JASMINE FURELID
THE STYLISH STYLISSIMO
It has been my pleasure to know Jasmine for over ten years and I have always been an admire of her approach to life, “Go for it and enjoy what you do to the max” I have witnessed dozens of Jasmines style recreations but have always been aware that the true Jasmine runs constant behind the style changes.
The stylish stylissimo knows her subjects reading them telepathically, getting into their psyche crowning them in their full glory. But where is her crown? Though her road has been tough she has walked through it in her own tenacious way looking only towards her inner self as the ultimate guiding light.
Always be you Jasmine.
THE INTERVIEW
“I love Scandinavian fashion, but it’s way too clean for me” Says Jasmine
Creating to learn
Obviously having an education can open doors, but you need so much more than that. Even if you have an education but you don’t have social skills, it’s not going to work. You need to network to get where you want to be, you need to be around people. It’s not just about talent, it’s about being driven, being passionate.
It’s been beneficial for me that I haven’t studied. I’ve always been free in what I’m creating. I find having guidelines limits me; my creativity stops. I want to have it a certain way, therefore I do it all myself. I did filming myself, I learned how to edit myself. I learned a lot along the way, and I think that sometimes we are so determined for the goal that we forget the actual journey to our goal.
Challenged by loneliness
Sometimes I’ve been very lonely. I always felt like I wanted to do this with someone, but because I’m quite particular, I never really found anyone that was on my level or that got my creativity or style. Then again, it’s very good to be on your own, because you learn a lot and get stronger, and if another person is involved you need to compromise. I try to do everything myself because I’m quite particular, but I think we need each other. We need other creative people to develop.
Bored of Stockholm
I met my first love, but I didn’t want to be in London, so I moved back after two months. Then in 2007 I was like,’ Nah, I’m gonna do it again’. Stockholm is a small city; I was bored, and it just wasn’t for me at the time.
I needed a change, so that’s when me and my friend decided to move back again. I started in retail and was there for several years. I met amazing people and had such a good time, but at the end of the day it’s still retail, so I then decided to start my styling and stayed.
Longing for stability
By 2014, I’d been in London for 7 years, and it was the most amazing time ever, but I was struggling a lot. You feel in a city like that, you feel lonely even if it’s crowded and you have friends. It’s so expensive and I was kind of over the struggle, and because I was over 30, my body was longing for stability of some sort. I felt like, ‘maybe I should just go home’; there’s some sort of security here, even if at times I didn’t like it. However, I thought that moving back to Sweden would solve everything, but what I realised is external things will never complete or fulfil us. Even if I get that job, meet that man, those things are never going to fulfil you.
Somewhere in my body moving back home felt right, but after being here two years, I felt like my body was itching for something else. Even me and my ex were talking about moving to another city, and that’s when I started to question why I have this urge to leave as soon as my life gets settled. I’m still trying to figure it out because it’s obviously something within you that’s not fulfilled in some way.
I feel ‘at home’ in both places. Stockholm is always gonna be my home because I grew up there. It’s not that I feel more like myself here in London, but I can go all out with whatever I want. Maybe I can’t do that at home. It’s different types of feeling ‘home’. In Sweden, it’s because I’m from there, that’s my home, but I was here for so many years that this is like my second home.
Act of rebellion
I am my brand, so when I’m styling I’m doing it the way I would wear it. I don’t have a particular person in mind when I design and style the range – just an individual who’s quite raw, a little bit of a sexy tomboy. A brave, strong person that sticks out and doesn’t give a shit.
I love Scandinavian fashion, but it’s way too clean for me, and way too boring when you’re here and you see it all the time. You see people not have the courage to do anything else. I like quirkiness; I like when someone is being themselves and is comfortable in that. Fe:male is probably an act of rebellion to show what you actually can do. You don’t have to go follow trends and bloggers, you can do it your way. I want to show something different.
Survival mode
When I was 17 I started changing my style, and it’s quite hard at that age because people are judging you. I don’t know how I coped with the bullying. I think it’s just survival mode, to be myself and continue what I was doing, because why am I gonna change for people not to bully me?
I was a bit of a rebel, but it was hard. It wasn’t bullying in a way that I was going home crying, but they were joking constantly about things. At some points they were quite funny and I laughed, but after a while you’re like, “Ha ha, very funny”, because obviously I was standing out.
Sometimes I wanted to change to be more accepted. I think maybe you have that in you – you care about what other people think. You need to be quite a strong person to keep that to yourself, but that wouldn’t be me. I would lose myself in that. Still to this day, I sometimes care about what people think. Even though I don’t care, I care. I think everyone does. We do that naturally, which I’m trying to get away from. I’ll still do my thing, but for example being in Sweden it’s hard to keep it up because I do stand out there. Sometimes I’m thinking, “Oh, if I have this crazy thing on”, it’s unconscious, it’s there still. In London, I feel people understanding it more, I get more appreciation for it. I don’t need appreciation for me to do what I’m doing, but I think it’s constantly there, caring what people think
How my spiritual inner journey began
It all started when I met my ex. My ex made me realise certain things about myself. I’m quite good at ignoring things that I should really do something about. He was quite calm, and I knew he’d been going through stuff as well. He asked me questions, so I asked myself those questions. That’s where it all started, because I didn’t stop and wasn’t reflecting over things and how I want to get to know myself. With him asking me these questions, I started asking myself. I started meditating, trying to go more into myself and connect with myself.
It also all started when I shaved my hair, when I wanted to feel beautiful without it. People knew me for all my hair styles. That was my thing and I wanted to get detached from that thing because I’m not my hair. As a woman, so much is about your hair. I wanted to experiment with that, how I would feel without that, and if I’d still feel like I was feeling or if I was just curious. That’s where it started, and I started questioning stuff, reflecting on why I do certain things, trying to connect with myself so I can also listen to my body and actually listen, not just have intuition or a feeling and not acknowledge it.
The chameleon
A lot of people call me the chameleon because I change my look a lot. I think it’s one way for me to get my creativity out. It comes and goes – when I’m busy with work or can’t be bothered, I’ll just put on a pair of jeans and a hoody, but I have times in my life when I do it more. Now I’m at a point where I’m like, ‘fuck it, I might as well go all out’. Deep down it has to do with my creativity. When I shaved my hair off, it changed my style as well. I had everything baggy, I loved it! I felt free and more confident. It was liberating, rebellious. I was like, ‘I don’t need this hair or make-up’. I learned to like myself without it. I was going on a journey within myself where it felt like this was something I wanted to do for myself. Luckily my head was okay, because you never know until you shave it off!
Listening to intuition
We all have that gut feeling and I don’t think you should neglect that. When I do what I love, I’m connecting to myself. It’s important to be connected with myself – that’s what I’m aiming for, but sometimes I get lost in what I’m doing. Listen to your body. My body lately has been craving woods, water, nature, and I haven’t been listening to it, so the last few weeks have been hectic.
Life is too short; it’s a cliché, but it’s true. You can’t really plan things. After my last relationship ended, I felt like, ‘I’m going to do exactly what I feel I want to do’. I’m not going to make any plans. I’m going to go with the flow right now. There’s so much you can’t control. I understand that even if you think you’ve planned it all out, it’s probably not going to be that way.
“I am my brand, when I stole I am doing it the way I would wear it”