Hyugge with Tefteli

How the Scandinavian style saves the world from stress and instability

At the end of March 2017, it became known that the H&M fashion giant launches a new brand - Arket, which will enter the European market in late summer or early autumn. The expansion of the Swedish concern coincided with the Scandinavian style triumph: one of the main trends of 2016 was Hugge-the concept of all-consuming comfort from Denmark. "Medusa" tells why right now it turned out to be so demanded by comfort and simple joys that you can buy for money.

Things for the whole family

Behind the abbreviation H&M is not only one of the popular brands of the mass market, but a whole concern of six marks-from Monki to COS. Each of them has its own face and its own target audience, but unites their democracy - H&M Group has no premium brands; One of the principles of the company is the fact that new things enter stores every few days.

Arket, the new, seventh brand of the concern, apparently, will work according to the same principle as H&M, but for an audience that is more important not “fast fashion” and trends, but quality. The company's management calls this “outdoor time”: universal, functional things for women, men, children and home-a little more expensive than in the mass market, a little easier than that of designer brands. At the same time, in ARKET stores they will also sell things of third -party brands, and there will also be a cafe with Scandinavian cuisine. In other words, the team of the concern hints: no matter what happens, whatever the fashion, here you will find everything you and your family, you will cheer yourself up with pumpkin soup and buy a sweater that you will wear for years.

Danish happiness

This approach reminds of another Swedish commercial giant - IKEA, the ideology of which is similar. Available, suitable for each other, as parts of Lego designer (also, by the way, Scandinavian), household items. Natural - or almost natural - materials. A thoughtful and recognizable design that does not become obsolete over time. Swedish supermarkets for shops and cafes with inexpensive, but delicious Scandinavian food - comfortable and unpretentious. And the main thing is a serene lifestyle translated through catalogs and furniture compositions that look like scenery from the world without problems and hardships. It is no coincidence that the IKEA catalog symbolized conformism in the “fighting club” and drove his main character crazy.

The news that H&M is expanding and plans to launch a new brand first appeared in the press almost two years ago. During this time, the tendency was clearly visible, which the analysts called “Scandimania” (and probably prompted the concern in advance): the Scandinavian lifestyle replaced the Scandinavian design as the main export product of Sweden, Denmark and Norway. Yes, H&M and IKEA are already more than half a century, organic food has become popular both in the USA and Russia, minimalistic interiors with white walls are now in every second apartment, and a love of fresh air is a consequence of global fashion for healthy lords. But in the Scandinavian countries, all these points together are something like a national idea, and in recent years, demand around the world has appeared in this idea.

She was called an difficult Danish word " Hygge ". In 2016, it became one of the finalists of the Oxford dictionary for the title of the year, but lost the term “postravda”. Hugge is a cozy serenity, a safe and comfortable environment in which there are no irritants. The Danes are considered to be its ancestors - the happiest people from the inhabitants of all UN countries (at least the last three years ). And the ideologist was Professor Mike Viking, the rector of the Danish Institute for the Study of Happiness (yes, it really exists ) and the author of the bestseller “The Little Book of Hygge is the secret of Danish happiness”. There is nothing bad in the Hugge world, but there is fresh pastries, candles, a soft carpet, close friends, a glass of wine and meatballs.

Judging by the results of research - and the number of publications about Hugg in the press, the demand for this serenity arose for a reason. “If the year may have a character, then 2016 was wild in his anger and miserable in her fear,” said the writer and author of The Guardian Charlotte Higgins. In the article “The Hyugge Conspiracy” she calls a surge in interest in the Scandinavian lifestyle of a bloated life - primarily by manufacturers of “cozy” goods. In her opinion, British publishers - namely, they were the first to publish books about Hugg in English - intuitively felt for the gold mine, and all the others picked up behind them. Lists of the most Danish things in online stores and even the article “Housing Oasis: why this group is lulling me off” . Britain passes through Brexit, people do not know what to expect from the future, so they want peace and security. Let the illusory, albeit consisting of fragrant pies and candles placed around the house, of warm sweaters and gatherings with friends. And it worked.

On the other side of the ocean, the concept of the literal zone of comfort also occurred by the time. At the end of December, the text “The Year of Hyugge, Danish obsession with comfort” was released in The New Yorker, which said about the same thing: the Americans also need Hugge, because they have no idea what will happen to their country, their status, salary and life. The article came under Christmas, but it is obvious that the president of the United States, which last month earlier, was a real reason for it. Both publications came together that the national ideas of both the USA and the UK are cracking right now at the seams, so the inhabitants of both countries turned to the idea of ​​Scandinavian - to wait out a difficult time behind the glass of wine and in woolen socks.

Aggressive modesty

In stress and fear, everyone now lives, so Hyugge and the idea of ​​the Scandinavian dimension have spread everywhere. In Russia, Mike Viking’s book was published only in January 2017, but has already become a bestseller. IKEA turned out to be saving from either too expensive or frankly low -quality furniture for the Russians - last year 4% of the company's total sales were in the Russian region (given that South and North America, taken together, brought 18% of sales, and Australia and Asia - 9%, it is a lot). The Scandinavian style in the interior is so in demand that, for example, the repair service “made” offers it as one of the two options for designing an apartment - it is called “Stockholm” (the second option is “Paris”).

The clothes of the Scandinavian brands in Russia are also very popular: sales of H&M in Russia for 2016 grew by 24%. The crisis and the unstable situation in the world worked on the hands of Russian distributors and publishers. People are ready to spend money on beautiful and functional clothes, furniture without unnecessary complaints and books that will reveal the secret of happiness - for everything that will make life at the same time easier and more pleasant.

It seems that the trend for calm and comfort is the most peaceful thing that has happened to people lately. At the same time, critics of Hugge recall that the “Scandinavian well-being”, expressed in commodity equivalent, is still a myth for sale. As the Columnist The Guardian Michael Butt, the Danes are happy not only because they live surrounded by beautiful things and aromatic candles with the smell of a freshly baked pie, but also because they are “rich, sexual and not much work.” And Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Finland are leading the use of antidepressants per capita. In addition, the genuine Scandinavian hugge is an extremely regulated lifestyle that does not tolerate deviations from this course. Therefore, skeptics call this phenomenon “aggressive modesty” - and in the Russian language (and not only ) its best analogue may be “internal emigration”.

Nastya Poletaeva , The Blueprint