According to Annika
3
By Emily Kropp
in Blog Love
on August 11, 2011
According to Annika is more than just a great style blog, it's also a great read. We sat down with this chic Swedish writer and learned more about her, including her turn as a movie star...
We first discovered According to Annika through one of our other Blog Loves, Zoey of Make Shift Model, and have been hooked ever since. Annika writes with an incredibly relatable voice, and is the kind of girl you wish you could play dress up with in her incredible backyard in Sweden. She's not afraid to show a little of her wild side, mixing leopard tights with red suede wedges, but can also keep it prim and proper in floral sundresses and knee-highs. We had to get to know her better, and Annika happily shared her story with us, below.
StyledOn: Tell us a little about yourself – how did you get into blogging?
Annika: I started blogging six years ago, back in 2005. I had just moved from Shanghai, where I had been working as a model for a year, to a small Swedish town where I was going to study journalism. Writing has always been the one thing I've loved doing and considered myself being pretty good at, and I've kept online diaries for as long as there has been such a thing - so naturally I wanted to try out this new, hot "blogging" trend I'd heard about!
The first year I wrote almost exclusively about indie music, but eventually I started feeling a bit confined - I wanted to write about everything that's important in my life: love, friends, family, photography, music, film, litterature, politics, cats, pretty shoes and the latest episode of America's Next Top Model. So I started a new blog in 2006, where I wrote about anything and everything that came to mind, and I still do!
Since I first started my blog, so much has happened, my head seriously spins when I think about it. I've graduated from university, met the love of my life, moved to Berlin and then back to Stockholm, reached more of my career goals than I ever thought possible, decided maybe journalism isn't what I want to be doing after all, left a tiny apartment in the big city for a beautiful house in the countryside (also known as the middle of nowhere), lost my best friend in the world to cancer. I guess that in a way I'm tying everything together right now, as I'm going back to school in the fall! I've decided to take a university course in creative writing, since my plan is to write very little articles and columns this following year, but to instead focus on what I've always wanted to do: write a novel. I only started blogging in English in May this year, and I'm so glad I did. It's a great opportunity to practice my English while reaching more readers than I could ever dream of while writing in Swedish!
StyledOn: How was your recent trip to New York? What did you do while you were here?
Annika: Honestly - my trip to New York was somewhat of a disappointment. It was my first time in NYC and the city itself blew me away, just like I knew it would; it was the circumstances that weren't exactly as I'd hoped. I was in town to visit my boyfriend who's taking a summer course in film editing, and my plan was to get a whole lot of sightseeing (and shopping!) done during the daytime, while he was in school. But... my first week, the heatwave made it almost impossible for me to walk around and explore - and right when it started to cool off, I got knocked out by the flu. Spending a week in bed was not what I'd planned for during my three weeks in New York! Luckily, the end of the trip was quite awesome - my boyfriend and his new friend and classmate Emiliano from Argentina decided to make a short film together, with me playing the lead (well, the only part). That meant I spent my last week running around all over Manhattan and Brooklyn in front of a camera, and I finally got to see and do a lot of the things I'd been wanting to while in NYC (and some things I'd never thought I'd be doing)! I had so much fun and I can't wait to see the finished result. The footage I've seen looks absolutely beautiful - New York City sure is the most gorgeous backdrop a filmmaker could ever ask for. And though it feels like I barely got any shopping done, I still had to buy an extra suitcase before going back to Sweden, one I quickly filled to the brim... Guess I did find a little time to hit the stores!
StyledOn: You’re a freelance writer – where can we read your work?
Annika: I've written a weekly column in Sweden's biggest fashion magazine, Sofis mode, for three years now. For the same magazine I also feature inspiring bloggers from all over the world - one of the very best parts of my job! Not only is it part of my job description to read a billion fashion blogs, which totally takes away the "guilty" and leaves only the pleasure - it has also had the incredible side effect that I've made so many amazing, talented and beautiful friends in the blogosphere through the years. More of my assignments during the last couple of years have been writing political columns for the daily newspaper Aftonbladet, working as a fashion editor for a news bureau, and interviewing celebrities from the culture and entertainment field for various magazines. I've had the pleasure of meeting lots of people I admire, but sitting down with Lady Gaga in Los Angeles earlier this year will be extremely hard to beat! I was insanely nervous and had such a tough time forcing myself to focus on being a reporter and not a huge fan (which I obviously am). My editor gave me as many pages as I needed to write the story, and I ended up with a six page cover story in Sofis mode plus a news article in Aftonbladet. That was the first time I've felt the fluttering of butterflies in my stomach while seeing one of my stories in print - I mean come on, it was LADY GAGA! She's a genius and will become a legend, no doubt about it.
