Stockholmfashiondays.com - Marina Schiptjenko

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At the Elle awards in the beginning of February, Marina Schiptjenko was awarded best dressed woman in Sweden. Since then this gallerist and pop star has been on every news bill because of her recent participation in the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest with her band BWO. This woman is fascinating to talk with from a fashion point of view. So that’s exactly what I did!

Normally is you see Marina, she is dressed up for one of her “roles”; conservatively when she is representing the gallery or with a wild flamboyance when she is part of BWO. “I love being able to express my different styles within my different roles”, Marina says. “I like my conservative look but every now and then I love to play around and exaggerate which I can do in the band.”

Marina Marina explains that she is not into trends. She believes it is much more important to find your own style and then, if you care for it, you can mix some of the seaso Marina S n’s trends into your own style. “I try to have a playful attitude towards the way I dress”, she says.

This of course is easier when you have such contrasting roles as Marina. “The reason most Swedes dress fairly conservatively is probably in our culture and upbringing. We have a harsh climate that demands a lot from our clothes and shoes and this has probably given us an extremely practical attitude towards the everyday clothes we use. For example, whilst French children are extremely well dressed, we in Sweden let our kids out in rain or snow in waterproof overalls. All this adds up and sets the standards for how we dress when becoming adults.”

It is extremely interesting to talk about fashion with Marina. She doesn’t really admit to being extremely knowledgeable about it but you can quickly tell that she knows a lot more than the “average Joe” about fashion. “The lack of role models, not the least divas, probably reinforces the lack of “fashion awareness” and makes us dress even more conservatively. It is not really considered a good thing to stick out in Sweden”, Marina says.

Marina Schiptjenko So where does she get her inspiration? Marina explains that this is partly from traveling. “I love seeing people in other cities where they dare to experiment a bit more”, she says. Even though she gets ideas when abroad and feels the Swedes dress quite safely, she believes it is important that we maintain and are proud of our Swedish identity.

“What I would like to see is a bit more creativity and also joy when it comes to fashion”, she explains. “I really hate mass production and the fact that Swedes love to buy so many cheap clothes instead of focusing on developing their personal style with quality.”

The whole discussion about sustainability and fair trade is something that is apparently quite important to Marina. “Swedes really have to rethink how they shop for clothes. They should definitely rethink every time they go into a big retailer to shop for something just because it is cheap”, she says.

When talking about designers she explains that she has different love affairs. At the moment the designer receiving her affection is Martin Bergström but she does certify that “I always stay friends with my exes!”

Martina has recently participated in the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest with BWO where they ended up as number three in the final. A new CD with a mix of old and new songs will be out April 9.