Sofia Hedström - Fashion Manifesto: The Guide for the Style-Savvy

Written by Sofia Hedstrm

Photos by Anna Schori

Foreword by Vivienne Westwood

Translated by Sarah Snavely

Skyhorse Publishing

Mirjam Blidour project assistant.

We would also like to thank Sass Brown for her fashion expertise, Christina Bild for proofreading, Henriette Hedstrm for her patience with the recipes, Eyglo Larusdottir for her assistance in locating the style-savvy in Iceland, Gigi Odhn for her ingenious tips, Maria Ramstrm for lending us her studio in Stockholm, Erica Ogawa for re-creating hairdos from the past, Bonnie Slotnick for finding us books we couldnt have done without, and Ishraq Zraikat for providing Sofia with a place to stay in Milan.

From Sofia: I would like to thank her family and friends who helped her endure 365 shopping-free days. Its not easy to break old habits, yet thanks to your support I managed to become one of the style-savvy.

From Anna: I would like to thank her husband, Mark Kahaian, for all his support and love while working on this project, and Casper, who spent the majority of his first year alive assisting on style-savvy photo shoots. I also wish to thank my grandmother, Gerty Edgren, a truly style-savvy woman from whom I inherited the sewing school book (Mrtaskolans handbok), which we referred to many times while working on this book.

Copyright 2013 by Sofia Hedstrom

First published by Norstedts, Sweden in 2011, as Modernmanifestet by Sofia Hedstrom and Anna Schori. Published by agreement with Norstedts Agency. Photography copyright 2013 Anna Schori

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file. ISBN: 978-1-62087-060-0

Printed in China

T he entire 21st century has so far been characterized by trend hysteria, and throwaway chain store fashion has us consuming clothing just as we gorge ourselves on fast food. Week after week, we are driven on by an insatiable hunger to stuff our already bulging closets with the latest fashions, and with each and every trendy addition which consequently hangs there sullenly with the price tag still intacta glimpse of clothing common sense vanishes. The dime-a-dozen I want it yesterday! fashion industry has caused us stress and depleted our souls, with the outcome that many of us have simply lost our individual sense of style.

In order to reclaim my individual style and regain my clothing sensibility, I decided to subject myself and my bloated wardrobe to a cleansing detox. The rules were strict, yet simple: no trendy, seasonal, must-have garments, no tempting sale items and absolutely no impulse-purchased weekend glad rags to glam up a night on the town. Not a single pair of tummy-tightening tights would slither their way into a single shopping bagthis fashion experiment demanded that I buy absolutely nothing that could be considered clothing for an entire year.

EVERY MORNING FOR 365 DAYS I BATTLED AGAINST SHOPPING CRAVINGS

Once my style-savvy detox had developed into a book project, it became even more essential that I complete this clothing challenge. I wanted to prove that as a journalist working at the epicenter of the fashion worlda career choice that had me constantly bouncing between viewings, design interviews, and TV shoots with judging eyes continually cast upon methat I could survive without shopping. Every morning for 365 days I battled against shopping cravings and armored myself against demanding clothing situations. I mingled at Paris Fashion Week, was surveyed from head to toe by notorious fashion critic and editor-in-chief of Vogue Anna Wintour, and posed for one of the planets most well-known street fashion photographers, Scott The Sartorialist Schuman. I was interested to see how the fashion industry would react to my attire, which had long since passed its best-by date, and in turn how their judgments would affect me. This was not an easy task, yet my old clothes and I managed to survive both a style-savvy shopping detox and the encounter with Anna Wintours critical gaze. For all of you with bulging wardrobes, I hope that this serves as extensive proof that you too can live without habitual shopping and throwaway fashion.

Clothing is often written off as a passing fancy, but this is where fashion skeptics are wrong. Clothing (yours, mine, and everyone elses) influences our shared future, as new clothing leeches off of nature. If you abstain from allowing even one brand-new pair of socks to crawl its way into a shiny new shopping bag, you are making a difference. For years, Vivienne Westwood, one of the worlds first and foremost style-savvy individuals, has been trying to inform us that our bulging wardrobes damage the environment. Despite the fact that she is one of the most influential fashion designers out there, it has still taken time for people to listen up. Vivienne Westwood explains in the foreword why she believes it is high time to take fashion seriously. Vivienne Westwood, however, is not alone in her fight for sustainable clothing. style-savvy individuals can be located in small towns and in sprawling metropolises across the globe, and their movement is underway. Throughout the course of my shopping-free year, I came across a young generation imbued with a genuine passion for clothing, as well as older style gurus from places as diverse as Providence and Paris, who helped me understand that no one can define my personal style quite like I cannot even the fashion devils clad in Prada. The style-savvy taught me more about clothing than any fashion week in New York, London, Milan, or Paris had ever done. They showed me that clothing is not an endless succession of trendy, short-lived buying fads, but that it can be reformed, revived, and redesigned. Each and every piece of clothing has the potential to become something else, as long as it is viewed through the eyes of someone bit by the style-savvy bug.

AND ARMORED MYSELF AGAINST DEMANDING CLOTHING SITUATIONS.

When I set out on my style-savvy shopping detox, I had already begun losing my passion for clothing. The style-savvy helped me see that the clothing I don is a reflection of me, my feelings, and my preferences. I got the passion back. I started living hand in hand with my clothing, adapting it to suit my life ... I wore my fancy high heels to get my morning coffee, and I tailored my shirts, dresses, and skirts so that they adapted to my new detoxed sense of fashion instead of assigning them to the clothes heap of fashion duds. I became proud of my wardrobe and started focusing on the things I had over those I was lacking, and slowly stopped being tempted by throwaway fashion.