Hong Kong's Robert Wun: the bold Millennial conquering Haute Couture
loading...
Hong Kong-born designer Robert Wun has not had a holiday in years, but he's not complaining. In 2021, he was working from his kitchen -- now he dresses some of the world's best-known entertainers.
In just five years, the 34-year-old has rocketed from unknown to one of the most sought-after names in the fashion world, designing for everyone from Lady Gaga, Beyonce to rapper Cardi B.
"I have some days off, sometimes," he told AFP with a smile, while admitting to being "quite exhausted mentally and physically because I haven't had a break for two and a half years."
"It's something I always wanted, so that's why I seldom complain about it." Working with his team and models again ahead of his latest Haute Couture show in Paris on Wednesday, Wun is living a dream that was far-fetched for someone from his background.
His mother worked in insurance and his father in electric cabling, while the conservative Hong Kong boys' school he attended was a hostile place for a flamboyantly-dressed creative teenager.
"That's where my stubbornness came in, because I was getting bullied a lot. I managed to still stick with what I truly want to do, or how I want to do things, or how I want to express myself," he explained.
He found his calling -- and other kindred spirits -- studying at the London College of Fashion, going on to make the British capital his permanent home.
He now lives in creative hub Hackney in east London, with his 12-person studio in Dalston producing two or three make-to-measure outfits a month for red carpet events, galas or weddings.
He was possibly the busiest couturier at this year's Met Gala in New York, dressing eight people.
They included K-pop star Lisa, couture collector Jordan Roth and Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka, for whom Wun designed a show-stopping outfit at the Australian Open in January.
"My father is a big tennis fan. He tried to train me and my sister. We obviously failed, so nothing gives him more pleasure than we are able to dress Naomi," Wun said.
Horror influences
Fascinated by the natural world and heavily influenced by film, Wun produces bold work that is both futuristic and sculptural.
It can often feel dark and claustrophobic too, incorporating influences from horror movies, leading some to see him as the fashion world's Millennial interpretor of the anxiety-filled 2020s.
After a break-out collection in 2021 that caught the eye of Vogue and other fashion publications, Wun made his debut on the Haute Couture calendar in Paris in 2023 as a guest.
In a daring move for someone making history as the first Hong Kong designer on the fashion world's most elite stage, he sent out models in outfits with stains and obvious defects.
For Autumn-Winter 2025, he included what looked like blood-stained handprints, while he also likes to incorporate disembodied hands or limbs.
What you will not find is an obvious Chinese or Hong Kong aesthetic.
"It's a beautiful thing to be able to reference your culture and put it into your work. There's so many creators out there doing a marvelous job at that," Wun explained.
He aims for something more universal, boundary-defying, or as he puts it "the power of taking a back seat sometimes to let your work speak for itself, not yourself being the centre (of attention).
"It's less about, like 'oh my god, I was inspired by this Chinese painting'."
Latest show
His Autumn-Winter collection on Wednesday was named "Child's Play" and drew inspiration from Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki whose films "Castle in the Sky" or "Spirited Away" are beloved by kids and adults alike.
It is a slight departure from Wun's previous work.
"It was never really my intention to do something that perhaps people see as very serious, or as a reflection upon the times, when things are difficult and dark," he said.
"I really used childhood as the anchor ... I'm not using the lens of a child to create this collection. It's more from the point of an adult that has lost childhood, and what are we supposed to do now, looking back."