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For sisters and House of Dagmar co-founders Karin Söderlind and Sofia Wallenstam—two-thirds of the trio behind the brand, alongside Kristina Tjäder—anticipating what the other will wear is innate as finishing each other’s sentences. Söderlind and Wallenstam, who were born 16 years apart, dress intuitively, gravitating towards essentials that can do it all.
“We tend to dress the same way,” Söderlind says, whether it’s for work, a family gathering, or a friend’s birthday party. “We won’t have called each other, and it’s usually not even that we’re wearing this season’s clothes. I might go back and [pull something out from] three or four years ago and [Sofia] would have done the same,” she jokes in awe. “For two Christmas dinners in a row, we’ve worn almost the same outfit!”
Even with many shared pieces in their closets, however, the way they style each item is uniquely theirs. Wallenstam teases that Söderlind is the chicer one of the two, whereas she never wants to feel too dressed up. (If you ask me, they are equally chic.) They might own the same polka dot blouse, but while Söderlind would wear it to work, Wallenstam would save it for a dinner out. Söderlind feels most confident in a blazer in the office, whereas a leather bomber jacket or cozy mohair knit defines Wallenstam’s everyday uniform—she’ll just add jewelry to make it less casual.
A sense of versatility and polish is inherent in the looks they put together—and the pieces they gravitate to are quality garments meant to last. Their mutual appreciation for craft was instilled by their grandmother, Dagmar, a tailor, who taught them the importance of looking at the details. It was their mother in turn who taught them to seek out quality over quality: “Growing up, our mother didn’t have very many clothes, so she had her curated wardrobe which she mixed and matched in a really smart way.”
It’s these values and core beliefs that not only inform how the sisters shop, but how they design and run their almost 20-year-old business, too. Building on the idea of less but better, Wallenstam tells Vogue, “We just want our woman to not have to think so much. She has a lot going on in her life, if she just feels [like] herself, but empowered in what she’s wearing, [then] she can do her job and everything else she does, well.”
The Swedish sisters keep their styling fresh through travel, reading magazines, and looking to other fields of design, like interiors, to stir the mind. And while their wardrobe is anchored by much of their own designs, investment pieces come in the form of accessories and jewelry: Chanel pumps for Söderlind, Saint Laurent loafers and a Cartier Baignoire for Wallenstam, The Row Margaux bags for both.
See how Wallenstam and Söderlind find inspiration in each other, with a full week of their looks, below.
Effortlessly Polished Separates for Everyday
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Karin: This is an everyday look for me. I’m wearing our [oversized] button-down shirt which has asymmetric buttoning, which is very big and comfortable. I have it on with a pair of black, loose-fit jeans and a pair of Chanel shoes.
Sofia: I’m wearing loafers with our classic suit trousers that we’ve had for about eight to ten years in the collection—they’re pleated and quite dressed up, so to make it feel more relaxed I [wore it with] a white tank with a leather jacket and a gold belt.
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Perfect Knits and Jeans
Sofia: I love to wear denim with a knit sweater. But to make it a bit more elevated, I usually wear a heel and some nice earrings so I don’t feel so casual. I always want to feel very relaxed. I m not known to dress up too much, but I want to look nice but in a very relaxed way.
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Power Dressing With Ease
Karin: This is another everyday office look with jeans and a blazer—it’s my take on power dressing. The blazer makes it feel more dressed up but there’s a lace top underneath which I can wear to dinner with friends—I’ll just take off the blazer to make it more casual.
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Opposites Attract
Karin: I’m wearing our polka dot blouse here with jeans. I used to not wear so much denim, but ever since we started our own denim line, I wear denim so often. We learned a lot from a former Levi’s designer on how to create the perfect fit.
Sofia: I never want to feel too dressed up, I always need to tone it down. So for example I wouldn’t wear a blouse with the suit pants. [Karin] tends to be a bit dressier than me. I feel like she could easily sit in the office wearing the dotted blouse. I wouldn’t wear this top office, but I would probably wear it when I go out at night.
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Winter Color Combos
Sofia: I love to wear white jeans in the winter. I almost love them more in the winter than in the summer, to be honest. I think it adds something to the blacks and the browns, a freshness. I’m wearing it with Khaite boots, a bag from The Row, and our long blazer coat, which I wear almost every day. It’s such a good coat. I wear it to work, for dinner, etc. It can be a dress, a coat, a blazer. I wear these shoes a lot—and the bag as well. It fits my whole life. I bring my workout clothes in there, my computer, and all the things I need for the day.
Karin: I’m wearing suit pants here in a caramel color with our short black jacket; it’s one of our most popular styles [of the season]. It turned out so well. It has a bit of rounded, moon shape [in the front]. And I love how the fitted shape is styled with bigger pants. This is also the first season for these pants, which are menswear-inspired, so they sit a bit low on the hip. You feel so cool in them [as opposed to] when they are high up on the waist.
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Keeping it in the (Handbag) Family
Karin: We like the same type of bags, so we have a The Row Margaux each, but [Sofia] has a size bigger in the brown suede and I have the black leather. It’s kind of funny. I’m wearing the shearling jacket here, which is new for the season. I like short and long jackets equally, but sometimes it’s nice to have that [proportion] of a shorter jacket with bigger pants.
Sofia: I love tonal dressing, whether it’s grey on grey or beiges and whites—I [like to play] with similar shade ranges.
