Swedish Candy and Zac Efron with Zalando
Zalando’s new “Cultural Ties” campaign is dedicated to showcasing different forms of streetwear communities across Europe. The campaign includes six cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris, Stockholm, Warsaw, and Antwerp. 032c visited Stockholm to feast on Swedish candy, shop oyster T-Shirts, and for a surprise encounter with Zac Efron.
After arriving at ARN, we’re greeted with an extensive selection of Swedish candy—which has become a TikTok trend over the past summer, especially in the US. While New Yorkers seem to be fine with paying 30 US-dollars for a bag of candy, the prices in Stockholm are more affordable. That said, Stockholm—like most cities in times of economic crises—has become much more expensive as one of our city guides reports.
At the hotel, I’m thankful for my cable headphones, 032c tracksuit, and big travel bag. I think micro handbags will soon be vanishing in the depths of our wardrobes.
Later that night, we went for a walk in Stockholm to have drinks at the natural wine bar Savant Bar. The city felt like it was Christmas Day—illuminated and empty. Natural wine drinkers in Stockholm seem to be quite different than the stereotypical natural wine promoter in Berlin, who can usually be found in bohemian areas of Kreuzberg or Neukölln and have emerged from the origins of Hipsterdom in Friedrichshain—oftentimes a person that swears on fully vegan Vietnamese restaurants and lives in an Altbau. Afterward, we went to a traditional Swedish restaurant (Schmaltz Bar & Delicatessen) that offered chicken soup, pie, and sandwiches.
The next day started with cinnamon rolls and a panel conversation at Tekniska Högskolan, one of Stockholm’s most prominent creative hubs. There we also saw the special capsule collection Zalando launched with adidas originals, consisting of six pieces that were crated together with local hotspots across the six cities. The one above is inspired by Beuster Bar in Berlin.
Snacks in the bus that drove us around Stockholm.
Surprise visit by Zac Efron in the hotel lobby.
As part of the “Cultural ties” campaign, Zalando involved different local community projects. We talked to the founders, Tamalie Jonsson and Gloria Karikari of Let’s Create, a creative platform by creatives in Stockholm, about the evolution of streetwear.
How do you perceive the evolution of streetwear over the past years? Now, streetwear is a crucial component of “high fashion” and the luxury market. Are there any crucial personalities, collections, or events that have defined this development for you?
Many different things are inspiring to us, and streetwear is always evolving. There are constantly new trends. Social media also plays a big role; more people share their work and are more active. Brands like Corteiz are great examples for a new generation of streetwear. And people such as Virgil Abloh set an example for streetwear being able to exist in high fashion.
People are more expressive nowadays in terms of how they want to present themselves. We can also see many high fashion labels collaborating with brands such as Nike or Adidas, which further blends the two realms.
Streetwear has its roots in urban communities, especially the black community, and therefore has long been perceived from a prejudiced lens, categorized within a context of lower socioeconomic classes as compared to luxury brands. Although this has changed drastically, there are still existing prejudices. How do you think one can work against these stereotypes?
It’s about having a conversation and involving people to speak about these topics. When people are unaware, that’s when stereotypes increase and when people start to marginalize communities. So, we should involve local communities and hidden cultures to see other perspectives. It’s important to invite different people into one room, including POC and Black people.
I think that’s also part of this prejudiced idea of what streetwear looks like and who wears it. Demna talked about this at some point, saying he couldn’t get into a fine dining restaurant because he was wearing a tracksuit. But obviously this tracksuit was Balenciaga and costs around 4k. How would you visually define streetwear?
It can be whatever you make it into. We both incorporate streetwear and more luxurious elements into our outfits, so I blend an Adidas tracksuit with a nice pair of jeans and heels. Fashion is about playing around. If you look at Swedish designers such as Avavav, they also incorporate a lot of streetwear into their designs.
How would you define streetwear in Stockholm as opposed to other European cities or the US?
It’s a hard question because people have this very minimalist idea of Stockholm style, that people don’t wear much color and mostly gray, white, and beige. Swedish people also find sustainability very important, and I think that’s also being shown in the street. And nowadays, instead of buying fast fashion, we thrift. But some people here in Sweden are very bold with their looks.
Dedicated Feature
