NORDIC LOVE

What's not to love? The Scandinavian aesthetic is such a winner. I'm obsessed with the It's ebayLE! blog, already elegantly described me as men standing outside sheds. If you go to Japan for your anorak's denim, and the US for the LA premium thing, Australia for street/vintage, then Scandinavia has to own cool fashion jeans at the understated/rock & roll axis. I wish British denim had an identity, but honestly it's a bit me-too, and I say that as a denim designer in Britain. Our high street stores are super innovative in denim fashion, and don't have any hang-ups about having to do denim with integrity, which means they can throw everything at the wall and try to be as fashion-forward as possible. It often works brilliantly, but you can't really qualify it as an aesthetic that is created, considered, defined, built on, expanded, challenged.

I'm going to call the Nordic knitwear intarsia, mainly because I like knowing the words for things - I'm not actually sure if it qualifies as intarsia. The Lee SS09 shoot has a really similar feel, a mix of faded 1950's kitchen sink american life and scandinavian folksiness.

The combination of check, scando jumpers and faded denim is a perfect trad folk look, and has elements of American puritanism and classic, rather than trend driven fashion, which is a leading direction for brands at the moment. The Scando brands have pioneered the dark fashion denim look for so long, I think this is now showing a great way to wear the faded blues that are taking over, even for winter... The dreamy images are from Dazed & Confused.