Scandi Style Revolution | & Other Stories

When I heard about the recent launch of Scandinavian fashion brand & Other Stories and all the excitement surrounding it, I was itching to find out more. Enlisting the help of fashion journalist Flora Hughes-Onslow, I managed to get the low-down. Not only that, Flora has written a post for me today, which I'm very excited to share with you. Firstly here's a bit of background on Flora. Based in the UK, she has written for Vogue Traveller, 1883 magazine and The Evening Standard, amongst others. She also writes for Danish Fashion Collective Miinto and is a huge fan of Scandinavian style and follower of The Design Chaser. Loving that! 

Flora recently attended the London opening of & Other Stories and is going to tell us a bit about that and also the huge surge in interest in Scandinavian style. That's right, seems us Scandi-style addicts are not alone! 

Over to you Flora....

It seems that Scandinavia is increasingly taking up the style torch as the world’s most sartorially powerful region, basically acting as the modern barometer of cool.

Endless Scandi brands have recently enjoyed immense global success, from the likes of Day Birger et Mikkelsen and Cos to artistic brand Dagmar, the young brainchild of three creative Swedish sisters. And now the effortlessly and faultlessly chic Scandinavians have opened up another future fashion powerhouse, ‘& Other Stories’.

Attended the hotly anticipated launch of the Swedish brand’s first London store, I was sceptical. Considering all the hype and secrecy building up to it, it had a lot to live up to.

Yet the debut collection was varied, sharp and most importantly, affordable. The designs were all bold yet wonderfully simplistic and manufactured to an impressively high level of quality. Having already opened in Paris, Stockholm and Copenhagen and with all clothes designed in unique creative ateliers, under the ethos of ‘empowering women to create and emphasize their personal style’, it’s a brand that’s bound to be a huge success.

Not to mention the incredibly designed shop space itself. A huge amount of time, money and thought must surely have gone into the creation of the 1000 square metre, two-level flagship on Regent Street. Classically Scandinavian of course, the minimalistic decor was stylish, classy and modern. With items displayed as if they were works of art curated in a gallery, the shopping experience felt calming, interesting and exciting all at once.

But this fashion launch is only the latest in a long list of recent Scandinavian cultural exports.

We are undoubtedly having a truly Scandinavian moment, and this is merely the very beginning. Regardless of the fact that Europe is sinking ever deeper into a vast recession; Scandinavian brands seem to be riding a high wave of success and showing no signs of flailing.

When it comes to interiors Scandinavians have been leading the way for years. Obviously the most popular and well known of all the regions interiors brands would have to be Ikea, which seems to have a Europe-wide monopoly on affordable furniture. But there are also numerous incredibly successful more highbrow Scandinavian interiors brands, renowned for their simplicity, practicality and sensational aesthetics. There’s something pure about Scandinavian style, bare yet warm, minimalist but homely and often centred around an intelligent use of light.




With such panache, it seems impossible that Scandinavian design won’t continue to reach further and further afield; so sit back and enjoy the coming of the Scandi style revolution.

Images via www.stories.com
Interiors via emmas.blogg.se

I certainly intend to. How about you? Huge thanks to Flora for her brilliant post. I might have to borrow her again!