Totally Stockholm 1
Lars Wallin, Ingela “Ingy” Klemetz “Ingy and I pl
anned these costumes for weeks, and made them especially for this evening. They were pretty crazy outfits, with these puff trousers... we simply came from another planet. Our characters couldn’t talk, we just made odd sounds all evening. Even when we won the prize [for best costumes] and were interviewed on stage, we just made more alien sounds (laughs). We went all in for the roles. Our shoes were so incredibly long and we kept stepping on each other’s feet all night.” Lars Wallin, Sweden’s premier couture designer Alexi Delano Something happened in Stockholm in the early 1990s. In the midst of a financial crisis on a scale Sweden hadn’t experienced since the 1930s, and with events elsewhere in the world, such as the Berlin wall coming down, as a backdrop, a vibrant DIY culture sprung up. A growing clique of young, creaAnna Carin Mörner tive minds began trying their hand at everything from singing and producing to designing and directing. The state monopoly on TV and radio broadcasting was lifted at the same time as a feeling of anything being possible was emerging. This eventually resulted in Stockholm becoming a creative hub for everything from fashion and film to music and advertising. Italian brand Diesel turned to Stockholm for brand identity and advertising campaigns, and some of the biggest musical names of the decade, such as the Backstreet Boys, Britney Spears, Spice Girls, Prodigy and Madonna all had their music made by, their clothes styled by and/or videos directed by this new generation of Stockholm creatives. Many of whom came to know each other through the exploding Stockholm club scene. Photographer Stefan Holm Mardo was there at the time to document some 11