It was a pair of enormous earrings dripping from the lobes of rapper Lizzo, dressed in a tightly swathed bronze and gold gown by Robert Wun, that connected the couturier with jewellery designer Anabela Chan at the Brit Awards last year. Both Hong Kong-born and London-based, their paths had surprisingly not crossed in the decade they have been running their businesses in the city.
Wun was fascinated by Chan’s innovative and sustainable approach to fine jewellery, using lab-grown gemstones set in recycled gold to create beautifully crafted jewels that often grace the red carpet, as well as a collection based on recycled aluminium soda cans. “I was like, wow! Imagine the girl just melting cans and crafting them into something that looks insane,” says Wun. “Her detail and craftsmanship are top notch.”
Wun had made a dramatic debut on the Paris haute couture catwalk in January 2023 with a collection suffused with cinematic glamour and horror. It was a theme that he explored further this January with his second collection and a narrative based on love and pain. It felt more in tune with his philosophy, therefore, that he should invite Chan and her lab-grown gems to collaborate.
He describes Chan’s lavishly colourful jewels as “classic and elegant, whereas my style is a lot more conceptual, but that is where the magic happens”. He adds that they both merged well together.
“We looked at mood boards and his sketches,” Chan adds. “And he was really pushing me out of my comfort zone as his aesthetic is very different to what I’m used to designing. It’s edgy and minimalistic and I love the dark sense of romanticism in his work, but that challenge was exciting.”
Rather than her joyously big sparkly gems, the mood slipped into the macabre with a blood-spattered wedding dress covered in pigeon-blood red lab-grown rubies, and natural jade beads spelling out love and pain in Morse code on a corset, a coat dress covered in shattered glass and diamonds that referenced the Matrix, as well as jewels that resembled lacquered red fingernails or pen nibs and quills for writing love letters. “She wasn’t scared of my crazy ideas. She gets it right away and gets the job done,” Wun enthuses.
Chan says the giant roses on the Valentine dress she made from recycled soda cans were one of the more challenging pieces, taking hundreds of hours because of its bigger construction. “And then we wanted to mimic the dewdrops on the petals, so we hand cut these white topaz cabochons to mimic the droplets. I had a lot of freedom but it’s very much Robert’s vision.”
Nevertheless, Chan, who has also collaborated for the past two seasons with Korean designer Miss Sohee on her couture collections, loved the experience. “I used to design for McQueen, and it almost felt as though I had come full circle. I love the energy backstage of creating a show. It was long hours but such an adrenaline rush.”