When Paolina met Russo and Lucile Guilmard through an arrangement of the studio share, neither could have expected that their central Saint Martins training and internships at Marc Jacobs (for Lucile) and Margiela (for Paolina) would quickly merge into one of the most intriguing young labels of London. After the launch in 2021, the duo landed not one but three high-profile display cases only two years later: as semi-finalists for the LVMH prize, as finalists for the Woolmark Prize, and a place on the mentoring program of 1 Granary.
“We are very solutions -oriented women,” Russo offered Zoom, fresh from the launch on Dover Street Market in London and an Asian tour with complex consumption in Hong Kong and a detour via Seoul.
The duo described their autumn feature-under the title The Ballad of Ramona Boulevard-as Fragments from a modern in the suburbs Fabel, populated by warrior princesses wrapped in a vortex of protective purple, led by a tamagotchi-reversed compass in gold and crystals. A mashup of medieval references, corsetics codes and “2010s Tumblr aesthetics”, the collection spoke to a need for a certain type of armor as a girl in a small town (as they describe themselves) her way through what feels like the end of the world.
Knitwear is the technical stronghold of the brand, and several of the best pieces of the season have reviewed traditional techniques, for example a cable-wide undermined in a suitable corset form that is cut high on the sides, or distinctive lenticular prints on illusie-brees that bridge manual production processes. Furthermore, gold foil are blunted substances and denims, including a cheeky pleated mini skirt or flodige jeans, referred heraldry, while lightweight illusion tulle prints and denims populary with K pop stars and fans-the duos scribbled hearts and stars.
Russo and Guilmard are dedicated to collaborations in everything they do, from the hand-spread, laser-Ete jeans produced with a manufacturer in Portugal-intensive technology that uses circular water systems to reduce those softwar prints to reduce those softwar prints. Even their digital extensions lean on traditional integrity; When making virtual doppel goers for Roblox, the designers discovered that the extensive crafts that IRL needed to be transmitted to the digital empire.
“We love that pendulum,” said Russo, referring to the parallel between physical and virtual creative worlds. “We want to inspire people to make contact with the process behind the design.” Based on the momentum of the brand, they and Guilmard seem to have found their path.