There’s an apartment building in my neighborhood that’s been adding on balconies. They are all square boxes facing the inner courtyard and perfectly aligned, row by row, just so. And on every balcony, it seemed as though the exact same wooden table and chair set was being placed, just so. It made me wonder if the set came with the balcony.
During my first winter in Stockholm, I noticed that everyone was wearing Canada Goose jackets. Young and old, male and female, it did not matter. They all wore that puffy down jacket. It just blew my mind that one particular clothing brand could be seen on every demographic. I could not think of any clothing brand or article of clothing that would work that way in the US. Sure, it’s a much, much bigger population that is from a much wider array of places. But I think that for the most part, the jacket that the average 14 year old in the US wears is not the one worn by the average 50 year old. Or is it now? Have I been gone too long?
Interestingly, as I walked by the balconies last night, I noticed some breaking out of the box going on. Plants, different tables and other unique touches were being added to some of the balconies. It made me smile.
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I have noticed that lots of things are very predictable, fashion- and other-wise. I’ve also noticed myself conforming because many of the things are practical. 🙂
Good observation, Antropologa. Ad yes, there is a lot of practicality to things here, such as IKEA furniture!
Hi Sandra!
I love your blog. I found it because I want to study abroad at Karolinska in the next few years and I was looking for blogs about living in Sweden. Anyway, the part in your blog about the Canada Goose jackets made me smile. I live in Minneapolis and last winter, I was talking to a friend who loves to go camping (he goes winter camping up north with nothing but a few sleeping bags, he’s pretty adventurous) and he was talking about good camping gear and he said that The North Face has gotten really trendy. Later that day, I started looking around and he was right. Everyone was wearing The North Face, older men and little kids. I had a North Face jacket and I think that people who were wearing it before it got trendy (like me) did it because it’s well-cut, look nice, and is really comfortable, but last winter it must have tipped (as Malcolm Gladwell would say) and became really trendy and preppy. Maybe people just caught on to the good quality but there are a lot of teenagers who were wearing it like it’s the best thing since Ugg boots.
Thanks for reading the blog Tiffany and also for your hilarious insights. North Face and Ugg boots are also very popular here! Good luck with Karolinska!
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