While I was in Stockholm, I discovered many brands and shops I didn’t know. As I was walking down Gotgatan, I saw a shop that looked really cool, with great window graphics and cool interior design. I looked up to see the name and it sounded familiar… Monki… I remember I had seen it on Swedish fashion blogs, including on my favourite, Niotillfem, but that’s about it.
Monki is aimed mostly at teenage girls (although at 30 I found a LOT of things I liked, if not every single item in the shop, call me immature, I don’t care) and it bases its concept on a magical fantasy land inhabited by little black creatures with dual personas. That’s a pretty heavy concept for a high street shop, right? It is like Topshop saying they are a mythical beast who lives in a secret forest with fairies. Totally far fetched for a UK chain, but also totally normal for a Swedish one.
The concept behind the brand is displayed all around the shops, and there is a lot of research in the branding. Each shop is like a magical land! The mind blowing shop design is by Joel Degermark and Catharina Frankander from Electric Dreams Studio (where the photographs come from).
Apparently Monki have recently been bought by clothing giant H&M so maybe we will be seeing some Monki in the streets of Europe soon! I really hope so, because I have rarely seen a high street shop that best suited my style. I only came back with a tee-shirt and a dress, because I had a limited budget, but I could have bought so much more. Below are the two items I brought back. So far I have been living in this dress and tee-shirt (not together though!).
Images from Monki
If you have a look at their current collection, you will quickly understand why I fell in love with the brand, and why they absolutely MUST open shops in the UK. The designs are all pretty simple, with great attention to details, beautiful colours… and so far they seem like good quality too. And so cheap! Gosh I love Stockholm