By pure chance I stumbled across the knitwear online-shop Maska. It may actually have been through the blog finelittleday. The knitted cardigans that met my gaze looked so nice, well-made and high quality that I ordered one immediately! “Mirja”, below. A light-weight cardigan with eyelet pattern in Italian extra combed wool. It was as nice as I imagined. Very soft and a well-cut style. Fine as snuff!

I haven’t found the story behind Maska, so I can’t tell you taht…but I believe the shop is brand new. It’s created by knitwear enthusiast Maria Svensson and Lisa Leierth, based in Gothenburg, Sweden and they sell exclusively online with free deliveries worldwide. They have a blog and yes, almost forgot!, maska means “knitted stitch” in Swedish.

[pics: style.com]

How does this fresh denim style this translate into the home decor part? Well, easier than anything! Who does not hold a bunch of old jeans? Too small, too large, too worn, out of style? I have loads, enough for a fine bunch of pillowcases, lampshades, and even a curtain length. This season’s denim style is perfect for DIY. Make your own denim pieces and mix with brown leather furniture, beautiful lace or some fluffy or sleek material. Or combine denim with something plaid patterned. I think the denim-curtain idea isn’t too bad; with the nicest part of a pair of suspenders or a piece of a belt as curtain tiebacks – It’s great fun to translate clothing into interiors!

Never before has interior design and (clothings) fashion been such close friends. Home decor has always been affected by general trends, mirrored fashion a bit afterwards and partly led its own course – but today the two parts flow in parallel. They are intertwined! An (almost too) obvious sign of the interaction has been the growing number of collaborations between fashion and interior design; with fashion companies going ‘home’. When it comes to fashion-fitting collaborations Boomerang (bottom) and Diesel (the two top pics) are two brands with nice denim or denim-looking home items in their current collections.

Personally, I think the ‘fashion fusion’ is both interesting and enriching. Ideas on clothes outfits and room decor:  many elements coincide. Let ‘em! Denim your house :)

The Gudrun Sjödén Winter 2009 catalogue arrived to me today. It reminded me to check back on the lovely AW 2009 home collection. One of the themes (my favourite) is Burträsk, a tiny town in the far north of Sweden. Gudrun Sjödén was inspired by pictures in the book “Måla som förr” (“Paint like in the Old Days”) taken in a cottage in Burträsk. And so she went there, to a cottage with a colourful decor – a yellow ochre background and shades of Paris blue. Inspiring, I think!

Now to the Winter 2009 clothes collection “Bhutan/Stockholm”. Some may think Burträsk is far away, but this time Gudrun Sjödén has travelled to the Kingdom of Bhutan high up in the Himalayas. Here she found a fine tune: a blend of simple Scandinavia with the colourful Buddhist Bhutan. Message is: there is a link between folklore all over the world. Gudrun Sjödén created her first unique collection in 1974. Having grown up with Gudrun Sjödén-style as a concept as familiar as the stackable orange chairs in the school canteen, I think I haven’t seen the forest for all the trees. The clothes are mainly very colourful and bold, chunky and shapeless. It is, and has always been, homespun, coarse and comfortable. The concept is strong, almost overwhelming. However, looking behind the more than 30 years old stereotype, I can easily recognize there are some treasures! Here’s a few favourites from the Winter 2009 collection:

A spooted top in lyocell, £43, and a tiered cotton skirt, £53. I would match them a bit different though… The “Mountain avens” long knee-socks look soo cozy! It’s jacquard-knit socks that feature a pretty folklore pattern with a twisted braid and tassels. This is where Gudrun Sjödén meets Odd Molly and we find Swedish blended folklore style at its best.

As always, cautious neutrals provide a backbone. These are particulary well suited to the sunny splashes of spring. A personal favourite is the bubbly luxury Pink Champagne. This “delicate, wispy tint” is the season’s newest neutral. Three additional neutrals round out the palette: Tuscany, a warm beige hue, Dried Herb which is the ultimate green neutral, and the cool Eucalyptus, an eternal, practical gray. To round up, here’s some fashion examples from the report:

My personal clog-favourites and the one pair of shoes I’ve worn the most the last couple of months are the ones on the pic up right, the Peep toe Super High from the Swedish Hasbeens.

Rumours say the Swedish Hasbeens will release a range of boots (Jodhpur, Lace up, tall boots…) very shortly. That’s great news on a coldish late August night!

Update: The collection of new autumn boots are now viewable online and will be in stock by next Friday, September 4th. I’m going to keep an extra eye on and maybe try stick my foot in these pairs (below) at stockist.

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