At least I want to post a quickie about the beautiful sweaters fromthe Norwegian company Oleana. This is a post that I have planned for about a month now... Oleana makes designs that are both trendy yet classical and that I feel are firmly anchored in the Scandinavian folks art heritage. The patterns are beautiful and the color composition quite daring in many cases.
The sweaters are made from a mix of wool and silk, which makes them warm on cold days and cool on warmer days. They are very pricey, so the sweaters have to be seen as an "investement" in your wardrobe, rather than the trendy accessorie of the season. Last time I visited Sweden, Littlest Sister brought me to Oleana and we picked out this long "sweater cape". Yesterday, we went to a museum to see a few of the paintings that my father's late aunt, Vera Frisen-Stroh, painted over her life.
I wanted to dress up in something special for this special occasion, so here below you can see a couple of photos of my Oleana sweater. I love it!!!
This is only the second time I wear it. I wore it to work one day, and since I work with a bunch of engineers, we generally don't really comment on each other's choice of clothing, but that day I gor compliments from probably 10 different coworkers of both genders.
My mother and father also spoiled me rotten a couple of days ago and bought me two new Oleana shirts "for my birthday", which is in September. I also bought myself one more, so I am pretty much set for life now... Here are the sweaters I got (and yes, I know that I am very lucky and spoiled rotten x 1,000):
Note that this last design almost looks like it was inspired by needlework-lace.
Oleana is now hot stuff in the US after First Lady Michelle Obama picked out no less than four Oleana sweaters when she visited Norway a couple of years ago. This is one of the sweaters she brought back home:
As a matter of fact, the ladies that own the Oleana store in Stockholm, Oleana and Friends, mentioned that the factory cannot make the sweaters fast enough!
They do have a beautiful Oleana book of the coffee-table type, that describes the Oleana philosophy, development and the sources of inspiration (old wallpaper, table cloths etc), but it is unfortunately available in Norwegian only, so I opted not to purchase it (for this time at least...).
It is also possible to find pre-owned Oleana sweaters on E-bay, generally priced at about $200...
Time to run and celebrate Valborg!
Talk with you in a bit - next time I will post from good ole' Kentucky! :-)
I hope your trip how was uneventful. :)
ReplyDeleteLove those sweaters you've picked out. I think the red on with gold bands is my favorite. You MUST take pics when you wear them. :D
Gorgeous!! I have previously heard of these Oleana sweaters, and they are beautiful. Mom and I used to knit Scandinavian sweaters. I think I still have one left that I have not given away...
ReplyDeleteGorgeous sweaters!!!! I have a couple I got when I lived in Belgium :-). They are so well made that they last forever.
ReplyDelete