"In my honest opinion we looked like nuts in those years," Björn Ulvaeus said in the new publication Abba: The Official Photo Book. "Nobody can have been as badly dressed on stage as we were."
The reason for all that glitter, Ulvaeus said, was to keep the Swedish tax authorities (Skatteverket) at bay, as stage clothes need not to be wearable in everyday life. While Ulvaeus was referring to spandex and satin in the 1970s and 80s, the Swedish tax code has changed little. One of Sweden's Nordic Noir personalities, crime thriller writer Camila Läckberg, as late as last year had her knuckles rapped for trying to pass off normal fashion as work wear in her tax returns.
"It should be fantasy clothes, pure stage clothes, clothes with the employer's name or logo, or other attributes that make them clearly distinguishable from ordinary garments," Sweden's Tax Agency (Skatteverket) said in an official statement about Läckberg's outfits from Zara, Karen Millen, and Hope.
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