Ah, the Scandinavians. Always pushing those margins and always, somehow, still looking sober and strangely sensible (is it the months of darkness? The vodka?) Somehow between the madness one might see on your average Harijuku street-fashion site, the louche, Parisian reportage of The Facehunter and the imminently restrained sensibilities…

Could We Love Carla Bruni Any More?: We didn’t think so. Then we read these lyrics. [Radar]

Hot Rods: That emblem on your car’s hood may indicate more than your choice in brands. [Jalopnik]

Turning Japanese: Hedi Slimane is the natural muse of Vogue Homme Japan much as Sean Avery is the natural muse of Men’s Vogue US. [WWD]

Victoria Beckham’s Menswear Line Canceled: Whew. That was a close one. [Female First UK]

Totally Swede: A review of Stockholm Fashion Week. [The Pipeline]

They don’t get much respect, but there’s a quiet, thoughtful dignity to bar games, especially the jumping solitaire offered by this Swedish nut bowl. It’s not a bad way to hold all those seasonally roasted chestnuts either, assuming it’s not wrapped up at the time.

We ran across this Ronson-esque Swedish fellow on Lookbook and we have to saw, he’s raised our opinion of the entire country. Maybe it’s the suit, but we’re suddenly warming to the idea of suspenders too.

Take notes, gentlemen.

As brands go, Obama’s doing pretty well, so it’s no surprise companies are jumping at the chance to associate with him. And if he’s the first slim suit president, there’s also the risk of becoming the first IKEA president. He’d better tread carefully…

In an attempt to sway the new President, the Swedish design magnate has set up a faux-oval office in D.C.’s Union Station to show what a Swede-furnished executive branch would look like. The web component is a virtual Oval Office dollhouse, but we have to say, without rounded couches, the options are pretty limited.

In this case, we’re hoping Obama goes with something a bit more… convervative.

We’ve always been on the side of precise tailoring, but it takes all kinds, and there are always a few new fits to try out.

Acne has been pushing clean, unbroken drapes as much as anyone outside of Japan, and we’re starting to come around. The typical dig is that they make you look like a clothes hanger—skin and bones, as our mother would say—but if the colors are right, you could do a lot worse. In this case, the colors are deep maroons and somber grays, which is about right.

And if you’ve ever passed through Stockholm, you’ll know why.

See more from the Swedes»

Some of our favorite shoes are the most lightweight—espadrilles and top-siders in particular—so it’s nice to know this particular shoe won’t be weighing us down too heavily.

Sweden’s Gram labels their shoes by weight, and they rarely reach above 500 grams. This one is the 366g, stitched together from denim and kept as light as possible at every stage in the process. We wouldn’t recommend wearing it under jeans (or getting it wet, for that matter), but don’t be surprised if your summer wanderings take you a little farther than usual.

We weren’t quite sold on the Swedish label POUR, but it’s hard to be sure until you see their goods in the wild.

This gentleman, for instance, pulls off the monochromatic look just about perfectly, and POUR’s big-cuffed button-up is the best part of the look by far. The sunglasses don’t hurt, of course, but the best part is that, he was snapped on the street in Melbourne, which is about as far from Stockholm as you can get.

Maybe we just needed to see how the shirt looked in sunnier climes.

The Swedes are Different From You and I: The Swedish press continues to supply us with artful cheesecake. [Refinery29

The Grand Design: The National Design Awards are upon us once more, bearing overwrought chess sets and a warehouse full of weird looking cars. [Material Interest]

The Magic Number: A rundown on three piece suits, specifically whether or not vests should have lapels. High level stuff. [Esquire]

Please Pleat Me: Like disco, pleats are back with a semi-ironic vengeance. [WWD]

Nantucket reds have a pretty solid rep as the preppy pant of summer, but they’ve made things easier for less pinkish hues to get in the door as well.

Take this gentleman, caught by Street Peeper on the streets of Oslo. The blue-on-cream getup is straight out of the GQ playbook, but our interest is in those pants. The orange-red trousers sub for the bottom half of a khaki suit just about perfectly, but it has to be seen to be believed. This time of year, they’re a whole lot more versatile than you’d think.

At the high end, hotel swag can include anything from a dash of cologne to a full tweezer set, but one Swedish hotel is venturing a little further. Check into the Berns Hotel in Stockholm and you’ll get this impeccably packaged 3-pack of condoms, known to the manufacturers as “a pack of love.” It’s a good idea, considering what goes on in most Swedish hotel rooms, but turn the box over, and you’ll find a more sentimental inscription: “It’s about love.” Well, not necessarily…

On the heels of Mr. Varvatos, the Swedish Fifth Avenue Shoe Repair has finally opened up an online shop. The prices, while not bad for a boutique brand, are also all in Kronor, so you’ll want to keep Google handy. (It’s 15 cents to the kronor, if you’re the calculator type.) There’s all the avant-Scandanavian gear you’d expect—drop crotch trousers, check; contrast patch dress shirts, check—but on the off-chance you aren’t signed on for the Swedish look just yet, there are still a few items ripe for broader appeal—these wool scarves for one. If Sweden can be counted on for one thing, it’s a good muffler.

The beloved Swedes at Fjällräven launched their eCommerce site last night, which means those ubiquitous backpacks are one step closer, and we finally got a chance to peruse some of their more functional items, like this Oban parka.

It’s the same waxed cotton that keeps the packs sealed up, but with a fuzzy inner shell warm enough to get you through a Scandanavian winter. It’s a lot more low-tech than it looks, which might be its biggest strength. After years of seeing Barbour on the backs of outdoorsy scenesters for so long, it’ll be nice to see a fresh Swedish version.

This handsome assortment of gear comes from a new Norwegian street style blog. We’re pretty sure this is all they’ll need, give or take a laptop.