It is no secret that at The Lifestyle Edit, we have a real thing for Scandi design. In fact, it’s not just us – it’s the entire fashion industry. You see, there’s been a real shift of late in what women want from their wardrobes. Good quality is a must, as well as designs that promise to transcend the dangerously swift fashion cycle. Dressing up is no longer about the latest line to drop at Topshop – it’s about a careful edit of timeless pieces. Basics are having a moment, and Scandinavians are leading the revolution.
“It’s in our roots to be functional,” one of the three disarmingly blonde and beautiful sisters sat opposite me explains. “Sweden used to be a very poor country back in the day. We have to reduce, we have to think sustainability all the way through the process. I guess its in our genes!”
Welcome to House of Dagmar, the latest brand to fuel our adoration of this national tradition in minimalist design. Launched in the Spring of 2005, the brand jumped onto the scene with clean, sophisticated looks that have grown more adventurous in aesthetic each season, whilst maintaining classic pieces throughout the line. I am here at the Hoxton Hotel today to meet with Kristina, one of its three founders.
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The first thing you notice about these women, as perhaps you might with most Swedes, is their beauty. Golden hair, glowing skin and blue eyes, but soft, kind faces. These women never seem to maintain the sullen look their Knightsbridge counterparts might display. Equally, Karin, Kristina and Sofie’s look, is of comparatively far less concern to them. No, these girls have much more going on – as Kristina is keen to share with me.
The sisters (with a 16 year gap between the eldest, Karin and youngest, Sofia) are over in London for staff training, but 2015 has been a busy year for the label. For starters, Beyonce was spotted wearing their pieces. Then, there’s it’s 10-year anniversary, which was accompanied by a capsule collection of re-launched spring dresses from seasons past. The label is now stocked at Net-A-Porter and The Shop at Bluebird and a flagship is on the way in their native Stockholm. It’s not bad going for a family force that happened to join together based on timing.
We want to empower a new generation of influential women. I think it’s so important that when they put one our pieces on, you don’t have to think. The clothes just want to do what they are supposed to do.
“Well, it was always a dream I had,” Kristina tells me. “When I was a child, my grandmother taught me to sew. She taught me how to construct patterns. I always talked about one day having my own brand, even though I wasn’t even sure what that meant!” Dagmar, it should be noted, is the name of the girl’s grandmother, and thus the namesake of the brand. Family loyalty runs strong here. “I was always looking for partners, and then suddenly I just realised, why don’t we just do this together? So I called Sofia and Karin and said, ‘we’re doing this now – are you in?’ They said yes. It took a second.”
It should be kept in mind that at the time, the girls were individually pretty busy with their own careers. Sofia was studying for a degree in textiles. Karin had been a buyer at high street giant H&M, before leaving to launch her own PR agency and Kristina has studied in Paris and has just got pregnant with her second child. “So we had all the time in the world!” she says and rather amazingly, not in jest.
For the uninitiated, the clothes at Dagmar are designed for women just like these three, who have plenty going on professionally, socially and at home – and there is a straightforward approach to it that we love. When we touch on how Kristina divides her responsibilities as a mother and designer, she admits that while it has been tough, she has to be clear cut. When she is at work, she is at work, when she is with her children, “I try to have 100% focus. I don’t check my emails or answer phone calls. I have to keep my phone off. I think it’s my way of surviving.”
Balance is something we all struggle with and it’s the ease of the clothes at Dagmar that makes getting dressed in the morning, well, one less thing to worry about. “We want to empower a new generation of influential women,” she says. “I think it’s so important that when you put one of our pieces on, you don’t have to think. The clothes just want to do what they are supposed to do. It’s so important for us to constantly think about the lifestyles of our women .”
“Poppy Delevingne is a good example of a Dagmar women,” says Kristina. “She’s the right age, independent, and sends out a good message.” This is something all three were on the same wavelength about from the outset. “Because that is the kind of women that we are – we all live a hectic life and we saw also amongst our friends, both in Sweden and internationally. We saw this as our group, that we understand, and want to focus on.”
Even 10 years in, the girls still admit to feeling excited when they see someone wearing the brand but there is plenty left on their list still to tick off. “We are growing internationally, and I hope that we have more boutiques – London, Paris, New York and other cities – as we grow more and more,” Kristina reveals. “I mean, we are working to create a fashion house, and so we want to have more products. We are starting a little bit with accessories and our own line of organic handbags. We might do menswear in the future, as I am an trained menswear designer, and maybe interior design in the future too. We already have a Dagmar rug, so I think there are many more possibilities.”
In the meantime, growing the mainline is the sole focus and thanks to their no-trends approach and accessible prices, Dagmar represents exactly what we want in our wardrobes right now. “You used to have boxes – high street or luxury – but we are placed in the middle, in contemporary and bridge. We have the technique and the quality, but not the prices you’d expect from it.” What’s not to love?
Photographs by Rosa Abbott.