NITTY GRITTY STORE REVIEW
Story/ Koko Ntuen
Images / Courtesy of NITTY GRITTY
Matilda offers me a warm smile and small nod as I walk into Nitty Gritty on Krukmakargatan. She is stylish and pretty and looks like the type of woman who starts every morning with a fresh cup of coffee and a lavender bath. She gives me a glance over and for a minute I feel insecure with my broken-in snow-capped Doc Martens and jacket with a hole in the pocket. Surrounded by the perfectly-stained wood floors, leather and silk garments, well-crafted cabinets and tiled walls, the air is full of the type of pretension you might get when walking into a conference room of emerging designers having a meeting about all the issues with your closet.
It’s a Wednesday afternoon at the popular boutique and a few people are milling around looking at thread counts and trying on garments that I would have to save at least a month’s salary to afford. They all look clean, rich and very stylish. That much can be expected when you are selling 8,000 SEK blazers and 5,000 SEK trousers by designers from the top echelons of fashion’s elite. APC candles are lined neatly against the wall emitting scents with names like fig tree and orange flower. The Comme de Garcons wallets are displayed on a glass shelf, like little candies waiting for you to unwrap them and devour them like tender leather morsels. This is a place where you almost want to dress up to go shopping. Or at least have clean underwear.
Nitty Gritty has been around since 1991 and since then they have been curating the best artisan fashion that Stockholm has to offer. A quick look at the roster of the brands they carry might inspire or intimidate you – Isabel Marant, APC, Comme de Garcons, Preen and Jerome Dreyfuss are just a few of the high-end international labels that hang from their racks and line their shelves, like the walk-in closet of the most fashionable person in the world.
If you do have the desire and money to venture to Nitty Gritty, be prepared to shop delicately and take your time. The environment is pristine and quiet like a fashion library with secret literature. The clothes require attention and admiration of detail, like the lining of the DUSAN culotte trousers or the gold clasps on the leather Jerome Dreyfuss satchel that almost make the 7,100 SEK price tag seem worth it.
Nitty Gritty is a store that might be slightly out of my league, but it’s a store in whose clientele I would aspire to be in to be included. The thought of walking out, carrying bags full of clothes and knick-knacks home from this high-end treasure, gives me just enough motivation to finish this article. Until then, a girl can dream.
