Win a Versace outfit this weekend

Fashion retailing giant H&M has pulled a new marketing trick out of its corporate hat. The company today (November 11) unveiled a large glass-walled structure at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm containing samples from its Versace-for-H&M collection, which will be launched in 12 Swedish stores and in its online shop, starting on November 17.

“H&M always tries to surprise its customers and we want to do something glamorous with a party feeling to attract attention surrounding the Versace for H&M campaign,” says Sofia Jegerborn, marketing manager for H&M in Sweden.

People who visit the Stockholm installation this weekend can use their mobile phones to compete in a contest to win a Versace-for-H&M outfit. You use your smartphone to scan in the QR-code shown in the Norrmalmstorg display, which will allow you to choose a tune to be played in the installation’s Fashion Jukebox while simultaneously competing in a contest to win a Versace outfit.

Airbrushed models out of fashion in Norway

Label: This advertisement has been retouched and gives a false picture of the model

Norwegian minister of Gender Equality Audun Lysbakken wants to reduce the pressure on young girls to try to live up to unrealistic ideals of beauty. Lysbakken plans to start a dialogue with the advertising industry and the media to stop advertising which promotes unhealthy body ideals, according to daily newspaper Berlingske Tidende.

One possible course of action is to label advertising that features people who are airbrushed to look thinner.

The leftwing youth organization Red Youth (Rød Ungdom) last year staged a campaign to bring attention to digitally retouched advertising which features stick-thin models. They pasted large labels on advertising billboards with digitally airbrushed models. The campaign is likely to be repeated during the Christmas shopping season this year.

“A hundred thousand girls have eating disorders. We know that many other girls have an unhealthy relationship with food and body. When they encounter advertisements designed on a computer, it constantly tells them that they are not good enough, thin enough, fine enough. This leads to low self-esteem and ultimately can lead to eating disorders, says Red Youth deputy chairman MarteTeigen.

Fashion photo by Avedon under the club

The Autumn Contemporary Sale of Bukowski’s Auction House in Stockholm included a rare print of Richard Avedon’s “Dovima with Elephants, evening dress by Dior, Cirque d’Hiver, Paris, August 1955.” (Click on the picture to see a larger version of this magnificent photo).

The 130 X 106 cm image was sold on November 16 for 3 million kronor, making it one of the most expensive photos ever sold in Sweden. The photo is signed by the photographer, and numbered 13/50. The dress worn by the model Dovima is the first evening dress designed for Christian Dior by his new assistant, Yves Saint-Laurent.

Alvedon once said of Dovima: “She was the last of the great elegant, aristocratic beauties…the most remarkable and unconventional beauty of her time.”

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From Robots to Diego Rivera

We recently created this video about Stockholm artist Valeria Montti Colque for www.sweden.se, the website which calls itself the “Official Gateway to Sweden.”

I’ve long been a fan of Valeria, a multi-talented artist who stages wild performances with robots and skeletons. She recently started to paint enormous wall murals.

One day, we got to follow Valeria and one of her collaborators up a tall ladder, and through a broken window into a dilapidated, abandoned factory. Our mission was to find interesting junk which the artist could use to construct robots.

In my next life, I want to be an artist.

Equestrian styles on King’s Street

We were galloping along Kungsgatan (King’s Street) on our way to a certain café when our attention was diverted by a large, immobile liquorice-black horse with shocking-pink ankle warmers. Holding the reigns was horse enthusiast Elvira, age 7.

On a whim, we stepped inside the store called Häst och Hund to check out the latest trends in equine fashion.
Virtually all of the shirts, jackets and pants are designed specifically for riding or competing on horses. A long beige jacket by Shockemöhle Sports of Germany was actually a trainer’s jacket, with zippered slits on the sides to make room for a saddle.
A display of fuzzy stretch objects looked to me like headbands made popular decades ago by Swedish tennis great Björn Borg. But they turned out to be cuffs to protect the head of the horse from a halter. Some people who have no special interest in horses visit the store located at Kungsgatan 30 to buy distinctive long boots made by Hunter. Photos: Alexander Farnsworth.

