| On April 15, 2019, in Sundbyberg city, Swedish Princess Sofia attended a meeting related to 'I Have a Dream' project which is carried out by Project Playground in cooperation with Sundbyberg Municipality. 'I Have a Dream' project is financed by The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society (MUCF). The aim of the project is to inspire young people to stay in school, resume their studies and/or increase their employability through development of skills, motivation-enhancing efforts, educational initiatives, individual guidance and more. (The Princess wore a new leather jacket by Acne.) |
Acne Studios Mock Leather Moto Jacket
Sure, she is pregnant...
ReplyDeleteLa chemise floue par dessus le pantalon !
Suite au prochain épisode
Wow , I love this leather jacket . The look is perfect I think.
ReplyDeleteShe looks very nice. Goodlooking jacket.
ReplyDeleteI like the jacket too, but not necessarily with the blouse.
ReplyDeleteAnd also - for that price tag, you´d think you´d get real leather. I´d never pay that for mock leather.
And on a different note - the people she´s pictured with all look strikingly non-Swedish, confirming the massive influx of immigrants in many European countries, and the fact that integration is a much-underestimated task. The narrative of immigrants "enriching" the population is in need of some correction when - obviously - some don´t even make use of free education offered by their host countries in order to find work and pursue a career. Makes you question their willingness to really integrate and become a functioning member of society in their new home countries.
Could not have said it better! So true and actually what so many think but unable to say out loud due to political correctness.
DeleteThis is a fashion blog not a place to post political views. I am sure there are many places where one can expound their opinions. We have had this argument before.
DeleteIf you had only stopped before “On a different note....”
I wish you would keep your socio-political views to yourself. There is nothing wrong with deviating from the object if this forum, but your rant borders on xenophobia, generalization, and it's shallow, and deeply prejudiced.
DeleteHero - I appreciate your reply and I can see how this can appear to be a solely political remark and therefore out of place here. In my defense though I want to explain that I view this as not entirely unrelated to what we discuss on this site.
DeleteYou will agree that the role of modern royalty is basically to represent, and thus, the question of who and what exactly they represent - and for whom to see - is crutial to how they do it.
With all the massive immigration and obvious non-integration of new immigrants it is not necessarily correct anymore to say that a Swedish princess these days only represents her country when she´s working for causes that involve (seemingly) zero Swedes. This changes her role to some extent and thus the context in which we see her appear. Obviously, you need to dress for the occasion, and we therefore judge her outfit in the given context. An outfit might seem just right or totally wrong in that context (this is what we discuss). With any photos featured here, the venue, the setting, the size of the event, the planned activities and people involved will provide the context in which we will view any given outfit as successful or not.
Also, the reason for royal participation is always to send a message, and the chosen outfit is part of that message. In this case for example, we can see a small room with hardly anything in it (only a banner for the cause and a few foldable chairs). Sofia and the other people are shown standing, chatting informally and eventually posing together. The other people are dressed super casually. There is seemingly no other representative with her (like someone representing Sundbyberg municipality, the partner in this project; or any guidance counsellor for these young people, no brochures or hand-out material, no teaching equipment of any sort to carry out the intended purpose of this project etc.); there is not even room for many people to attend and to send out any message to; this is more than low-key. The message is basically sent out by the one photographer present. So who is this targeted at? What is being represented and for whom? I find this question fundamental to any and all discussions here.
It wasn´t my intention to start a political debate. In fact, I only responded to the subtle political message already conveyed with these photos. To me, a royal princess appearing in a quickly thrown-together "meeting" looking cool posing with new immigrants is more of political statement than I could have ever made myself.
I agree with Hero. Take your politics elsewhere and keep this blog to fashion. There is SO MUCH more to the youth and immigration situation that you don't know or understand to comment as frivolously as you have.
DeleteLove the jacket style and especially the colour on Sofia.
I usually agree with you about fashion choices but not this time. I find combination of this blouse and jacket very nice and even exited - a little bit out of classic rules and therefore intersting. And I applaud her for not wearing leather and by that I don't care how much jacket costs, we've seen much worse materials costing a fortune. I'm glad you made an observation about immigrants, yes, it's fashion blog, but in life we're much more than only commentators of clothes so we can write about our other opinions too. But this theme needs much deeper discussion I'm afraid.
DeleteThank you Vanessa for perfect transparency.
DeleteVanessa please stop. This blog isn't the place to share your political views.
DeleteI really hope the admin removes your comments.
Fashion was, is and can be a political statement (Queen E II. and the Euro hat for example). The swedish royal court is well aware of the 'migration problem' and try to 'help' in a subtle way. So, why not discuss it here. Fashion is so much more than colour, cut and style. Vanessa, I agree with you and want to say thank you for your well chosen words. Liz
DeleteHi Vanessa
DeleteGood on you for saying what you see. I don't take an issue with commenting on the broader context of what the royals are doing. There are loads of nasty opinions on this site about fashion, body image and appearance. Talk about context is good and breaks up those discussions which are often shallow and disappointing.
Anony's call to take your politics elsewhere is just unkind, so I suggest ignore it.
Cheerio
"In fact, I only responded to the subtle political message already conveyed with these photos."
