Clothes maketh the man

Or so they say. I'm not sure what my clothes make me. My ex-wife would normally chime in about now with a pearl of wisdom. But anyway. Swedish fashion is pretty tough to pin down. I'm not sure if they are going for the "I'm going to grab all the items of clothing I can find on the floor, and stick them on me, in no particular order" look, or if that's just the way it ended up. It's all a bit of a mess, and doesn't seem to follow any pattern. Maybe it's different up here in the North. Maybe it starts out with good intentions but loses it's way somewhat when one looks at the winter weather. You know what it's like if you have bad heating in your house. You have a really nice duvet, which matches the sheets and pillow cases. But it's a bit cold, so you borrow the duvet from the bed in the spare room and throw that over. Still a bit nippy, so the rug from the lounge gets piled on top. Now you're really nice and comfy, but the bed looks like the sales bin at the local store. That pretty much describes fashion as I see it here. Swedes have this thing about being informal and comfortable. They don't really feel all that comfortable with hierachy. And that shows in their clothes. But it's hard to follow the rules. For me, at least. Everyone else seems to know exactly what to wear and when. Take, for example, my job. I work in a professional international consultancy firm. As I've also done in New Zealand. Dress code of the day was always semi formal. Dress shoes, shirt and pants. With a tie either worn or standing nearby at the ready. Probably a reflection of the good old Imperial England, where employment staus was ( and is) the measure of the man. Not so in Sweden. Checkered shirts, jeans and slippers are the standard office attaire. First time I've ever had to buy a pair of slippers to wear to work. No difference as you head up the office ladder. You can tell the boss, because he has a SLIGHTLY bigger office. But that's about it. So that was something new. Bit of a shock, but dressing down is easier to get used to than dressing up. Last month we were invited to attend the christening of the daughter of a friend of our's. At the local church. Being the avid churchgoers that we are, I had to look the place up on the map. Now, being the son of devoted Church of England parents, I knew exactly how this worked. So I dug out my best pants and tie, which hadn't seen light since my first day at work. And off we went. Big mistake. Standard church attaire it seems, follows office protocol. Jeans, open neck shirts, and casual footwear. At first I felt like a bit of a twat, but then I thought, "No, this is how I dress to show respect. So tough". Two weeks later we were invited to attend a birthday party for an adult friend. Same group of people. Despite my earlier stand against society, I decided to go with the flow. Nice pair of jeans, casual but trendy (for me) shirt, and good comfy shoes. Swedes do own suits and ties. Very nice ones too. Do you know when they wear those ? When they go to friends' birthday parties !!! I frickin give up. Next time I'm asked anywhere, if I'm asked anywhere, I'm wearing the duvets. All of them.