STOCKHOLM – It’s a gray summer day, but on the first floor of a large office block often occupied by bankers and shipping brokers, Matilda Djerf is basking in the glory of Midsommar.
Ms. Djerf, a 25 year old social media influencer who founded the fashion brand Avenue Djerf with her boyfriend, Rasmus Johansson, in 2019, built a fast-growing business empire thanks to glimpses of her lightly focused Scandi dream life – not to mention a in those By TikTok The most simulated haircut. But last month, in her sterile headquarters, all whitewashed walls and yellow floors, not a single flower crown or embroidered skirt in sight. Instead, she watched video of a group of girls nearly 6,000 miles away, in California, who threw a party themed around the traditional Swedish summer solstice celebration in her honor. .
“We try to be more than just a fashion brand,” says Ms. Djerf. “We’re also focused on building a community.”
Tanned with pink lips and a high nose while skiing, she wore diamond hoop earrings that popped out of her ruffled hair as she gestured to the screen. “We are constantly communicating with our customers on social media,” she said. “Many of them find new friends through Djerf Avenue as well as new clothes.”
Ms Djerf flips through the photos, which will then be uploaded to the brand’s Instagram account. Girls, of all shapes, sizes and skin tones, shine in hot-selling styles like the Dream Dress ($199) or Tie Tank Tops ($119). Nearby, Djerf Avenue employees, wearing identical oversized poplin shirts and black slits tailored to reflect Mrs. Djerf’s masculine-responsive-feminine style, were typing. laptop.
“A lot of clients sign up to be models,” Ms. Djerf said. “They are very loyal and very dedicated. We call them our Djerf Angels. They love being a part of our world.”
Or more specifically, the world of Matilda Djerf. By buying her clothes and emulating her lifestyle, more and more customers believe they can be like Ms. Djerf.
Not that the extent of Ms. Djerf’s influence can be gleaned from an easy-to-understand list of numbers. She has 2.6 million followers on Instagram and a million on TikTok on her personal account. Those are sizable social media metrics, but far from American colleagues like Addison Rae or Charli D’Amelio. She doesn’t post often. She’s also not the first influencer to create her own brand. What makes Miss Djerf different is the devotion she creates in her fanss – and how she and Mr. Johansson, chief executives of Djerf Avenue, have leveraged their popularity to build a profitable business with projected sales of $22 million this year , up from $8 million in 2021.
One can flip through tens of thousands of posts lovingly describing her clothes, her poses, her drying. Among the annotations: “Girls don’t want boys, they want Matilda Djerf’s hair”; “The feminine urge is obsessed with Matilda Djerf”; and Matilda Djerf, “The icon of our generation.” Her name has been used as a hashtag on TikTok 156 million times, and she frequently emerges as the face of broader Generation Z fashion trends like “Cottagecore,” “Seaside Grandma” and “clean girl.” Though she’s not exactly any of those things.
Chelsea Davignon, senior strategist focusing on youth trends at forecasting agency Fashion Snoops, said: “Matilda Djerf has a very relevant brand and aesthetic that still feels authentic and believable. trust. and platforms. “She doesn’t flood her feed with other brands or sponsored content. Instead, she offers an easy cool lifestyle that doesn’t feel too out of reach.”
Especially for women who don’t look like her.
Just out of reach
Djerf grew up about 250 miles southwest of Stockholm in a small town called Boras, although she speaks perfect English with an American accent due to two years in Monterey, California, as a child. She and Johansson were high school friends, and after graduating in 2016, they went backpacking in the Caribbean, Bali and Australia. Ms. Djerf has modeled for local fashion and bikini brands to make money their way. She also started taking pictures of their travels – and Mr Johansson took pictures of her – which she then posts to her fledgling Instagram account.
By the time they returned to Sweden in 2017, she had 100,000 followers.
“I got a job at a juice shop in Boras, but I also realized that maybe, just maybe, we could make a living from social media,” Ms. Djerf said, noting that she has been a keen photographer and fashionista since childhood. . “Of course we are very worried. We were in a tropical paradise, and now we are back in a small town in Sweden. Does anyone care? Will it work? “
It did. Girls all over the world have been mesmerized by her, swooning over snapshots of life eating strawberries or cycling in the Swedish countryside in oversized shirts and bikinis; of satins, espressos, and bouncy blonde hair on winter nights out; Her penchant for baggy tailoring with cropped tops combines with the Gen Z swagger with a more chic, elegant European “it girl” aesthetic.
By 2019, Ms. Djerf realized that she did not want to do partnerships or partnerships with the brand; she wants her own brand, period. That December, Djerf Avenue released an initial drop of nine items that Miss Djerf felt were missing from her own wardrobe. It sold out overnight.
