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Robert Wun SS23 couture
Courtesy of Robert Wun

Robert Wun is no longer afraid of failing

The designer details his debut couture show, reflecting on feminism, the faults in London’s fashion scene, and his burnt bride

Robert Wun hadn’t done so much as an off-schedule presentation before he was invited to close Paris’ haute couture week as a guest of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. Though people will recognise the designer’s aqueous pleat-work on a coterie of celeb clients (among them Solange, Celine Dion, and Cardi B) the designer has taken up residence in the margins of mainstream fashion since graduating from the London College of Fashion in 2014. Unlike many of his peers, Wun didn’t ascend through Fashion East or the British Fashion Council’s NewGen scheme and had never shown his collections to an IRL audience before. But this relative outsiderdom, a feeling of being on the outskirts of London’s fashion cabal, seems to have kindled within Wun an aching to go against the grain. 

“I want to question things. Especially on a couture schedule where every other brand is doing beautiful, sequinned eveningwear,” he says, dialling in from a beach in Peru. “How can I fuck it up?” The designer did this quite literally in a darkened room in the Place Vendôme, where he showcased a series of wedding gowns mottled in cigarette burns and peplum-skirted dresses stained in red wine. Models hobbled in broken heels holding rogue shoes and umbrellas encrusted with rainfall. These violent accents weren’t an act of arson or an attack on the institution of haute couture – which is preserved under French law – but a challenging of its perceptions. “I really wanted to see if couture could be more than just pretty dresses and beautiful flowers. I needed to challenge the traditional conventions.” His locus, he repeats, was fear. 

Below, Robert Wun details his debut show as part of the industry’s most prestigious arena, reflecting on feminism, the faults in London’s fashion scene, and the fear of failure.

You mentioned that this is your first holiday in ages. How long has it been since you last stopped working?

Robert Wun: I haven’t had a holiday in five years, which is normal. Even though I’m on ‘holiday’ now, I’m still doing emails, interviews, and sketches. I just happen to be doing that in a more relaxed environment. I feel better near a beach, it helps you to find the balance. If I continued at the pace I had been working at previously, I’d run out of ideas and my personal life fall apart. 

I imagine it was a needed break after your couture debut in January. How was that for you?

Robert Wun: It was intense. All the other couture houses had started designing in June, but I only found out that I was doing a show at the end of November. So we pulled the collection together in around two months or less. It was intense, but we did it. 

Quite fitting that the collection was all about fear, then? 

Robert Wun: We had never even done a show before, let alone a couture collection. And when the fédération de la haute couture offered me a slot on the calendar, I felt that insecurity. What would I be able to bring to the calendar? I hadn’t even thought about doing haute couture before. I suppose all that self-doubt led me to ask: ‘What if I transformed the things I fear most into the actual collection itself?’.

Which is why so many of the pieces were ‘accidentally’ stained.

Robert Wun: That’s how the collection started, transforming accidents and stains – things that wouldn’t normally be a source of inspiration for couture – into the craftsmanship. What’s the worst thing that could happen to a 100k dress? Perhaps if someone spilt wine on it? How do we turn that stain into embroidery? How do we turn burn marks into technique? I really wanted to see if couture could be more than just pretty dresses and beautiful flowers, so I needed to challenge the traditional conventions. 

Was there an element of wanting to destroy the institution, like you ‘destroyed’ the garments?

Robert Wun: My initiative isn’t to create something controversial. It just comes naturally to me to question things. But I’m doing it with grace because I have a lot of respect for what haute couture means. It’s what makes fashion special in the first place. How beautiful to take the time to make something beautiful! Otherwise, we just end up making clothing. I think the only thing I challenged was the perception of couture – can it be about more than beautiful fantasy, can it be confronting?  

Alexander McQueen was confrontational. So is John Galliano, he actually splashed real red wine onto his clothes. 

Robert Wun: McQueen was so eerie, so destructive in how he put his shows together and still the level of technique was genius. Craftsmanship is always something I focus on. Without technique, a beautiful idea is just a beautiful idea. McQueen gained respect because he had the audacity to do something challenging, to tear something down while knowing how to make clothes. I’ve always looked up to him. So this collection wasn’t just about burning holes in things, but transforming the act of destruction into actual craftsmanship. 

I wanted to ask you about designing for women. I feel like couture designers can sometimes be separated into those that make clothes for women and those that see women as a canvas from which to decorate. Where do you think your work sits within that?

Robert Wun: My work is focused on fantasy: I’m not necessarily thinking about what everyday people want to wear. When I was young I was a very feminine gay man and I got bullied a lot. If feminism is the equality of all genders (politically, socially, and economically) then feminism has also been a form of escapism for me, a way to transform into imaginary characters, warriors, superheroes, and spirits. I think that’s how our clients feel, transforming into their own character when we make them bespoke pieces. 

And there are so many other ways to empower women outside of design – like, do you respect the women you work with? I think that’s really important for gay men to think about. That’s more important than whatever it is we’re designing. Otherwise, we end up going too deep into a rabbit hole, questioning what makes appropriate design. It’s about how we work as a business and as an industry. I think when you have that mentality, your aesthetic will always be respectful and inspiring.

What do you think people misunderstand about your work?

Robert Wun: A lot of people know me for my pleats but I’m so much more than just a technique! I love pleats – so fluid, so disciplined – but I want people to know me for a wider design vocabulary. The second thing is that people are obsessed with asking me where I’m from and why I’m in Europe. Nobody asks me that in Paris, but in London everything starts with where I’m from. I still remember a journalist interrogating me with ‘Which part of China are you from and do you need a visa to be here?’ at the start of an interview. People just see me as an ‘Asian designer’ and that’s something I want to challenge. Designers should feel free to talk about their heritage with their work or not do it at all. We don’t ask Christopher Kane or Craig Green to talk about their heritage or whiteness, but POC designers feel like the only time we get to speak about our work is when we relate it to the ‘trauma, struggle, and pain of our heritage’. 

Why do you think that happens more in London than in Paris? 

Robert Wun: London is focused on narrative before anything else. When the British press talks about a collection, it’s always about ‘underground culture’ and ‘challenging something’ – which is something I love about London – but that can also be an unhelpful way to talk about a collection sometimes since it can lean on stereotypes. People in Paris are the opposite – they care more about the collection itself than they do someone’s backstory. 

Going back to fear. What do you think you were really scared of?

Robert Wun: I don’t take anything for granted. There are incredible people doing incredible things all over the world and so my fear came from failing my team. I felt like ‘finally!’ I have the opportunity to take the brand to the next level – how can I do my team justice? Especially my head of design who’s been with me since the beginning, even when I couldn’t afford to pay rent on my studio. I’m from an Asian family background and it teaches you to be humble. I question myself a lot. That’s how you keep improving. 

What would be so bad about failing?

Robert Wun: Girl, life moves on. 

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