Wayfound: Paolina Russo’s Uniform For Firsts Takes Copenhagen
PAGE
By PAGE Editor
At Copenhagen Fashion Week, where sustainability is less a trend and more a governing principle, Paolina Russo staged one of its most intimate—and emotionally resonant—presentations to date. For Autumn/Winter 2026, the London-based label unveiled “Wayfound” inside the storied halls of the French Embassy to Denmark, housed within the 17th-century Thott Palace, transforming a symbol of Danish–French diplomacy into a living diary of girlhood discovery.
The salon-style runway felt less like a conventional show and more like stepping into a memory mid-formation. Baroque interiors and gilded moldings framed a cast of heroines dressed not for conformity, but for communion—uniforms for outsiders bonded by shared firsts.
“Our heroine sat on the stone steps of a museum in cold sunshine, suddenly understanding the rich possibilities in everything,” said co-creative directors Paolina Russo and Lucile Guilmard in a joint statement. “All things found and gathered during this time became artefacts: pockets were full of bus tickets, printed napkins, keyrings and foreign coins. It was a time when every moment felt rich with mystery, potential, magic. Her world was one of boundless imagination, with a uniform designed less for fitting in, and more to define a group of outsiders.”
That tension—between structure and sentiment—anchored the collection. Scholastic silhouettes appeared reimagined with tribal energy: corduroy peacoats softened by hand-drawn hearts, dark-wash denim etched with rainbow crayon markings, and pixelated florals rippling across the brand’s signature lenticular knits. Knitwear, long the house’s emotional language, evolved into protective armor—cropped leggings, polo knits, elongated skirts—each engineered to move dynamically with the body.
Oklou, singer
“The collection is a story of a school trip on the bus,” Guilmard explained backstage. “It’s girlhood connection, the bond. You’re going to the museum for the first time. It’s discovery.”
Russo expanded on that emotional architecture: “Everyone remembers the first time they left home. For us, the Paolina Russo woman is always on a journey—she’s on a pilgrimage through girlhood and through her life. This time she’s stepping out into the world for the first time. It’s about that feeling of firsts. You’re in a new city, and everything you see on the ground becomes an artifact—even something mundane like a coin or a bus ticket. It becomes a relic that represents your new life and what it’s going to be. We were trying to capture that hopefulness.”
Hope, here, is tactile. Through a collaboration with Franco-Peruvian studio Maison Anaychay, the brand deepened its commitment to regenerative craft, spotlighting local Peruvian fibers and artisanal knit techniques. Rainbow wool thermals, intricate bodysuits, and varsity cardigans embroidered with school emblems offered modular layering—each look a Choose Your Own Adventure narrative assembled by the wearer.
Technology, too, entered the uniform. In partnership with Avery Dennison, Paolina Russo introduced varsity badges and enamel pins inspired by suburban school life. One academy patch embedded with NFC technology functions as a digital portal, linking wearers directly to the evolving Paolina Russo universe—craft meeting code, nostalgia meeting next-gen storytelling.
On foot, the cast previewed two collaborative silhouettes with Nike and NAKED Copenhagen: the unreleased Shox Z and the Shox Calistra x NAKED Copenhagen. Both reinterpreted early-2000s sport codes through a distinctly Scandinavian lens—wet-grey pavements translated into sculptural tooling and bouncy Shox columns that felt both archival and urgent.
A live piano performance by French musician Oklou threaded through the palace’s 18th-century interiors, heightening the emotional cadence. Her stripped-back renditions from choke enough dissolved the line between runway and reverie, amplifying the collection’s undercurrent of vulnerability.
For Russo—Canadian, Filipino, Sicilian, London-based—and Guilmard—French, equally rooted in London—Copenhagen has become something of a creative homecoming. “It’s our third time coming here, and it really feels like home,” Guilmard shared. “Copenhagen Fashion Week is such an exciting space to experiment. There’s a real desire to push boundaries.”
Russo echoed the sentiment: “Copenhagen Fashion Week sets such a great standard for sustainability and responsibility. For a brand like ours, it’s inspiring. They’ve welcomed us since the beginning with open arms to express ourselves and show our story. It’s a small community—you really get to connect. Every time we come, it feels like going back home.”
That sense of belonging—hard-won, intentionally constructed—remains the brand’s north star. Founded in 2021, Paolina Russo has quickly evolved from a knitwear-forward upstart into a cultural touchpoint, earning recognition from the LVMH Prize to Forbes 30 Under 30. Yet at its core, the label remains preoccupied with something more intimate: how clothing can archive memory.
Inside Thott Palace, beneath chandeliers that have witnessed centuries of diplomacy, Paolina Russo offered a different kind of treaty—one signed not between nations, but between past and future selves. “Wayfound” suggests that discovery is not about losing one’s way. It is about finding it, together.
See full runway:
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT FASHION?
COMMENT OR TAKE OUR PAGE READER SURVEY
Featured
At Copenhagen Fashion Week, Paolina Russo’s Autumn/Winter 2026 collection “Wayfound” transformed the historic Thott Palace into an intimate meditation on girlhood, discovery, and belonging—blending craft, technology, and sport into a uniform for life’s defining firsts.