Now, two and a half years on, Djerf Avenue produces about 10 drops a year, with a logistics warehouse opening in the United States this fall to better serve its largest market. No sales or discounts. Ninety percent of the company is jointly owned by Ms. Djerf and Mr. Johansson, although they sold a 10% stake to an angel investor in April – “an airbag,” joked Ms. Djerf during the survey. A range of attractive new designs. ask her to sign out.
“What I want with Djerf Avenue is to give people classic and comfortable staples that they can wear over and over or style in many ways for years,” she said, pointing to a pair of pants. Oversized caramel length and goes well with stretchy tube tops and skirts. Sizes for collections from XXS to XXXL.
“What is more important to me is that this is a fashion brand that is completely welcoming and inclusive of everyone,” Ms. Djerf said. “It’s always been my dream come true.”
Under the democratizing force of social media, the scope of Skin tones, clothing sizes and media coverage has expanded significantly in recent years. Miss Djerf, of course, embodies the expensive aesthetic of the girl next door, blonde-haired, blue-eyed that has long dominated conventional fashion and beauty standards. She could have created a lifestyle blueprint around her that could be commercialized for a wide variety of audiences and a platform through which like-minded women could interact. each other, but the face of Avenue Djerf, the reason they came, was ultimately her. Being a part of her dream doesn’t come cheap either.
“I don’t forget the fact that I am society’s ideal of what a perfect person looks like,” Ms. Djerf said. “I realized how privileged I am. I have fair skin, petite figure, I tan easily, don’t need makeup. My life could be easier because of that. But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel a strong sense of responsibility to do things right. “
That sense of duty was part of the reason she didn’t attend fashion week in places like Paris or Milan. “It’s not that I wasn’t invited,” says Ms. Djerf, who believes luxury brands need to improve the size and image of their models, airbrushing and PhD representations. “But I really think hard about what I stand for. Do I want to go to a catwalk show and only see size 00 dresses walking down the runway? Not really. It also doesn’t send the right message to the people affected by me. I think about that a lot.”
Finding balance
Miss Djerf’s office is full of rattan soft furniture and pastel vases of hydrangeas and wildflowers. Her dog, Rufus, the mainstay of her pillars, chases a ball along the row of vintage kitten heels and down the hallway, where hangs an installation that looks like a glowing ring. giant sparkle.
“That’s not what’s supposed to be,” said Miss Djerf, wrinkling her nose. “I think I’m less pleased now that you’ve said that.”
Behind her, pinned to her mood board, are letters from fans, each including the author’s social media handle. “Thank you for creating a fun and safe space for so many people. Add to that the incredible clothes,” one read. “I love how you are such a staunch advocate for self-love. It makes me want to be a little more aggressive and love myself a little more,” another reader said. Many of the people who post and about her online have a clear goal in mind: feedback from their idols themselves.
Ms Djerf said she spends about 11 hours a day working on Djerf Avenue, then an extra hour creating content and another hour responding to messages from her followers. Her IRL social life, for now, has had something of a backseat.
“I’m probably not a particularly good girlfriend,” she said.
There is no blueprint for how to perform her role. She tries to make the world feel more comfortable and supportive, she said. Sometimes that means giving reminders that what you look like doesn’t equate to happiness. She talked about her battle with anorexia and anorexia as a teenager and Ectopic pregnancy leads to emergency surgery in 2020.
“I’ve never talked about those moments in my life for likes or comments,” she said. “I do it to help raise awareness and make people feel less alone.” It wasn’t always an easy thing to balance her life offline.
“I have a 14-hour day, and then someone really opens up to me because I built something for them here,” she says. “It was a stroke of luck, really. But sometimes, many times, I need to find a way to tell them they need help somewhere else, maybe professional help. Sometimes I’m overwhelmed.”
Ms Djerf said she hasn’t changed her look since 2017. And with the internet’s fascination with her hair – #MatildaDjerfHair has 27 million views on TikTok – she certainly couldn’t cut it. Go. Miss Djerf, who still goes back to her hometown hair salon for a haircut, gets a flurry of messages any time her Farrah Fawcett-like shaggy hair even begins to brush over her cheekbones from afar. TikTok who loves the classic hairstyle revivalclassified the interface “Bangs With Benefits” and “Butterfly Hair”.
“I get so many compliments and connections from all over the world with my hair, it’s amazing,” Ms. Djerf said. “But sometimes texting will be something else, which can make me feel bad. They will say, ‘Oh my God. I cut my bangs just like you. And it doesn’t look the same at all. ‘”
