I remember the first time I saw it. I was reviewing Paris Haute Couture Week in 2023, obviously distracted, and overstimulated, when a look stopped me mid-scroll. A white gown, pristine at first glance, appeared to have red wine flung across it. The splash felt violent and poetic at once. The ‘spill’, it turns out, was embroidery and beading , meticulously engineered as part of Robert Wun’s Fall 2023 couture debut collection titled ‘Fear.’
Launching his label in 2014, the Hong Kong-born, London-based designer has been on the official Haute Couture Week calendar since 2023, gradually cementing his position as one of the strongest names in the fashion world.
From Hong Kong To London
Growing up in Hong Kong, Robert Wun sketched obsessively. His grandmother was a seamstress, repairing clothes and contributing to factory production. As a teenager, he customised thrifted pieces, drawing on boots and altering denim. But his first real glimpse into fashion as a career came from an older girl at church who enrolled into a design course.
At 16, he moved to London and later studied at the London College of Fashion. “The biggest takeaway,” he says, “was understanding the technical know-how needed to create even the simplest garment.” The school environment exposed him to peers with radically different approaches to creativity. Watching how others interpreted design sharpened his own perspective.
Met Gala 2026 Photograph: (Instagram via @naomiosaka)
Finding his jam
Wun launched ready-to-wear early in his career, as many young designers do. It seemed like the logical path. Buyers, showrooms, wholesale. But something felt misaligned. Ready-to-wear,, he realised over time, was not where his strength lay. During the pandemic, when wholesale slowed and the traditional system stalled, he redirected his focus inward. “Let’s just do something that I absolutely love without worrying if it’s going to work in a store.”
That decision changed everything. That period pushed him toward more sculptural, made-to-order pieces. Private clients began responding to the scale and theatricality of his work.
Leading From The Heart
In 2022, Wun received the Special Prize at the ANDAM Fashion Award.The French organisation has functioned as a launchpad for designers before they ascend to larger houses or expand globally. Wun entered the process as an independent designer competing against brands with significantly larger revenues. “I wasn’t expecting it atall,” he said. “The rest of them are incredible designers… they have a few millions in revenue, and I’m just a potato there with a few hundred.”
Instead of presenting aggressive expansion strategies, he focused on clarity of vision. “I led with my dream and passion instead of a business plan and figures.” That directness resonated. The prize brought financial support and mentorship, but it also confirmed that his unusual approach could receive institutional backing.
Couture Debut
When the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode accepted his proposal to showon the official Haute Couture Week calendar in July 2023, he had two months to prepare. He had never staged a couture show before. For an established maison with a historic atelier system, couture development takes months of fittings, embroidery trials, and technical adjustments. For an independent house, the challenge is even greater. Every garment demands hours of labour. “I went in with faith and passion and a lot of anxiety and worry,” he says. The collection was called ‘Fear’ because that wasexactly what he felt.
Photograph: (Robert Wun)
“If there’s anything new that I could offer, it wouldbe honesty.” Instead of imitating established houses, he chose vulnerability. The raincoat dress crystallised in droplets. The sculptural silhouettes. The wine- splashed gown. The dress with a half-burnt effect. Every piece transformed anxiety into theatre. Wun articulated the central question behind the collection clearly: “How could confronting the raw fear of failure be so powerful and beautiful?” The answer was embedded in the garments.
Building a show
Wun’s collections read like chapters. ‘Fear.’ ‘Homecoming.’ ‘What Is Love.’ Most recently, ‘The Valor.’ The names are cinematic and so is the work. “I never really follow a fixed formula to design a collection,” he shares. Sometimes it starts with a colour. Sometimes with a film. Sometimes with an emotion. The process shifts each season, but narrative anchors everything. Wun approaches a show as a total environment. Lighting, sound,casting, pacing, the fake hands emerging from garments, the extra heads, the theatrical gestures.
“Making beautiful clothes with incredible craftsmanship is not enough to create a brand,” he says. “That needs a world-building approach.” He quotes Alexander McQueen here: ‘If you are going to spend money on a show, make sure people leave with emotion.’ Wun’s shows are not garment presentations but experiences.
The Question Of Identity
Wun is the first designer from Hong Kong to show on the official Paris couture calendar. It is a milestone that carries weight, yet he resists being framed solely through that lens.“I never really set out to be one of the best Chinese designers in the world,” he says “I always set out to be one of the best designers.”
Met Gala 2026 Photograph: (Instagram via @lalalalisa_m)
He acknowledges that bias exists. Designers from outside Western capitals are often boxed into narratives of diversity rather than evaluated purely on their work. “Have I been treated differently? Absolutely,” he shares. But he doesn’t dwell on it too much, choosing to let his work speak for itself. “It’s much more productive to set an example by doing it, being it, creating it.”
The Path Less Travelled
When asked where he sees himself in five years, he laughs gently. “I don’t do long-term plans.” He prefers focusing on the next show, the next client, the next idea.Milestones, for him, are simple. Being able to create the next collection. And the one after that.
Running an independent couture house is no small feat. Yet Wun approaches business with a clarity that doesn’t come easily to most established brands. He does not chaseendless expansion. Ready-to-wear may return one day, but on his terms. “If I ever go back to it, I will still take the approach of doing something worthwhile.” His shows explode across social media every season. Even those far removed from fashion share his clips for the drama and mood. He knows the numbers. He sees the reach. But he won’t let it affect his vision. What stands out after speaking with him is alignment. The calm in his voice mirrors the structure in his work. The clarity in his answers reflectsthe discipline behind his collections. There is no separation between the designer and the design language.
Photograph: (Robert Wun)
I think back to that wine dress often. The illusion of a spill. The suggestion of damage turned into artistry. In many ways, it mirrors Wun’s journey. Anxiety transformed into couture. Vulnerability engineered into spectacle. In an industry that moves at a relentless speed, Robert Wun builds emotionally and with precision while taking his own time. And that, to me, feels like the beginning of a legacy.
