10 Questions with Pauline Dujancourt

For Pauline Dujancourt, knitwear extends far beyond its gentle reputation. With fraught laundry instructions and sometimes frumpy sensibilities, jumpers, thick scarves, and bobble hats often come to mind, and yet, for the French-born designer who forms part of the impressive fleet of LVMH Prize finalists for 2024, knitwear’s misjudged charm resides in its fragility. For her AW24 collection, ‘Winne Cannot Fly’ Dujancourt reflected on the beauty to be found within frailty, and references her beloved pet bird, Winnie’s inability to fly. A strong sense of femininity is rooted within Pauline’s aesthetic. While knitting may have been laughed off as a dowdy, domestic chore reserved for housewives and OAPs back in the day, Pauline holds this sentimental act of craft right at the heart of her practice. Her signature floaty organza strips woven in with knots and intricate cutouts, laced with a major contemporary Victoriana aesthetic, Pauline proves that despite the warming qualities, knitwear has found its cool. After showing her SS25 at London fashion week, ‘Messages to the Sky’ proves Pauline Dujancourt taking flight.

Why do you do what you do? What keeps you motivated to keep creating fashion collections?

My brand revolves around hand-knitting and crochet, focusing on creating hybrid pieces that merge knitwear and woven altogether. Supporting ethical production processes, the collections are inspired by ancestral domestic ways of making and aim to pay tribute to women around the world hand-knitting for their loved ones. Whilst perpetuating traditional craft, I strive to move away from knitwear archetypes. By deconstructing the knits while twisting and revealing the silhouettes, I strive to express my own sense of beauty and sensitive vision of femininity, suggesting a new interpretation of “tricot”.

My goal is to bring movement and lightness into knitwear with special stitches that I develop, materials that I deconstruct and the yarns and fabrics that I source for that. The samples are hand-knitted in England and France by retired and disabled women, while the production is knitted in Peru by a collective of female artisans. These women rely on their skills to make a living while working from home and caring for their household. Ultimately, what keeps me going is the belief that fashion can be both innovative and rooted in tradition, offering beauty while supporting and empowering women around the world.

How do you keep healthy and energised in the runup to showing your new SS25 collection?

Do I...? Haha. I usually do hot yoga weekly, but as the show approaches, it's hard to find time for classes. So instead, I try to walk or cycle to the studio. My lovebird and two budgies also play a big role in keeping me mentally balanced—they’re my emotional support animals, my little feathered friends.

Over the past few challenging years - with Brexit, post-Covid, with the retail landscape a bit of a mess - how have you thought about what you make and how to make it connect with your customer?

Covid was a key reason I reconnected with my hand knitting practice and love for stitch development. At home during lockdown, I entered a deep focus mode, knitting daily for hours on end. I noticed that many people were turning back to crafts such as knitting, baking, gardening, or playing an instrument, essentially doing things with their hands. I hope that when customers discover my brand, they feel this same excitement for handmade items and a return to ancestral ways of making. By learning about our production processes and values, I hope they can appreciate how special and intricate the pieces truly are and how they could last over multiple generations.

Are you Tik Tok or Instagram? And why?

I'm on both, but I barely use TikTok. I prefer Instagram because I've been using it for years to curate my work and now my brand. It's a platform I'm very familiar with. I don't use TikTok much because Instagram already takes up a lot of my time and energy. The only reason I got TikTok in the first place was to watch cute parrot videos...

Give us a link to a site you make sure to check out everyday that isn't the news!

I wish I could share something more glamorous, but honestly, it's the DHL Express and FedEx tracking websites. At this point, I’ve memorised their phone-hold music from all the time spent waiting on customer service.

 If you had to recommend one product from your newest AW24 collection to buy, which would it be and why?

I’d recommend the ‘Winnie Dress.’, the piece named after my baby bird, Winnie—who, as the collection’s title suggests, sadly can’t fly—so it’s quite an emotional piece for me. I like this dress a lot because it blends several techniques and features central to our brand: knitting, crochet, tulle ribbons, and a draped, lightweight woven base.

Have you found a technique, or a supplier, or a contributing craftsperson that has excited you to incorporate into your new SS25 collection?

Crochet technique is at the heart of the brand, driven by the idea of celebrating hand knitting and crochet while bringing them into a contemporary aesthetic, working closely with our team of hand knitters.

For this collection, I also decided to use my old smocking machine that my mother gave to me when I was about to start my fashion studies. I've always kept it close, even bringing it with me to London, as I find this object so beautiful and intriguing. As we started playing with drawstrings and gatherings at the start of the design process, I thought it would be fitting to dust off the machine and put it to work again! And so, here we are, creating metres (or perhaps kilometres) of smocks.

Why does fashion month and your show or presentation still give you an adrenaline and a creative rush?

This is my first show under my own name, so the adrenaline and creative energy are definitely running high! It’s a mix of challenges, stress, and exhaustion, but I love the teamwork and the thrill of seeing everything come together. There’s nothing quite like the moment when the last stitch is sewn, and the entire vision comes to life. 

How will you celebrate when the show / presentation / showroom is over?

If I'm still standing after the show, I'll definitely be celebrating with drinks and food with the amazing people who made it all happen. After that, I can't wait to see my loved ones and recharge in Paris, especially after our showroom there. I’ve also promised myself a “me day” in London— a morning coffee sitting next to the birdies, hot yoga, an exhibition, a park stroll—just to peacefully reconnect with myself.

What's the one product that is NOT your own, that you can't live without, or has stayed in your wardrobe for constant use, and why?

Surprisingly, my favourite piece isn’t really my style although it looks very cool! It’s a moiré nylon running parka I got from my dad. He wore it while running the NYC marathon when my mum was pregnant with me, then saved it for me. I know it’s something I’ll keep forever.