Born in Hong Kong and loved by Blackpink’s Lisa, Fan Bingbing, Cardi B. Who is Robert Wun?

Five years ago, Hong Kong-born designer Robert Wun was working from his kitchen – now he dresses some of the world’s best-known entertainers. In a short time, the 34-year-old has rocketed from unknown to one of the most sought-after fashion names, designing for everyone from Lady Gaga to rapper Cardi B, who sat front row at his latest show on July 8 in Paris, France. “I have some days off, sometimes,” he says with a smile, while admitting to being “quite exhausted mentally and physically because I haven’t had a break for 2½ years. “It’s something I always wanted, so that’s why I seldom complain about it.” Working with his team and models, Wun appears relaxed and in good humour: a man at ease with the success that was not obvious 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 creative teenagers like him. “That’s where my stubbornness came in, because I was getting bullied a lot,” he says. “I managed to still stick with what I truly wanted to do, or how I wanted to do things, or how I wanted to express myself.” 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 Hackney in East London, with his 12-person studio in Dalston producing two or three made-to-measure outfits a month for red-carpet events, galas and weddings. Wun was possibly the busiest couturier at this year’s Met Gala in New York, dressing eight people, including K-pop star Lisa, couture collector Jordan Roth and Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka. Asked what she admired about Wun, Cardi B said, “Everything. The creativity, the colours … It’s really the quality.” She was one of the earliest adopters of Wun’s designs after his breakout collection in 2021. The “I Like It” singer sat next to Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing, underlining how Wun’s popularity straddles East and West. Fascinated by the natural world and heavily influenced by film, the British-Chinese designer produces work that is widely described as bold, futuristic and sculptural. It can often feel dark and claustrophobic, too, incorporating influences from horror films, leading some to see him as the fashion world’s millennial interpreter of the anxiety-filled 2020s. After catching the eye of Vogue and other fashion influencers five years ago, he made his Haute Couture debut in Paris in 2023 as a guest. Undaunted by becoming the first Hong Kong designer on the fashion world’s elite stage, he sent out models in outfits with stains and obvious defects. For autumn/winter 2025, he included what looked like bloodstained handprints. He also likes to incorporate disembodied hands or limbs. What you will not find is an obvious Chinese aesthetic. “It’s a beautiful thing to be able to reference your culture and put it into your work,” Wun says. “There are so many creators out there doing a marvellous job at that.” 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’.” His latest autumn-winter collection was named “Childsplay” and drew inspiration from fairy tales and Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki. It was a slight departure from Wun’s previous work, more playful yet still unsettling. The male models and suits are a reminder that he is happy to blur gender lines. “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 says.

Born in Hong Kong and loved by Blackpink’s Lisa, Fan Bingbing, Cardi B. Who is Robert Wun?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The couturier, 34, talks about going from a hostile Hong Kong boys’ school to the London College of Fashion to dressing top celebrities

The couturier, 34, talks about going from a hostile Hong Kong boys’ school to the London College of Fashion to dressing top celebrities