It's A Woman's World

Photo by Magnus Skoglöf

It's the kind of scene every young fashionista dreams of—racks of breathtaking dresses, their hems brushing against an army of tottering heels and lean, luxurious boots. The fashion editor has just returned from Milan Fashion Week, and the office is abuzz with preparations for Sweden's most prestigious design award, Guldknappen. Damernas Värld, Sweden's largest fashion magazine, is almost 70 years old—proof that you don't need to be young to look good.

"Damernas Värld is a magazine for the modern woman who wants to be updated in fashion, beauty, interior and culture," says editor-in-chief Mona Johansson. "The magazine is an inspiring and luxurious little ‘silver lining' in women's busy lives, that they can enjoy when they have time to themselves."

We know fashion, so who could do this better than us?
—Mona Johansson

The average reader is an educated woman with a good income, between 25 and 45 years of age. And she's a woman who likes to read, not just flip through, her magazines.

"Damernas Värld is meant to be read," stresses Mona. "The reporting is important to making the magazine feel current and fresh, and the people we interview must be culturally relevant in one way or another."

After some years as editor-in-chief, Mona—who does not have a fashion background—astonished critics by creating a high art spinoff for haute couture junkies. In autumn of 2004, she published the first issue of DV Mode, a groundbreaking magazine which gave stylists more artistic freedom with the most beautiful clothes. Models and photographers who had previously been unattainable made themselves available for DV Mode. This innovative strategy attracted a host of prestigious brands as advertisers, facilitating relationships with big foreign fashion houses and granting Mona's team entrée to the most rarefied style circles.

Mona's next venture, DV Man, was a second success. Their mission—to be a men's fashion magazine without the scantily-clad women, fast cars and other cliché fluff traditionally associated with the genre.

"I felt the time was ripe for a clean fashion magazine for men," says Mona. "And we know fashion, so who could do this better than us?"

DV Man is now published in English as well as Swedish and distributed in 74 countries—proof that Johansson's concept was right on the money, and that Swedish taste translates around the world.

So what's next? DV Girl?

"No, quite the opposite," says Johansson. "I would like to make a really fine magazine for mature women, with a high degree of fashion. That's my dream."