Spraypaint animation from Finland

Is this cool, or what?

What would Lisbeth Salander say?

Lisbeth Salander, the rebellious heroine of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy would probably be pissed off to learn that her personal style has been reincarnated as a fashion collection for H&M, one of the world’s biggest retail chains.

Luckily, the anarchistic computer hacker with a violent temper is only a fictional character in the books, so she is not about to start smashing department store windows or kidnapping business executives.

The collection has been designed just in time for the Christmas shopping season by Trish Summerville, costume designer for the upcoming American movie based upon the best-selling book: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.

The press release for the tough-looking collection says that Salander’s look is “all about individuality as well as survival.” Black leather racing jackets, a hooded wool coat with a diagonal zip that wraps across the body and leather or slashed denim pants are part of the mix.
Photo: H&M

Console yourself with a Robert & Blad coat

If you don’t ski and don’t happen to have an open fireplace to warm your bones, there aren’t many reasons to look forward to the coming winter season. Perhaps the re-launch of the handsome “Vojlock” coat from Robert & Blad can provide some consolation.

Fashion firm Robert & Blad, based in Malmö, Sweden, introduced the “Vojlock” design in 1993. The coat designed by Helle Robertson Forslund remains fashionable even today. The garment is made in the EU using Portuguese cloth made of re-cycled wool.
Photo: www.irika.se

Will OnePiece be Xmas gift of the year?

An online gambling site predicts that the jumpsuit may be the most popular Christmas present in Sweden this year.

The odds are currently 4:1 that jumpsuits for adults youths and kids — like those made by OnePiece of Norway and Zipperall of Sweden– will be the most common gift when Santa comes calling in December, according PAF, an online gaming company based on the semi-autonomous Finnish island of Åland.
Swedish people have for years favored “hard packages” in the Xmas season. The last time a “soft” present emerged as the favorite was 2003, when the knitted cap was Christmas present of the year.

The pricey Nespresso coffee brewer poses the biggest challenge to the Onepiece, entering the field with 5:1 odds.

“Sure, the Swedes are techno-geeks, but after the touchscreen was named last year’s Xmas Gift of the Year, electronics will take a back seat this year,” predicts PAF spokesman Anders Sims.

This is the fourth consecutive year that PAF has been taking bets on Christmas gift of the Year in Sweden. Prior to the gift-giving season in 2010, the online gaming company correctly identified the touchscreen as the hottest present.

OnePiece is the brainchild of three Norwegian guys in their twenties– Thomas Adams, Henrik Nøstrud and Knut Gresvig –who had the idea of sewing their hoddie top and tracksuit bottoms together on a hungover Sunday morning back in 2007. Today, they are sold throughout the world. Celebrities like Lady Gaga, Elton John, Jude Law and Justin Bieber have all been photographed lounging around or performing onstage in OnePiece garments.
Check out the interview I did with one of the company founders last year when OnePiece opened up a new concept store in Stockholm.

Odd Molly takes a cold shower

Photo: Christian Löveborg

The spring and summer 2012 collections of Odd Molly, a Swedish fashion retailer listed on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, have gotten a chilly reception this year by fashion buyers. The order value for the collection is off by 31 percent compared to the same period last year.

After seven years with the company, CEO Christina Tillman is moving on. Odd Molly’s concept store in Los Angles is now history, and its menswear’ line Post Fire Dew has been discontinued. Operations in the USA are being “reevaluated,” according to company’s financial report.

The decision of Odd Molly to sell menswear has always struck me as odd. After all, how many guys will go into an Odd Molly shop to go shopping? The label is exclusively known for its girlish, Boehme-chic women’s’ collections.

The company founded by former skateboard champ Per Hollknekt isn’t the only listed Swedish fashion firm feeling the pinch from lower consumer spending. Kappahl, RNB (which owns the JC chain), Björn Borg and Wesc have all seen the value of their shares shrink substantially this year, according to newspaper Expressen