Saturday, March 08, 2008

Swedish Fashion Blogs Dominate

Recently there have been some articles in some of the free newspapers here in Stockholm focusing on the blogging world. Metro, one of the newspapers, actually hosts blogs, so quite a few short articles end up in Metro about blogging. I am always interested to see what real Swedes blog about and what they read about.

And I am disheartened. Horribly. Because dominating the Swedish blogosphere are teenage girls. Which would be fine. Except there are a lot of them. And they all write about the same thing. Fashion.

I, as mentioned numerous times here, am not a fashionable person. I like my jeans a little baggy so things can breathe. I like not looking ridiculous with clothes two sizes too small. I like not worrying about accessorizing. Life is good in my fashion world. Mostly because it is simple. Obviously, many people don’t agree. And that’s fine. I’ll shake my head as you walk by, but appreciate you because you made me laugh. At you maybe, but laugh nonetheless.

Now in defense of the teenage girls they are clearly meeting a need. The economics of it all is impressive. Because there are numerous teenage girl fashion bloggers in the top 10 blogs in Sweden. So there is a demand. And the teenage girls are the supply. So good work there. In fact, I am not being critical of the teenage girl bloggers at all. I’m probably a little jealous. I am however, critical of the readers. Because while some of these teenage girls write very well, and can even make some interesting points about Swedish fashion, I just have a hard time believing that this is enough to launch so many of them to the top of the blogosphere.

What does this say about Swedish society? Is it a social commentary on the materialistic side of Swedes? A country that prides itself on social and political awareness throughout the world has to be just a little bit concerned when the top blogs are about something as benign as fashion. Granted, Swedes are also known for their design and fashion. But still. Someone has to be worried. Because, while some people struggle to accept it, blogs are an excellent barometer of what is going on in society. For the people, by the people. All that good stuff. So explain it to me Swedes. Explain the phenomenon that is Swedish fashion blogging.

15 comments:

  1. Tjena där...I'm half American too...born two years after you - and moved back to Sweden (Stockholm) in 2007 too!

    get at me on msn - mitchymitch at live dot com

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  2. I read the same article, and perhaps it is a little bit worrying that the most popular blogs are about fashion, but then again, the most popular blogs amongst men were about politics (http://www.metro.se/se/article/2008/03/06/22/1919-45/index.xml) so I think it gets quite even in the end. Interesting post though.

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  3. @svenskamannen - right on... its an adventure isn't it?

    @sandra - that is a good point about how it breaks down by sex. but it also seems to reinforce stereotypes of men being interested in politics and women fashion.

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  4. Thanks for the lovely article..

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  5. Sorry, bit I am going back to an old article regarding smoking.
    I saw in the ARP magazine, yes I know I am old, here are some numbers. I challenge some numbers from Sweden. SCB is full of statistics - find it:
    % of cigarette smokers by State:
    KY 28.6%
    WV 25.7
    OK 25.1
    MS 25.1
    AK 24.2
    IN 24.1
    AR 23.7
    LA 23.4
    MO 23.3
    AL 23.3
    TN 22.6
    OH 22.5
    MI 22.4
    SC 22.3
    NV 22.2
    NC 22.1
    DE 21.7
    WY 21.6
    PA 21.5
    IA 21.5
    FL 21.0
    ME 20.9
    WI 20.8
    IL 20.5
    SD 20.4
    NM 20.2
    KS 20.0
    GA 20.0
    ND 19.6
    VA 19.3
    RI 19.3
    MT 19.0
    NH 18.7
    NE 18.6
    OR 18.5
    NY 18.3
    MN 18.3
    TX 18.1
    NJ 18.1
    AZ 18.1
    VT 18.0
    DC 17.9
    CO 17.9
    MA 17.8
    MD 17.8
    HI 17.5
    WA 17.1
    CT 17.0
    ID 16.8
    CA 14.9
    UT 9.8

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  6. @nousha- Im here to please

    @anonymous - good work. now the real question is the percentage of smokers in Sweden.

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  7. interesting stats.

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  8. To hairy swede - both men and women smokers in Sweden are less than 20% I think.

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  9. indeed-although the stats fit better in the Swedish Cigarettes Are Killing Me post.

    does that mean nearly 40% of adult Swedes smoke? Or is that men and women combined are 20%? And who is going to find such detailed stats like the US stats we have now?

    So many questions... but we are on the verge. Although not on the verge of explaining the popularity of fashion blogging in Sweden.

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  10. No if it´s slightly less than 20% of the men and the same percentage of the women who smoke it means that slightly less than 20% of the total adult population smoke. Simple math :D

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  11. yeah after I re-read what you wrote I realized that. the lesson as always: never listen to me.

    and it looks like you're right. looks like both men and women are just under 20%. but apparently make up for it with heavy snus use.
    and it looks like Americans on the hwole are at about 20%.

    It should be noted that Colorado and Oregon where I have spent the majority of my time are under 20%. So maybe I just got used to few smokers because of where I lived.

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  12. The Hairy Swede, Thank you so much for responding everbody's comments this is sweet of you. Appreciated

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  13. is that so? well, i wonder when will a a blog about fashion for men will be popular? if there is, what is that particular blog?

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  14. I am absolutely the wrong person to ask, although Im guessing the link to prom dresses was more important than the question itself.

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