Zhou Rui’s provocative fashion: she’s dressed Blackpink’s Lisa, Madison Beer and other stars within just three years of launching her brand thanks to her style that ‘isn’t limited by gender or size’

Jun 15 , 2022

Madison Beer in Rui Zhou. Photo: Rui Zhou

The Chinese designer graduated from New York’s Parsons School of Design in 2019 and has already dressed K-pop idols Hyuna and Itzy, and Dua Lipa and Solange Knowles

Inspired by Japanese designer and Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo, Zhou was a H&M Design Awards semi-finalist in 2017 and LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers finalist in 2021

Within just three years of hanging up her graduation gown at New York’s Parsons School of Design, 27-year-old Chinese fashion designer Zhou Rui has already dressed K-pop superstars Itzy, Hyuna and Blackpink’s Lisa, Taiwanese singer Ouyang Nana, UK singer-songwriter Dua Lipa, and American songstress Solange Knowles.

Solange Knowles wearing Rui Zhou in her music video.

Known for a poetic and theatrical blend between lingerie and sportswear, Zhou’s knitted garments in coral, beige, lavender, fuchsia and cyan blue stretch over the body like rippling paint splatters, inspired by Japanese designer and Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo’s deconstructed garments with rips, holes and frays. The exposed parts of the body – including its contours, shades and even blemishes – take the spotlight in Zhou’s form-fitted looks for her eponymous label Rui – ranging from dresses and bra tops to stockings and bodysuits.

A characteristic look from Rui’s new autumn/winter 2022 collection. Photo: Liu Xiangyu

For Zhou, fashion isn’t limited by gender or size. Rather, it’s a study of the tension between the garment and the body. Though her structural silhouettes are eye-catching, she says they bring peace to both herself and the wearer by offering “soft, gentle emotions” in garments that are designed for movement.

Japanese-British musician Rina Sawayama in a characteristically brazen Rui outfit. Photo: Zhou Rui

“For me, Rui is a duality of fragility and strength,” says Zhou. “We encourage people to reconsider the body’s complexities through the detached approach to cut-outs.”

Zhou was a finalist at the eighth edition of The LVMH Prize for Young Fashion Designers back in September, and she has previously received recognition as one of the CFDA+ 2018 Design Graduates and at the 2017 H&M Design Awards. Her success is perhaps a timely result of the fashion industry’s growing acceptance of gender fluidity, as well as more natural body shapes in place of Photoshopped runway models.

Zhou Rui demands authenticity from her models, but calls out reductive tokenism. Photo: Zhou Rui

Designing utopian collections to embrace all genders and body types is no easy feat, so Zhou does it by throwing away conventional definitions. Rather than employing models of all shapes and sizes for her photoshoots and runway shows out of what she calls “political correctness”, her muses are anyone with the right attitude.