Oh, and I write a column for a homeowner's magazine, haha! About life in the countryside, moving into my first house without knowing the first thing about, well, houses, and all the ups and downs that comes with that. But if you don't read Swedish and want to read my work, I'd say my blog is your best bet! One of the reasons I started According to Annika was to showcase my writing, and I hope to eventually have translated most of my columns and and articles into English.
StyledOn: What are your style words to live by?
Annika: "Pain is temporary, glory is forever, chicks dig scars." Nah, just kidding. Or maybe I do live by those words, at least when it comes to high heels...
I guess I don't have a style motto per se, but I do wake up every morning and say to myself, "make an effort!". I'm way too lazy for my own good - I love putting outfits together and dressing up, but when you live in a tiny village where you can walk around in your pajama bottoms all day and no one cares... well... it's a little too easy to do just that!
StyledOn: What is the style scene like in your hometown?
Annika: People in Stockholm are ridiculously stylish, fashion conscious, elegant and just generally gorgeous. You can definitely tell that this is the hometown of Acne! I always feel like the awkward geek from the countryside when I walk around the city - embarrassingly enough, this was the case even before I actually did move to the countryside. I grew up in Stockholm but never really felt like I fit in - though it wouldn't surprise me if it's just like in high school, where it's pretty much impossible for anyone to feel like they fit in.
StyledOn: Are there any Swedish designers we should keep on our radar?
Annika: Plenty! I'm a huge fan of Johanna Vikman, Ida Sjöstedt, Sofifi, Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair, House of Dagmar, Carin Wester, Rodebjer and Minimarket, just to name a few. If I was told I could only wear Swedish brands for the rest of my life, I honestly wouldn't mind one bit.
StyledOn: What is the most treasured item in your closet?
Annika: I really wish I had a good answer for this question, but I don't. I change my mind as often as I change underwear (and I can assure you I'm quite the clean person!). At this particular moment, I must say it's my pair of black suede platform wedges I got at Steve Madden in NYC. They're sensationally pretty and perfect in every single way, and even reasonably comfortable considering their outstanding awesomeness, haha!
StyledOn: What’s at the top of your wishlist right now?
Annika: Oh dear, don't get me started! I'm so broke at the moment it's almost funny, yet I can't seem to stop adding things to my computer's "wishlist" folder. The one thing that maybe could get me to magically conjure some money out of thin air would be if I found the perfect fall jacket: oversized, warm, but without making me look like a meatball with legs. Preferrably resembling something Morrissey would have worn in the mid 80's. If you happen to know where I can find it, let me know!
StyledOn: We love your blog and read it on a regular basis. Which blogs do you read the most?
Annika: Aww, thank you! Choosing only a couple of blogs out of my immensely long reading list is heartbreaking, but here we go: I'm positively stunned by 16 year old Roz of Clothes, Cameras and Coffee, who is not only an out-of-this-world beauty, but also a spectacularly talented writer and photographer. I have absolutely enormous crushes on Zoey of MakeShiftModel, Barbro Andersen, Amanda Brohman, Sandra of NioTillFem, Nicole of Gary Pepper Vintage... oh wow, I truly could go on forever. I follow at least sixty blogs that I read almost daily, and I genuinely adore all of them! Living far away from many of the people I love, all my blogger acquaintances have become my group of supplementary friends... no, wait, that sounded really sad, didn't it? It's true, though.
StyledOn: Tell us something about yourself that we might not expect.
Annika: I can't believe I'm telling you this, but... I play one of the charcters in one of the most hilariously horrendous slasher films ever made. It was so outstandingly bad it truly deserved an award! I was 18, got to run around with an axe, and was buried alive in the end. Please don't tell anyone! ;)
1 Comment
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HilaryWeissman • 10 months ago
Gorgeous, smart, talented...AND she's spoken with Lady Gaga. Oh lawd.