Meet Julie Kegels, the Emerging Designer Making Waves at PFW
“My goal is to create a recognizable design language where the silhouette and construction speak for themselves.”
There’s no stage quite like Paris. As the longest and most demanding stop on fashion month’s global circuit, Paris Fashion Week remains the ultimate proving ground where heritage houses dominate the calendar. For emerging designers, the French capital can feel unforgiving, so many opt for London, a city celebrated for nurturing new talent, rather than risk being eclipsed by the industry’s biggest names. But Julie Kegels isn’t one to shy away from the spotlight.
A graduate of Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the Belgian designer launched her eponymous label in 2024 and made her Paris Fashion Week debut with the FW24 season. In a short time, Kegels has carved out a distinct voice among fashion’s new guard, challenging traditional notions of contemporary luxury through a nuanced exploration of female archetypes. Her collections balance elegance with play, inviting wearers to embrace contradictions like structure and spontaneity, without collapsing into a single identity.
For Fall/Winter 2026, Kegels turned her focus to the rapid transformations women navigate each day, examining the shifting roles we occupy. When private and public lives continually overlap, the designer explores how to hide from it all. We caught up with Kegels to discuss her creative process, the importance of memories and the evolving language of modern femininity. Read on for the full interview.
Can you tell us a bit about your brand and how you got into designing?
What began as curiosity evolved into a deeper conceptual exploration. My brand today sits at the intersection of elegance and vulnerability. I’m drawn to the tension between structure and fragility: between control and chaos, and I try to express that duality through construction and storytelling.
How would you describe your latest collection?
The latest collection revolves around the idea of “quick change,” the rapid transformations women go through in a single day. It explores how identity shifts between roles: professional, intimate, public, private.
You only launched in 2024. How did you go from creating your first collection to showing at Paris Fashion Week?
Honestly, I didn’t overthink it. It happened organically but intensely. I worked hard and saw how it could bring me further.
What can you tell us about the design process? How does a collection go from inception to release?
It always starts with a question or conversation. I usually begin with personal or emotional research and then turn those ideas into cutting and small construction tests or manipulations. I work very hands-on, and a lot of things come through experimenting. Once the shapes are clear, we refine the proportions, choose the right fabrics and perfect the finishing touches. In the end, it’s about the full story: the casting, styling, music and how the clothes move. The show itself, especially with live transformations, becomes part of the design.
Your website states that you draw from personal memories. Can you share some memories that have inspired you?
I’m drawn to small, intimate moments of transition when someone is changing, adjusting or stepping into a new role. It’s not only about women, but about human transformation in general. I also reflect on garments that marked important emotions like independence, strength or vulnerability. Those personal memories quietly shape the silhouettes, cuts and details in my work.
Do you have a favorite piece you’ve designed? Why?
All the pieces give me a strange heart attack.
What can we expect from your brand in the future? What are you working towards?
I want to further develop the conceptual identity of the brand while refining craftsmanship. My goal is to create a recognizable design language where the silhouette and construction speak for themselves. Every collection has a different story but the same voice.
