Grace Kelly’s granddaughter Pauline Ducruet on Alter Designs, her gender-neutral fashion brand

Ducruet’s mother is Princess Stéphanie of Monaco, her uncle is the reigning monarch, Prince Albert II of Monaco, and she is 16th in line to the throne

Despite her family background, the fashion designer says she self-funded her brand, which is gender-neutral because she wanted her clothes to be for everyone

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 3:45am, 21 Nov 2020Updated: 6:28am, 21 Nov 2020

Pauline Ducruet, 26, isn’t so different from most young entrepreneurs these days.

After university, she bounced around a bunch of jobs after a series of internships and got to the point where she was ready to launch her own business, and she spent two years getting it on its feet. Then she was met with the sudden, forceful winds of the pandemic.

Most entrepreneurs don’t have quite her family background, though. Born and raised in Monaco, Ducruet is a granddaughter of Grace Kelly through her mother, Princess Stéphanie of Monaco. A member of the Monegasque royal family, her uncle is reigning monarch Prince Albert II of Monaco, and she is 16th in line to the throne.

Ducruet’s business, founded in 2019, is Alter Designs, a gender-neutral fashion brand she says she self-funded. She’s obviously grateful to have her family background, but she also said it’s added to the pressure of running her own business. “My work has to be irreproachable,” she said.

Pauline Ducruet (centre) during the Alter Designs show at Paris Fashion Week in February, 2020. Ducruet is a granddaughter of Grace Kelly. Photo: Getty Images

The brand is gender-neutral because she wanted her clothes to be for everyone. Personally, she said she loves unisex clothing and likes to wear men’s and women’s clothes equally. It also embraced sustainability well before the pandemic challenged most fashion lines’ bottom line.

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