It's undeniable that Robert Wun is stupidly talented, achieving levels of couture mastery that is spellbinding if not otherworldly. Over the course of his 10 year career he has managed to resonate not only with the traditional fashion crowd, but also an audience on the outskirts of fashion who appreciate art, design and culture. And so to reflect on this decade of creation Robert decided to dedicate his most recent couture show to the concept of time (entitled 'Time' if you weren't sure).

Ultimately it's difficult to criticise a collection like this that is so beautifully made. One of the final looks depicting muscular anatomy was represented by a pleated beaded red dress with 75,000 separate folds requiring 4,000 hours of handwork. Who could argue with that?

Unfortunately this season is framed and identified by its conceptuality and within its conceptuality it fails. Its understanding of time is linear and bordering on shallow, depicting a progression from winter to autumn using familiar motifs like snow, butterflies, flowers and leaves ("Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking."). The demonstrations of either vibrance or decay seemed to be rather binary, and the characterising elements of the collection's 'Time' metaphor felt almost totalitarian. All things displayed here were commanded to be beautiful, and when they weren't beautiful they were ridiculous. The final four looks in particular emphasised this in depicting the multiple layers of the self from skin to soul in a kitsch moment of indulgence that felt more hilarious than moving (skeleton man anyone?).

I suppose the problem lies in the fact that this collection which touches on perhaps the most profound subject one could ever tackle demonstrated calculated design in lieu of emotionality to represent a messy undefinable universe. Robert has some amazing ideas but I wish he didn't insist on how I feel about them.

Robert Wun

Fall/Winter Couture 2024 • Womenswear

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