DeleteNo. You were being judgemental without knowing ANY of the facts about the people surrounding the Princess, who herself is the only focus of these photos and of this blog.
Doesn't work no matter how you try to justify your bias.
On this blog we talk a lot about other things than fashion. For example about Queen Rania being a good role model. Or recently the photos of Meghan and Harry with the elefant. Nobody complained then. Why should Vanessa not say what she thinks? And please, ladies - don't play always the "thought police" when someone has an opinion you don't share.
DeleteTo Ms. Vanessa, You mentioned the people are "Strikingly non-Swedish", How would you know what their nationality is? It is not mentioned anywhere in the picture as much as I can tell....
DeleteI like this. She looks really good.
ReplyDelete@Fred: that was my thought cc. 2 tweeks ago. Just look at the ends of her hair! It alaways looka like this at the early stages 🙂
ReplyDeleteReally cute, trendy look. She is dressing her age and looks wonderful!
ReplyDeleteIndeed.
DeleteI have to give credit for the choice of designers, Sofia mostly wears Swedish design, she is a great spokesperson for her country!
ReplyDeleteShe looks lovely. I like her hair. I like it dark too, but this makes her look younger for some reason to me. She has a fantastic figure. Love that jacket!!!!
ReplyDeleteLovely jacket. Ideal outfit for the occasion. Sofia looks great.
ReplyDeleteLove the gray jacket and blouse. I don't always agree with her choices, but this one looks nice - and just right for the occasion.
ReplyDeleteVanessa, no amount of your excessive and almost condescending response to my comment, can erase the fact that you felt the need to remark that these people were "strickingly non Swedish", that not so subtle allusion to their ethnicity, to subsequently portray all people that look not so white, as not motivated and somewhat on a very different level versus the Swedish youth. You can keep your views on this subject, but don't insult my intelligence by trying to muddle an absolute xenophobic remark.
ReplyDeleteI am done, I don't enjoy giving platform to your agenda.
Good day.
To Cherry Blossom:
DeleteI actually didn´t reply to you, my response was clearly to Hero.
I couldn´t even see your comment yet when I wrote mine.
I wouldn´t have responded to you anyway after you called me xenophobic and my comment a shallow prejudiced rant.
I was clearly responding to Hero´s remark that political discussions don´t belong on a fashion blog - a stance I can understand, and I therefore wanted to explain myself what made me comment nevertheless.
Now, to your latest comment:
Everyone that has eyes can see that the people in the first photo aren´t ethnic Swedes. They may well be Swedish citizens, but I will not pretend that they don´t have an immigrant background. Why should I be subtle about anyone´s ethnicity? It is a mere observation and doesn´t include any judgement.
I did not say (as you claim) that "all people that look not so white" are less motivated. And I certainly did not in any way suggest that they are "on a different level versus the Swedish youth". I did not say any of this, and that is not remotely my view either.
It is stated in the write-up to this post that "The aim of the project is to inspire young people to stay in school, resume their studies and/or increase their employability through development of skills". The people pictured have an immigrant background. Thus my conclusion was: immigrants aren´t automatically an enrichment to their new countries, but instead integration is a much-underestimated task. You´ll find these exact words in my comment. The pictured immigrants are clearly participating in this project because they have dropped out of school and are currently unwilling or unable to find work, hence they are offered additional help such as "motivation-enhancing efforts, educational initiatives, individual guidance and more" (again - quoted from this post). If someone needs "motivation-enhancing efforts" clearly they lack motivation to study and/or work, both necessary for integration, hence I wrote that I questioned *some* immigrants´ willingness to really integrate. Why is this an "absolute xenophobic" remark in your view?
I do question some immigrants´ willingness to fully integrate, but in my second comment (which you labelled excessive and almost condescending) I actually pointed to the role the Swedish royal family plays in this. I find Sofia´s participation in this project a political statement in itself, and therefore I don´t see the need to refrain from bringing it up.
Lastly, a litlle factual background to this discussion:
Schooling (physically attending school) in Sweden is compulsory, it´s free, it´s very very inclusive, it´s even offered in immigrants´ native languages; a completed high school degree (which about 95% of pupils achieve) will automatically give you vocational training and qualify you for the labour market; dropping out of school is not only an offense to the system but also a clear sign that motivation to integrate into society is low.
Sundbyberg is located in the Stockholm area, it ranks #7 in terms of municipalities with highest number of immigrants (>30% of the population was born abroad).
Integration IS a massive task, illustrated by the country investing roughly 110 billion Swedish crowns directly into its new citizens, every year.)
A large part of the reason why royals are relevant today, is because they put emphasis on various issues and validate and elevate causes. Sure, fashion is fun to discuss, but if I´m expected to ignore those issues raised by royal presence and participation, then I find all this talk about royalty and royal fashion redundant. I find THAT shallow. Sorry.
I read newspapers to learn about world events and problems - I read this blog to learn about the royals and their activities. The blog has been a good distraction from what is happening in the world. If you want to meld the two that is your choice if the administrator allows it. However, I will avoid reading your comments in the future and hopefully, your ideas will not spread to other contributors.
DeleteI totally agree with Vanessa. Good job pointing things out.
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