The £179 charcoal ‘Forever’ coat sits in your basket and stares at you. The infamous words ‘we’re in a cost-of-living crisis’ echo through your mind, and you ask yourself: is Djerf Avenue overhyped or worth the price?
For the rare few who have yet to be converted into the ‘Djerf Angels’ cult, Djerf Avenue is an eponymous clothing label founded in 2019 by Instagram influencer and ultimate ‘It girl’, Matilda Djerf. Since its conception, the brand’s hype has yet to die down. Just last month, the brand opened a range of pop-up stores across several major cities—New York, Los Angeles, and Stockholm, with queues reportedly snaking around the block. As for its founder, Matilda herself recently graced the digital cover of Vogue Scandinavia under the title of the ‘Brigitte Bardot of the Nordics’. Clearly, the brand specialising in versatile and chic ‘basics’ is not going anywhere anytime soon.
To be a ‘Djerf Angel’ means to move from the office, to drinks with the girls, to a lazy Sunday brunch, all while wearing the same outfit. The brand offers a range of products but is truly known for its staple clothing pieces—think blazers, tanks, and straight-leg jeans. Despite being aimed at the teen/student/early twenties demographic, the brand is far from affordable. For context, its ‘Blue Breezy’ shirt is priced at £99 whilst a similar cotton shirt from Uniqlo retails at £34.10, and an identical product can be found at H&M for just £18.99.
One may justify the hefty price tag by telling themselves “it’s an investment piece!” but that is a rather dubious claim. Its products consist of cheap, synthetic fabrics, namely polyester, and are labelled as ‘dry clean only’. Djerf Avenue is part of a rising subsection of fashion brands such as Aritzia, Reformation, and The Frankie Shop, which make up for quality with the promise of an aspirational lifestyle. Djerf Avenue and Matilda herself are so deeply intertwined that to buy from Djerf Avenue really means to buy into the ‘Matilda Djerf lifestyle’. Some Djerf Avenue customers may be misled to believe that to buy the £39 ‘Everyday’ tank means to also buy the fluffy hair, fluffy dog, and summer house on the Swedish West Coast. Djerf Avenue’s price tag derives not from its use of high-quality fabrics but from its promise of the ‘clean girl’, ‘Scandi’, and ‘old money’ lifestyle (whatever that means).
Djerf Avenue can hardly be described as affordable, accessible, or even worth the price. However, its enduring hype is perhaps somewhat deserved. For one, the brand’s commitment to sustainable labour practices and use of recycled materials should be applauded, whilst its brand ethos is worthy of praise. The well-deserved hype of Djerf Avenue lies less in its product and more in the message it promotes. The brand describes itself as ‘timeless’ and ‘non-seasonal’, terms that the fashion industry desperately needs to hear right now. In a time of mass consumption and overspilling landfills, Djerf Avenue and its promotion of a ‘time capsule’ wardrobe Is refreshing. There is no denying that the fashion industry stands to be one of the biggest polluting forces on the planet. What was once understood as the dual fashion cycle (summer/winter) has grown in 2023 to become the 52 microtrend cycle.
Djerf Avenue is a loud and important voice in a wider conversation about the direction the fashion industry must move in to address these ecological concerns. The brand’s successful efforts to reframe ‘basics’ into something appealing, specifically to an audience that is most susceptible to trend cycles and overconsumption should be lauded and replicated.
Despite its shortcomings and inflated price tag, Djerf Avenue as a brand represents a step forward in the fashion world. It should be noted that the brand has made some efforts to address its unaffordability by the introduction of ‘Djerf Avenue Re-Sell’, an online second-hand marketplace that encourages its customers to buy and resell its products at a discounted price. If you are a student with 70p to your name, don’t despair. The stripped-back silhouettes of Djerf Avenue can be easily replicated by thrifting or digging through your mum’s wardrobe.
You might have to move the ‘Forever’ coat back to your Wishlist, but your dreams of becoming a ‘Scandi It girl’ are far from over.