Fashion and other happenings

Stadsbiblioteket

An update on the weather: today it is a bit gray but the temperatures remain in the 50's and later this week we are suppose to see 60 again!  Meanwhile, in Northern Sweden, "The coldest temperatures of the season was recorded on Thursday night in Karesuando, in far northern Sweden near the Finnish boarder, where the mercury dropped to -12.5C," (The Local).  I've never been happier to live in Southern Sweden!

I am trying to take advantage of these nice warm days (who would have thought I'd be saying 'nice warm days' in reference to 50 degrees!) while they last but also balance my commitments as a student.  I am nearing the end of a rather intense course and have a lot of philosophical reading to comprehend.  Today, I decided to chance some time at the public library.  My Romanian friend and I enjoyed the bike ride over and then found the quietest place in the library and hunkered down to read as much as we could take in.  It was a much more productive time than I had expected.  

It's a tights kind of day while reading at the public library and enjoying the scenery

 We had packed our lunches and went across the way to Kungsparken to get some fresh air, eat, then walk around the park. It was a beautiful time to walk over the fallen leaves and cross the canal.  This necessary break gave us the umph to go back into the library and do some more concentrated reading.

My Uniqlo jacket is the best purchase I made in SF! It has been perfect for the fall weather in Sweden.
I look rather bundled up for 50 degree weather but this is because my skin is not as thick
as the crazy Swedes who are just wearing their over-sized sweaters.

Beautiful changing leaves in Kungsparken

View of the library from the park

 One thing I love about fall (besides the changing colors) is the opportunity to wear tights.  I love tights. They are warm, make me feel feminine and eliminate the stress of having to decide what socks to wear.  My Romanian friend has the most amazing tights that are lined with fleece.  How ingenious are those?!  I covet these tights.  Ever since I saw them on her I have wanted a pair for myself.  The problem is that she got them in Romania.  So, today, after reading for an acceptable amount of time, I convinced my friend to go searching for these tights with me.  The shopping street was on our way home anyway so it only made sense.

Sadly, we didn't find the tights.  We didn't really find much of anything.  I was commenting to a friend a few weeks ago how uninspired I am by the fashion here.  Everyone wears muted/neutral colors and oversized sweaters.  I call it the sloppy look.  In a way, this is a positive for me because I don't feel the need to shop so that I can look like the people I see on the street.  I remember when my friend Jenelle moved to Oakland and it started to get cold (50 degrees), she pulled out her bulky warm sweaters and big winter coat.  Her friends told her they could tell she was from "The North" because she dressed for warmth, not fashion.  At the time, we laughed at their vanity and thought ourselves above that.  Practical was more important.  As time went on, Jenelle living in Oakland and me living in San Francisco, we gradually added new outfits to our wardrobes that may have been a little more fashionable than practical.  But it never really got that cold so it seemed ok.

I like putting thought into the outfit I wear, but I also like not being so heavily influenced by the people around me.  I feel less pressure to look a certain way here and less angst at myself for caring.  California was a really great place for me to live but being here in Sweden has shown me how much effort I put into admiring people's outfits on the street and wishing I could buy the perfectly styled clothes in the window displays.  I evaluate what people are/were wearing and I don't want to be like that.  I'm going to learn a lot while in Sweden and maybe one of the things I need to relearn is to not care about my clothes or anyone else's.  If Swedes want to wear muted/neutral colors and over-sized sweaters, that's their prerogative.

Jenelle and I are both living in cold climates once again and I think we will learn to cling to those bulky warm sweaters and big winter coats with pride. Perhaps out of necessity, but hopefully also out of humility.

And yes, those tights are a practical wardrobe need. If only I could find them...