Dates to write on your calendar

Stockholm street scene: Photo, Imagebank Sweden

The next Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Berns Salonger will take place January 31 – February 2, 2011. Designers who wish to show their designs on the catwalk need to send an e-mail to to Anna Eriksson at the Association of Swedish Fashion Brands, ASFB, anna@asfb.se.

The Copenhagen Fashion Week will take place immediately afterwards, from February 2-8.

The Stockholm Fashion Week for Retail collections will take place November 22-25, and is not open to the general public. This is the time when the big retailers show what most people will be wearing in the Spring. Among the participants are Åhlens, Gina Tricot, Gant, Kappahl, Lindex, H&M and JC.

You can’t trust Scandinavian brand names

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The Hampton Republic collection

Swedish people are very tricky when they establish a brand. Nikolaj d’ Ecoles is surely based in Paris, right? Not at all. This high-fashion menswear brand founded last year has its headquarters in Sweden, as does another Francophile brand, L’Ecole National, whose label has something of a film noir allure.
There is apparently also some value in an American image. Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, for example, is based not in Manhattan, but on the south side of Stockholm. Similarly, one of Sweden’s largest clothing chains—KappAhl– announced recently the launch of a new line called “Hampton Republic 27” which the company’s design and purchasing manager said was “a declaration of love for the good life and the classical fashion for the American man.”