Our first aquintaince with Rui was at Palais de Tokyo during Paris
Fashionweek, showing their Fall/Winter '22 collection. Calling the collection
"The slits of life" refers not only to the day-to-day life which
sometimes feels unexcited and boring, certain and steady, but it also refers
to these unsudden and unplanned moments or decision we hardly pay
attention to.
Rui was founded by Rui Zhou in 2019 and as the brand says: "Rui is a brand that explores the duality of all things, the relations
between matters and beings, always in a more philosophical way. Rui always
finds beauty in the imperfection, the unfinished, broken, or even unloved,
and we are on a constant study of the space between perfection and
imperfection. The softness and careful fragility of Rui’s compositions are
met with powerful severity, revealing strength in their delicacy."
On this collection the designer explores and innovates the use of wool and
cashmere, searching for boundaries between tender- and weakness but also
pushing the boundaries of form and silhouette including all kind of female
bodies. All the looks are made with great tailoring, patterns, beadings and
handmade crochet items. The garments are following the different lines and
versatile curves of the female body, which was presented by a diversity of
(plus size) models. The amazing miniscule designs and softness of the fabrics,
made it look very comfortable to wear.
Our absolute top look was the extra-fine merino asymmetric purple dress with
the spiral knits around the body. The design shows such a fierce yet
easy-to-wear style which we perfectly love. The like wise made top, cropped
and wide-balloon-short-sleeved, in the presentation combined with pants, is
our second best. Just imagine it with a jeans or wearing it on a pencilskirt.
All the looks were combined with pumps draped with slender long hair and
cut-outs in the front. After the hairy boots we saw at different collections,
we loved seeing these ones.
"The collection shows a subtle but distinct sense of ambition to progress
beyond the beautifully made but also explores a genuine functionality and
the innovative use of wool and cashmere, orchestrated by a startling honesty
between tenderness and strength. Partly using 3D whole-garment seamless
knits and silk jacquard fabric with a quilted texture, Rui's collection not
only pushes the boundaries of form, silhouette, and surface but also
continues to pursue an ethereal and comfortable texture. Rui improves
fine-gauge knits with a delicate pattern. Unlike traditional tubular only
used for decoration trims, the extra-fine merino asymmetry purple dress and
top make full use of the functionality with whole-garment knitting, based on
a body figure, then, spiral the knits around the body with fishbone in
delicate and flexible contortions for loose-fitting coziness exquisite
dress, skirt, or tube scarf. Looking more closely at those unnoticed
details, there is a lot to unpack: a merlot hat flats as the 2D circle but
appears connected with water chestnuts crack after unfolding; the knitted
pointelle long dress presents peacock feathers sheer; pleated allochroic
pants and dress spiral twisted like shells, and worsted wool fabric shows
gloss and gentleness on suits. Interpreted Rui’s signature piece with a
photo humorously, that’s how the first T-shirt was born, which echoes with a
few street senses that the embroidery wool hoodie and flared trousers
created. Rui’s signature beading technique recurs in handmade crochet
pieces, while the extremely skin-friendly fluffy miniskirt and tube top form
a safe space for everyone to land, it also Forever in flux, Rui not merely
continues its home goods line with new glass plates and jacquard blankets,
but also diversifies accessories like quilted silk cashew bag, "C" barb
thorns silver earrings and rings, a laser cut brooch, a pair of black
leather gloves, as well as a pair of pumps with front > cut-out,
embellished with slender long hair. All upped the sharp but soft romance
feeling. Rui's collection finds the life-inspired appeal and elevates to new
heights, whose sophistication is matched by body inclusiveness. There is
transformation and warmth at this moment." Rui
(Edit and images by Brenda)
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