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On the iconic stage of Paris’ Lido cabaret, Robert Wun presents his SS26 couture collection, and not unlike the cheeky performances of scantily clad can-can dancers who usually occupy this venue, there is no nuance on the runway tonight. Instead, Wun bolsters his SS26 pieces as radical celebrations of creativity expressed in all their glorious and intrinsic drama.
After having received much praise since his couture debut in 2023, Wun continues to trump his own cinema of fantastical world-building. This season, each look is crafted to encapsulate the definitive three-part narrative of his process. From inspiration, blank pages and dreams, to actualizing ideas and evoking desire, and finally to the courage required to see the creative process through. In this framework, Wun’s runway is a couture manifestation of his own internal battle, a dream-scape epic in the name of creation and hope.
Wun spins and stitches together a fairytale of powerful characters each with a role to fulfill, a sacred predestined purpose- each moving part and emotion evoked as brave and as essential to the process. On his runway, couture is explored in the first degree of fantastical archetypes dressed to dominate their space and captivate the audience. Like a high-production, high-budget film, the pieces Wun brings to life enchant the wearer as much as the audience, enveloping us all in the dark romanticism of his Neo-gothic universe. Through the power of diamonds, lamé, velvet, and taffeta, a psychophysical transformation takes place, turning supermodel into supernatural, cosplay into couture.
Wun constructs garments that it would almost be a shame to describe with words, but rather, they would be beautifully accompanied by them. His pieces not only impose a narrative that would translate extremely effectively to screen or theater, but in the surrealist sculptural technique that weaves them together, are almost begging to be placed in a story of their own. Has me reminiscing on a time when couture designers would do film costumes. Thinking of a 5th Element remake in Robert Wun, Gaultier and Mugler references obviously within arms reach (I.e. baby pink sculpted man’s torso as bustier…etc.. )
xx
Rianna
