Red carpet looks at the Swedish ELLE Style Awards

Mermaids, brides and disco balls

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You know the Met Gala? Yeah, for us here in Sweden our equivalency is the ELLE Style Awards, also known as “The ELLE Gala”. Every year, celebrities, artists, stylist, influencers and anyone else who has made a splash in the fashion pool in the last 12 months get to parade down the “red” carpet during the ELLE Gala to have their photo taken. It’s all a very big deal and apparently everyone wants to get invited mainly to get a first-hand glimpse of who is snogging whom at the after party. I don’t blame them.

This year’s gala was the 27th one to be hosted in Sweden and the theme was “The playfulness of fashion”. I must admit that I don’t know exactly how to interpret that theme and as you’ll see, neither did the guests but it does give a slight nod to the theme of rediscovering your childhood self that we’ve been seeing trend on social media. (Side note, I really do think there’s something special about leaning into what your 7 year old-self would have loved to wear to really get a sense of your style. But that’s a topic for another time.)

Since the Met Gala is quickly approaching I thought it could be fun to take a look at what the “fashion elite” of Sweden are wearing and compare notes next week when true fashion royalty show us how it’s done. Let’s get into the major themes, shall we?

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Mermaids galore

The first thing I noticed when scrolling through the photos from the “red carpet” was the sheer amount of mermaid style dresses? I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this in decades. Although it’s not a shape I would personally go for it’s definitely one that creates a lot of drama, which is something that’s always encouraged at a gala. I wasn’t really overly impressed with any of these looks but I must say that I’m into singer Peg Parnevik’s choice of the metal bodice (by Zamina Scillasdotter), which is giving Zendaya’s Tom Ford breastplate in a good way. I do however wish Peg’s was a little more fitted and I’m not sure how it ties into the overall theme of playfulness?

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Bridal core

There was a lot of white. Like, a lot. I didn’t even include all the white looks here. And you know what? I’m kind of into it.

But again - playfulness? Not so much.

I’m really sad for influncers Lovisa Worge and Klara Elvgren who wore the same Christopher Esber dress. It’s a beautiful dress and it’s not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things but I can’t believe their stylists didn’t communicate? After all, there weren’t that many people invited to the gala. I also wish someone would have accessorized a little more creatively. It’s mainly all white/black with gold jewelry and they kind of look like they’re all going to the same party if I’m being honest.

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Let it sparkle

Idk, this one doesn’t really do it for me and I’m usually a girl who likes a little sparkle. It just doesn’t feel special enough, probably because the silhouettes are all pretty plain? Again we have two ladies unfortunately wearing the same dress - comedian Melody Farshin and model Evelina Lauren both showed up in a dress from the H&M x Magda Butrym collaboration. Out of these looks my definite favourite is tv-host Jessica Almenäs in a lovely rust-coloured Roland Mouret dress with lavender opera gloves. Trés chic.

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Crazy cutouts & Lace

Sometimes both at the same time. Personally, the cutouts on the hips throw me off a little. I hate to say it but in my eyes it just looks a little odd on most body types, except the Beyoncé variety of bodies. And those don’t come around too often. Don’t have too much to say about this one other than that I can’t wait until the cutouts leave us be for a while.

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My personal favourites

Okay, so going top to bottom, left to right, in no particular order (kind of)…

Actress Sus Wilkins stunned in an understated yet playful striped dress from Pour Quoi DK. Just such a good fit on her and I love that she looks comfortable and cool. Definitely wearing the dress and not the other way around.

Lisas Fuxler, co-founder of modelling agency The Wonders, wore my absolute favourite dress of the entire evening: a glittery tie-dye t shirt dress. Like YES. It’s giving playful, it’s giving cool, it’s giving fun. I would have loved to see more looks like this!! (I sadly can’t find who made the dress).

Podcaster and tv-host deluxe, Edvin Törnblom, was an absolute funfunfun vision in a bathrobe look that killed.

Honorable mentions to stylist & model Ursula Wångander in a beautiful baby blue dress, stylist Columbine Smille in a gorgeous Emilio Pucci dress complete with a chic baby bump and olympic swimmer Therese Alshammar for killer legs and killer shoes.

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As always - let me know what you think!! And what are we anticipating for the Met Gala? Let’s all cross our fingers they don’t get as many outfit repeats as we did here haha.