Rui’s Minimalist Fashion Approach That Maximizes Beauty

When they want to be better, people add things. More mechanisms. More tricks. More techniques to achieve what they want. Sometimes though, you have to remove things instead, and minimize them. And that’s one way to explain Rui’s fashion approach.

Rui Zhou is a .MEr who manages to use the extreme in her fashion design and thus create a unique work.

Let’s hear more about her story.

Exploring The Extremes

RUI is a rising fashion brand from an aspiring designer, Rui Zhou. Zhou manages to use the concepts of duality and dichotomy as fashion devices. Her brand’s premise dances on the line between finished and unfinished, animate and inanimate, matter and being. And all of it based on imperfection and asymmetry.

She explores the two extremes and creates one unified piece of art. We often don’t know where the person ends and the attire begins. And vice versa.

The simplicity of her clothes takes us back to the hunter-gatherer era. At the same time, they propel us into the future and the unknown, almost post-apocalyptic prospect of human existence. It toggles between raw emotion and deep philosophical pondering. Still, it manages to stay composed and homogenous the whole time.

You interested in this fashion approach? Then you’ll want to read about who Rui Zhou is and why it makes sense for her to exclude logic from her creative process.

The Minimalist Fashion Approach: The Absence of Fabric

“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,” Rui’s website reads. “The softness and careful fragility of Rui’s compositions are met with powerful severity, revealing strength in their delicacy.”

And it was this unique fashion approach to imperfect compositions that separated Rui from the crowd.

Her work didn’t go unnoticed for long. The brand was launched in 2019. Since then, Rui showcased three exhibits at NYFW. She attracted much attention and gained numerous followers within the industry and across social media spheres. This rising brand now features studios in New York and Shanghai but ships its products to customers worldwide.

“Zhou’s process is intuitive. Rather than sketching, she knits textiles, creating pieces that feel sculptural or installation-like — what results is a glimpse into her inner world,” NowFashion writes about Rui’s presentation. “One where thoughts and emotions are sacred, and the female form is cherished for its curves and imperfections.”

But Who Hides Between The Skin And The Fabric?

Rui Zhou was born in China. She grew up in a small city and was very close to her family while growing up. This resulted in her deep interest in Zen Buddhism and the Wabi-Sabi Japanese aesthetic. This combination of family-based security and newfound courage turned out to be the very fulcrum of her creative process.

You can feel the tangible tension between the two seeming opposites in her work. She uses this duality to switch between the attire and the body that carries the attire. Thus she creates a dynamic relationship that ultimately questions everything that makes us human.

Her designs create boundaries and erase them in a single glimpse of an eye. Not many fashion designers achieve this ever so effortlessly. “A garment is like an installation; when I do draping or sketching, I always think of the body shape as a frame,” Zhou says.

Her Real And Her Digital Presence

The unique work of this Chinese designer has made its mark across both analog and digital environments. Slowly but surely, it became a recognized brand.

Chloe x Halle, an R&B duo composed of sisters Chloe and Halle Bailey, were among the first to put on Zhou’s bodysuits. The duo organically picked up her work and reached out to Rui for some samples that would be used in an internal shoot.

Solange Knowles is another pop star who rocked the creation made by Rui. Solange slipped into Zhou’s skin-toned bodysuit for one of her music videos. 

However, aside from her analog presence mentioned above, Rui is quite successful at cultivating her digital presence as well. Her talent and work have been covered in prestigious magazines such as Vogue, CFDA, NowFashion, etc. She has almost 90K followers on Instagram. And most importantly, Rui has her own website that she uses as a powerful tool and platform for her self-promotion and establishing her digital presence. 

Conclusion And Takeaway

Modern markets, regardless of the industry and niche, are oversaturated with heavy competition. To stay ahead of the curve, you must find your own unique approach. And Rui Zhou managed to do just that.

Her one-of-a-kind, innovative and asymmetric creations are slowly but surely becoming the norm in this increasingly symmetrical world. We hope she will continue to conquer the fashion industry, while the .ME platform will always be there to help her with that.