed the show from The Local Firm.

 

This meant we were first in line for Noir et Blanc and Odeur instead. So far I have liked Noir et Blanc but the third collection is tricky and I was not really impressed. The trick is to get the collection to feel fresh but still have the designers signum. The signum was there but it only felt old. We´ll see what happens with next collection.

 

After this we were warm and needed nothing but a big drink and that we got. Is there anything more lovely than a drink at the Berns terrace on a hot day? I guess not so that was a perfect end to day 1.

It is not often the quicksilver hits 30C at the end of June in Stockholm but... a heatwave is over us and we are loving it. This heat is probably the hottest that will happen this week though it is time for Fashion Week by Berns. Ten shows is "da shit" this time (was about 30 a year ago) and then a bunch of cocktails.

 

When something like this happens people always look at the organizers but I have to say they have, especially with the resources they have, done a very good job. It is time for the Swedish fashion companies (and all the people that LOVE to talk about the Swedish fahsion wonder) to see what they can do themselves. I find it absolutely bizarre that the larger companies like Filippa K, J.Lindeberg, Tiger of Sweden, Acne, Whyred etc are not doing shows in Stockholm. If they don´t open their wallets and do the effort Stockholm will be forever stuck in the backwaters as a fashion city.

 

Anyhow... there are a few nice shows to look forward to and as always nice to meet some people though I have Ms Blackwell here as of yesterday (and as we know she is a handful). We´ll focus on enjoying the lovely weather and hope for a surprise or two.

The sun suddenly came back to Stockholm after midsummer and it seems nothing can stop the sun and the blue skies over us. Anyone who gets the chance is now leaving the office (this would be pretty much all of Sweden...) and work by mobile phone is now the way to do it until sometime in mid August.

 

For some reason casual wear company Boomerang has always chosen to have a really early time to show their s/s collection and this year is no exception. I guess it could not be a better time to show some easy breezy summer garments than a gorgeous day like this so I am really looking forward to the show later on today.

One might wonder why there is not very much happening on the site at the moment. Well.. Sweden is Sweden and poor Swedes are not spoilt with summer so as soon as the temperature reaches over 10C they are sure summer is here and holiday is around the corner so they  pretty much give up working. At least that is the feeling one might get here.

 

The "summer" so far has been extremely wet with rain, rain, rain and some more rain. Any Brit that survived last summer would be sure they had landed on the islands if coming here. Well - rain in June is nothing new. It was pretty much the same last summer and then weeks and weeks of absolutely phenomenal weather followed so we have definitely not given up hope yet!

 

A light at the horizon is the upcoming fashion week that starts at June 29. This early part of fashion week is a true blessing especially since there used to be absolutely no fashion from beginning of June until mid August. As if this wasn´t enough Stockholm has been blessed with its own version of Fashion Rocks as well.

 

Walking around in big wellies and hiding under brollies we just can´t wait for this to happen and while we do jet off on a little weekend trip to a place that the sun gods did not forget.