Sofia Häggström

For my FMP I have created a brand called ‘Drømmedame’. The brand translates into ‘dream woman’, and is aimed as a celebration of girls who feel good about their own bodies and turn down the superficial. The concept is ment as an inspiration and a role model for girls to feel comfortable within their own skin and to celebrate the real beauty in life.

After being surrounded of conversations about being skinny, who looks good on Instagram and what makeup to wear, I decided to create a concept that speaks to girls about natural beauty. For some reason, it seems like natural beauty has been completely forgotten about, or at least it has got completely uncool. Under the name ‘Drømmedame’ which in Norwegian describes a woman who is confident, has fun and embraces natural beauty, the concept aims to encourage girls to celebrate their own bodies and to feel confident and happy with who they are. The concept is 100% un-excluding and aims to reach all girls in all ages and shapes.

There is no secret that feminism is a huge relevant topic these days. The last 5 years the battle for women rights has exploded around the world. With protests like free the nipple and slutwalk, being a feminist has not only been hugely supported but also encouraged amounts young women. Although feminism is a incredibly big topic, and it will most likely take up to a few generations to get complete equality in the world, the steps that has been taken toward gender equality has been massive the last years. Although my film does touch upon a lot of feminist motivations, the project is not specifically a feminist concept. The concept is more meant as a wake up call for girls to be happy with themselves and to make them understand that them being a “Drømmedame” is not something that is decided by others, but something you make yourself be. The concept is therefore more about removing uniform beauty standards.

My research has mostly been focused on girls around my own age. I have read articles about feminism and body positivity, watched a whole season of ‘GurlsTalk’, Watched episode of the series ‘Girls” By Lena Dunham, and also looked up different women positive instagram profiles and magazines. The instagram profile @EffYoutBeautystandars has been a massive motivation and inspiration for this project. The owner of the profile Tess Holiday became the first woman over a size 20 to be signed to a major modelling agency. With her Instagram profile she has motivated hundreds of thousands of girls to appreciate their own bodies and she is encouraging girls to believe in themselves and to be body positive. Paula Rego has also been a big inspiration for me when I came up with the concept. She is an incredibly inspiring woman who is so dedicated and puts all off her feelings and emotions into her work. She has complete confidence in her own body and herself, which you can clearly see through her paintings.

When it comes to the quality of the film and the taking of photography, I have been very inspired by the amazing Julian Klincewicz who is basically known for doing just about everything including fashion design, skateboard pro, photographer and film maker. His style of filming is incredibly inspiring to me. He films all his film on VHS and produces a sort of ‘dreamy’ look. This is something I have been trying to achieve in my project (at some points more successfully than others)…

I have also got inspiration from the film American Beauty by Sam Mendes, which has the same kind of dreamy/ longing vibe. There is a scene when the neighbour boy (Wes Bentley)  is filming the daughter (Thora Birch) through his window, and zooming in to her to admire her beauty, which has really made an impression on me, and has also hugely inspired the film for ‘Drømmedame’.

The film is mainly focusing on girls, and has a most likely target audience of the age group 15- 30. The concept is meant to be non- exclusive and to encourage all girls and women at all ages. But as the girls who are pictured in the film and magazine are all under 30, it might be far fetched to aim for an audience older than 40.

For the hand in I have made T-shirt design, a magazine which also works as posters which comes in a plastic pocket and three 25 seconds films. The outcome evolves around the T-shirt which is the leading object of the project. The T-shirt is a ‘statement’ from the person that wears it that she/ or he, is body positive and encourages natural beauty. The magazine works as a cookbook for the t-shirt, and the films as a introduction to the ‘Drømmedame’ universe.

Durning this project I have been incredibly lucky to get unlimited guidance and assistance from Matthew Dixon. He has been such a true support and has helped me push this project over the finish line. As My internship took up about 2 and a half weeks of the FMP time, I have been really relying on good help and Matt has given me more than I could ask for.

I have decided to change my Quantified self. I wanted to get a picture that expressed me more than the previous one, which was just a photo of plants put up nicely in a corner in my room.  The new picture is posted above. It represents me a lot more than the previous one for many reasons. Firstly because the shape of a woman on the front is hand made with acrylic paint. The movement of the pencil is meant to symbolise liquidity and movement. I love to be active, and I am also extremely restless, so the hard strokes of the brush symbolises something floating, never still. The colours comes from my very emotional and romantic side. I wear my heart on my sleeve, which creates a lot of passion to what I do. If it is being with friends, designing or doing sports I am always very passionate. The rose symbolises femininity and beauty. Not beauty in superficial things, but that I appreciate beauty in small details. The black in the background talks about anxiety and about being afraid of not succeeding, being scared of the path in front of me, and scared of loosing things to the darkness.

My concept evolves around the dream woman. It’s a celebration of femininity and feminine sexuality but not in a physical way.

FIRST DAY OF FILMING!!!  Sigrid was amazing today, I am so excited!! I was very worried that because of the change of camera, the film would be massively affected.. But after today I am so inspired! Sigrid is a beautiful dancer, and she really is a “Drømmedame”.