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Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.

How Rising Designer Rui Zhou Built Her ‘Elevated Shapewear’ Brand

Demand for the knitwear designer’s signature curve-hugging bodysuits is heating up in both eastern and western markets.
A still from Rui's Autumn/Winter 2021 lookbook photographed by Mia Song. Courtesy.
A still from Rui Zhou's Autumn/Winter 2021 lookbook photographed by Mia Song. Courtesy. (MAO )

Rui Zhou’s pastel-coloured, curve-hugging bodysuits look like nothing else in fashion. That’s in part because of their signature cut-outs and pearl-adorned straps, and in part because Zhou — just months before the launch of her namesake brand RUI in 2019 — programmed a knitting machine to perform an obscure technique that has since become unique to her creations.

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