A PASSION THING • A portrait of Pauline Dujancourt, fashion designer

Inspired by the lightness and freedom of the birds that inhabit her imagination, Pauline Dujancourt elevates knitwear to the status of a manifesto. Trained at the École Duperré and later at Central Saint Martins, the Paris-born designer honed her vision in the studios of Simone Rocha, Rejina Pyo and Alexander Wang, before founding her own label in 2022.

She soon chose to develop her own materials and turned to knitwear. Far from the outdated clichés often associated with the craft, she has shaped a tactile language of contrasts and softness: alpaca wool paired with tulle smocks and flounces, tapered finishes alongside fine metal crochet edging, delicately set like jewellery. Her creations — which she describes as ‘jewel knits’ — embody a romantic, sensitive elegance that feels thoroughly contemporary.

Working outside conventional production circuits, she has built a human-scale, ethical and collaborative model grounded in a network of craftswomen between Europe and Peru — giving rise to unique pieces informed by time-honoured techniques, subtly reimagined.

A finalist for the 2024 LVMH Prize, a jury member for the Loro Piana Knits Awards, a designer-in-residence at the Paul Smith Foundation, and a NEWGEN recipient from the British Fashion Council, Pauline Dujancourt puts forward a free, committed and deeply sensorial vision of clothing — one she unveils each season at London Fashion Week.

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An article currently on newsstands, available at Monocle Café, Drugstore Publicis and Smith&Son in Paris.

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Magazine: A Passion Thing – No. 12 – Spring 2025

Photo © Robin Kater

Original version: English

Original title: Close Knit Couture