The Tamesis
At the 20th Copenhagen Fashion Week, designers Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard of the London brand Paolina Russo returned to the city where they debuted two years ago. In their own words, they felt that the brand was more “mature”.
“The last time we were here, the brand was really new and we hadn’t even set up direct-to-consumer stores yet. [channel] However. Since then, we started DTC [e-commerce business]“Our community on Instagram continues to grow, and more and more people are wearing the brand,” Russo says from the brand’s pop-up studio in Copenhagen, where her London hand-knitting team is putting the finishing touches on pieces. Paolina Russo is one day away from her Fall/Winter 2026 show. “We’ve learned a lot in the past two years.”
The most important learning, Russo and Guilmard say, is how to grow a viable business through creativity, recognizing that much depends on growing consumer awareness of a brand in its infancy. Now, with its FW26 collection, the pair are doubling down on their efforts to expand the DTC audience, incorporating technology into clothing through NFC (near field communications) chips embroidered on knitwear and developed in partnership with US tech manufacturer Avery Dennison.
The chips are woven into what the duo calls “community badges,” similar to the Girl Scout-style badges that serve as a theme throughout the Paolina Russo collection—an effort to connect the physical and digital worlds. The pair explain that when scanned with a mobile phone, the chip guides users through an interactive portal that they can click to log directly into the Paolina Russo e-commerce site and browse the product collection, so that each garment becomes a “living portal” to promote sales.
Photo: Ted Mendez
Canadian-born Russo founded the brand in London in 2020 after graduating from Central Saint Martins, and her French co-founder Lucile Guilmard, also a Central Saint Martins graduate, joined the brand in 2022. In June 2023, the duo won the inaugural Zalando Visionary Award, which recognized their sustainable, local craftsmanship and materials. As part of the award, the brand received a cash prize of €50,000, as well as full funding and production for its first show to be held two months later during CPHFW SS24.
Zalando funding helped them invest in chip technology. “This is a really cool way for us to incorporate technology into elements of ancient craftsmanship, a fusion we’ve always been interested in, while connecting more people to Paulina Russo’s universe, whether they’re a part of it or new to it,” Russo said.
