Fashion darling Robert Wun has finally made his haute couture debut! At the recently concluded spring/summer 2023 shows in Paris, the Hong Kong-born, London-based designer closed out fashion’s most exclusive fashion spectacle with a collection that was inspired by the idea of fear.
Set to a soundtrack created specially by model-musician Tsunaina, Wun’s longtime muse, the designer said that the collection “stemmed from the pressure of having such little time to pull everything together, along with self-doubt.”
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“I really questioned: what is haute couture? In my head, I imagined artisans and tailors in the ateliers wearing all-white with gloves in fear of staining the delicate garments—which made me think: why not turn all of that fear into beautiful pieces?” he told Vogue UK in an interview.
The result was a sharp, witty dissection of couture as craft—and comedy. Surrealist takes abounded: a headpiece made out of knives, for instance, or his now-viral “umbrella looks” in vivid yellow or dripping in sparkling crystals. Elsewhere in the collection, staining and deterioration were major themes—a particularly arresting look featured the model’s gloves and dress plattered with “red wine” (in actuality, a natural beetroot juice was applied to obtain the effect); while other gowns featured burnt edges to give the effect of deterioration.
“Ultimately, the collection is not about fear, it is about the desire to conquer fear. The will to embrace it and turn it into something empowering and beautiful,” the designer said on Instagram.
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