Barcelona, part 2

Before I visited Barcelona, I had this idea of it as being Europe's southern mecca of fashion. However, my knowledge of Spanish fashion was basically limited to international chains such as Zara, Mango and Custo Barcelona. Those stores are very much present in Spain but there is much more bubbling under the surface.

Barcelona offers fashion that is suitable for every wallet. There are the pricey high end stores alongside with the cheaper chain stores and smaller independent boutiques. I have to confess that I mainly shopped at Zara just because the local style was a bit too bohemian for my minimalistic taste. Ok, the Zara prices being about 1/3 less than in Finland affected my decisions, too. From the chain stores I really fell in love with the accessory department of Üterque, and from the local designers Lurdes Bergada & Syngman Cucala were closest to my heart with their dark tones and strange cuts. I also advice checking out the Finnish born designer Cecilia Sörensen's boutique Still Light and a little shoe store called Le Shoe which sells designer shoes with discount prices. From the malls I mainly recommend Boulevard Rosa; others were a bit too mainstream for my taste. Other than that, my tip is just to wonder around the streets in different parts of the city ie. Gràcia, El Born and El Raval; that's the best way to find hidden treasures of Barcelona.

Barcelonian street style was rather relaxed: lots of harem pants, wedge sandals, cotton and other lightweight material dresses were seen on the streets. The weather affects a lot; it's quite hot during the summer, so you will want to wear something comfortable and light. I chose to wear mainly shorts, lose shirts and sandals, as you might notice from the pictures.

Overall I recommend visiting and shopping Barcelona, especially if you are a girl.

Top: MTWTFSS
Shorts: Zara
Studded bag: Zara
Mom jeans: Second hand
Shoes: MTWTFSS

A special thanks to all the lovely readers who shared with me with their best Barca tips. Especially this map created by Anu (sorry only in Finnish) was excellent!