There is a certain poetry that lies in contradiction. To find beauty in chaos, strength in vulnerability—it is these paradoxes, and the ways they emerge in femininity, that inspires Pauline Dujancourt to create. It’s also what drives the London-based French designer’s experimentation with knits to create the light and sensual hybrid knitwear pieces she is known for today.
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Since launching her namesake label in 2022, Dujancourt has carved out her own space in the London fashion scene with her delicate woven designs. Birds are a frequent muse of hers: The designer sees parallels between the instinct, care and repetition needed in nest-building, and her own process of deconstructing knits, layering fragments, weaving and assembling delicate materials—resulting in garments that she calls “fragile, handmade, emotional but also a symbol of strength.”
Dujancourt’s connection to knit stems from childhood memories of clothes her grandmother—who inspired her fall/winter 2025 collection—conjured from fabric scraps. But it was not until she moved to London to study at Central Saint Martins that it became central to her designs. There, her love for knits blossomed, born out of a hope to challenge perceptions of knitwear being heavy or outdated, and the desire to create her own material from scratch, like a sculptor making their own clay before shaping it.
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Backed by an all-female team of artisans in Peru, building something “rooted in collaboration with other women” is especially important to her. “My designs are a call to reconnect with handcrafted clothes, and to sit with mothers, sisters, grandmothers, friends, and learn from them,” she says. Women, whether fictional or from her own life, are often central to her creations, and Dujancourt names singer Billie Eilish as someone who both inspires and mirrors her garments. “Sensitive yet assertive, delicate yet defiant,” she says. “[Eilish] represents the kind of femininity I’m drawn to, layered, evolving, never just one thing.”
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Casting her sights on the future, Dujancourt hopes to bring her design philosophy to life in bags and accessories. She is also especially passionate about creating her own perfume someday, believing fragrances to be “one of the purest forms of storytelling”.
For now though, her focus is on her upcoming spring/summer 2026 collection at London Fashion Week this September. In it, Dujancourt looks to one of her favourite female characters in modern theatre, though she remains tight-lipped on who that muse is specifically. “[She is] a figure through whom I explore themes such as impostor syndrome, vulnerability, emancipation, passion, grief and ambition,” she teases.
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