ROBERT WUN’S GOLDEN ERA
THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND WHO REIGNED THE 2026 MET GALA. SAKSHI PATIL WRITES ABOUT THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED DESIGNER WHOSE NAME IS ON EVERYONE'S LIPS.
Written by Sakshi Patil
The London-based designer, originally from Hong Kong, first made his mark on the world when Joyce Boutique discovered him at his graduate collection in 2012. After completing his studies at the London College of Fashion, he launched his namesake label in 2014.
Wun built his brand slowly and deliberately, initially offering his work only through custom orders of unique, nature-inspired tailoring. Each creation was truly one of a kind.
During that decade of quiet ascent, one collection stood above the rest. His AW21 collection, titled Armour, was a deeply personal tribute to his grandmother, whom he had lost the previous October.
More than a collection, Armour was a self-written diary, a wearable archive of his memories of her. It remains one of his most emotionally resonant works to date.
His star-studded clientele includes Lady Gaga, Adele, Beyoncé, and Céline Dion. His designs have also graced icons such as Usher and Idris Elba.
And it does not stop there. Tennis champion Naomi Osaka has become one of his most devoted muses, regularly pushing boundaries in his designs both on and off the court.
In 2023, with the support of Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion at Chanel, Wun was fast-tracked onto the official Haute Couture calendar at Paris Fashion Week that January, making him the first Hong Kong designer ever to appear on it.
His reach even extended to the big screen, with a piece from his graduation collection appearing in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, worn by Elizabeth Banks as the iconic Effie Trinket — a character whose extravagant aesthetic feels tailor-made for Wun’s world.
The Met Gala, much like The Hunger Games, is a vision for the ultra-rich, to be watched and marvelled at by the rest of the world, but this was not the first time Wun had infiltrated its steps.
His first Met Gala moment came in 2023, when Olympic medallist Eileen Gu wore his now-iconic wine-stained wedding gown. Three years later, he returned not with one look, but eight.
At the 2026 Met Gala, his creations not only embraced the “Fashion is Art” theme, but they also became the physical embodiment of it.
Naomi Osaka arrived in a structured ivory coat with red feather detailing, shedding it to reveal a blood-red gown beneath, crafted from 659,000 stitches of intricate embroidery and thousands of faceted Swarovski crystals, totalling over 3,280 hours of handwork.
Jordan Roth, meanwhile, transformed into a living sculpture, his grey velvet gown accompanied by a classical sculpture embracing him from behind.
Indian entrepreneur and musician Ananya Birla made her Met Gala debut in a dramatic sculptural black ensemble by Wun, paired with a striking metallic face mask by celebrated Indian contemporary artist Subodh Gupta, instantly becoming one of the most talked-about looks of the night.
So significant was his impact that curator Andrew Bolton added three of Wun’s works to the Costume Institute’s permanent collection, and in just those three looks alone, the versatility of Wun’s creativity makes one thing clear: he is on his way to becoming a legend in his own lifetime.