Robert Wun becomes first Hong Kong designer to show at Haute Couture Fashion Week

The Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week debut is a historic first for a Hong Kong designer

This month, Hong Kong-born, London-based designer Robert Wun, will become the first designer from Hong Kong to show his collection at Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris. The Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode (FHCM), which is the governing body behind fashion weeks in Paris, has announced Wun will be closing out the week on January 26 at 6pm (CET).

“It’s the dream come true of a dream I never even thought could come true,” Wun tells Tatler. “I hope that for people who consider themselves outsiders—be it due to their class or culture—this can show them that times are changing; and that if you work hard enough and know who you are, there is a place for you.”

In case you missed it: Made In Hong Kong: Robert Wun On Heritage And Rejecting Stereotypes In Fashion

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Since founding his label in 2014, Wun’s powerful designs have earnt him a 2016 Woolmark Prize nomination, high-profile support from industry giants like stylist Katie Grand, and the 2022 ANDAM Prix Spécial, a distinguished fashion award in Europe that came with a year’s mentoring from Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion at Chanel and the new president of FHCM.

Traditionally reserved for historic fashion houses based in Europe, the honour of featuring on the Haute Couture calendar is an opportunity granted to very few newcomers a season and coveted by designers around the world. Applicants are vetted by an executive committee comprised of nine members from the most storied maisons in Paris, including Pavlovsky, that decide whether the new designer meets strict requirements to be designated a couture house. Not only did Wun get unanimous support from the committee, Pavlovsky reportedly wrote a personal letter of recommendation.

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“The last time I was in Paris, I had just wanted to explore a runway debut through a ready-to-wear show, so the fact that [FHCM] said I was good enough to be at haute couture was so shocking and I’ll remember that moment for the rest of my life,” Wun says. “When I look back, though, I feel this is something I’ve been working towards my whole career, maybe I just didn’t know it yet.”

Since the brand’s inception, Wun has been creating made-to-order, custom pieces for celebrities from Lady Gaga to Priyanka Chopra, all of whom gravitated towards his signature power shoulders, sharp pleating and fantastical designs. These elements will find their way into Wun’s couture offering, of course, but amplified and transformed by painstaking savoir faire and a surprising theme.

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“I think after the show and after the collection is out this will all sink in, but right now it still feels like it’s all a dream,” Wun says. “I still am not sure how it’ll all come together. A lot of this is outside my comfort zone and I’m doing a lot of things I’ve never done before.”