On a trip to Japan ten years ago, Pauline Dujancourt was fascinated by seeing people linking votive wishes and prayers outside temples, in the ema tradition. “I didn’t want to be disrespectful, but I wrote my own lyrics in my notebook and kept them,” she said. It said, “I want to be a fashion designer.”
She has made that wish come true by sublimating her affinity for knitting and crocheting into her own poetic art form.
Her first live presentation at London Dashion Week was a conceptual celebration of the moment that paved the way that has so far made her an LVMH Prize finalist and won her orders from a range of boutiques and luxury stores.
A group of models wearing her delicate collection of dresses, cardigans and skirts moved back and forth, engaged in a ritual of tying small strips of text to a large knitted net. It was a clever, close-up way to convey the sensual appeal of her signatures: cream and soft lichen green constructions of baby-fine yarns, draped fabric ruffles, organza ribbons and small rouleaux tie closures.
Dujancourt, who is French, put forward this fully developed proposal after graduating from the École Duperré School of Applied Arts in Paris. She first crossed the channel to work as a knitwear designer for Simone Rocha and Rejina Pyo, and then decided to do her MA at Central Saint Martins. Now she is a full-fledged member of London’s creative class of female designers, each with her own take on female self-expression and values. Dujancourt’s care extends to working with a collective of female hand knitters and crochet specialists in Lima, Peru, as well as artisans in France and the United Kingdom. Which makes her soft aesthetic even more beautiful to see.