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Kat Qiu has been seen in black thigh-high boots with slicked-back bleached hair on Balenciaga’s Times Square billboards, on the Rick Owens catwalk wearing sculptural gowns and black sclera contacts, and in black and white tweed in campaigns for Karl Lagerfeld (for whom she was a personal muse). But the model and creative is stepping away from the camera for her latest venture, VoyeurVoyeur, a concept store opening in August 2025 in East London.
The store will stock Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester, Helmut Lang, Dries Van Noten, Jean Paul Gaultier, Mugler, Coperni, Willy Chavarria, Acronym, Knwls and more, with curation rooted in Qiu’s personal relationships and aesthetic point of view. While some of these brands might evoke an avant-garde, even painfully cool, image, Qiu says the store will be approachable — the kind of space where you hang out and discover brands because they’re sitting right next to a product you would already wear.
The project is entirely self-funded, and Qiu says she doesn’t foresee a future where she’d sacrifice the retailer’s independence for the sake of external funding. She already has a team of five, including a commercial director and a creative director, allowing her to have a sounding board on each side of the project.
The retail market is a tough one to crack. In recent years, bigger retailers including Matches, Net-a-Porter, Farfetch and a number of American department stores have faced significant challenges, and in response many brands have been shifting away from wholesale in pursuit of boosting direct-to-consumer (DTC) channels. This doesn’t mean that there’s no space for multi-brand retailers, however. The successful retailers of today (from Mytheresa to Dover Street Market) have a specific curation and speak to a particular customer, rather than trying to be everything to everyone.
We speak to Qiu about what to expect ahead of VoyeurVoyeur’s launch, and how she’s navigating setting up a multi-brand store amid tough market conditions.
Vogue: How did the idea for VoyeurVoyeur come about?
I’ve been working in fashion since I finished university, but more in press, creative direction and modelling. Part of the reason why I’m setting up a store is because you don’t really get creative control when you’re a model. My past experiences have shaped everything I like, the brands I connect with and the curation I like to see, the inconveniences I find as a consumer and even size and fit as a model, when everyone’s pinching you and clipping things onto you. I’ve also seen a shift where people want to shop in-person again and want something tactile. I want to bring people inside the shop to touch the clothes and experience how they fit on the body. I’m coming at it from a creative perspective rather than corporate, so it’s less about purchasing a coat I know I need and more about somewhere I go to hang out and see what’s cool. I feel that’s lacking in London, there aren’t many places for discovery.
Vogue: We’ve often covered how the algorithm has flattened personal style. Is that something you’re hoping to combat, and how would you define the VoyeurVoyeur aesthetic?
That’s exactly it. I don’t want everything to be reduced to micro-trends, or to what’s performing or flattering. It’s just about what’s cool — to me that’s sensuality. I want the customer to be someone who, if you see them walking on the street, they look like the kind of person you’d do a $2 million deal with but you also want to fuck them that night. I’m drawn to anything that’s desirable, sensual, exclusive and glamorous — it shouldn’t take a highbrow intellect to understand this is attractive. The other thing I look for is movement. I’m not a fan of a mood board with very deep storytelling, for me it’s more about something that looks amazing when you’re dancing, or when you’re stepping out of a taxi.
Vogue: Tell me more about the brands you’re stocking.
It’s an ever-evolving mix. We have loads of Dries Van Noten, Rick Owens and Ann Demeulemeester, but I wouldn’t say we’re avant-garde. When you put those names together, people imagine a very black and white avant-garde store with very alienesque products. But you’ll find a curation that really has lots of colours and shapes. You’ll also find sexy brands like Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier that really occupy the body, and technical brands like Acronym.
Vogue: I know it’s still under construction, but what can we expect in terms of the design of the store?
The store is impossible to miss — you literally step out onto the Brick Lane bus stop and it’s the first thing you see, so it has to live up to the calibre you’d expect. I’m working with a London-based architectural firm led by Peter Cook and Gavin Robothan called Crab Studio who are amazing. They’ve given us some really ambitious designs, it’s like nothing else in London. Without giving away too much, it’s geometric and visually interesting without overwhelming the space; it puts an emphasis on the clothes without being too minimal, like if we were to do plain concrete. It’s the kind of place you walk by then come in just to take a photo, even if you’re not going to buy anything — almost like a touchable gallery. We’ll have some interesting materials inside as part of the walls, and the uniform is also going to be made of that same material.
Vogue: What challenges have you faced with getting VoyeurVoyeur off the ground?
Physically building something in London is hard. Granted, the designs are relatively ambitious, but people have overpromised on what’s possible and then we’ve had to start over, so there have been delays in construction. Really, the logistics have been the most challenging — HM Revenue and Customs [the UK government’s tax collection department] has been slow, and since Brexit, even importing £10,000 worth of goods has become way more difficult because of customs. The creative side hasn’t been a challenge at all.
Vogue: Did you have any reservations setting up a multi-brand store given the challenges in the retail landscape?
Those challenges are more present for some of the bigger names in the industry. The fundamental problem is there’s a surplus of supply and not enough demand. Running numbers at that capacity is very different from what I’m trying to do. They have certain numbers they need to meet and the relationship with the brands is very driven by the stock and data, whereas, with VoyeurVoyeur, it’s a much more deeply personal relationship. All of our conversations have started with me asking brands if I can have a few of their runway pieces. Because there’s surplus supply, it actually makes everything more affordable to us as an independent retailer, so it’s actually been easier to set something up in this climate because everyone’s looking for opportunities.
Vogue: There’s an interesting tension between trying to set up something that’s niche but also drums up demand. How have you navigated that?
I wouldn’t say I’m targeting a specific community or aesthetic, like avant-garde or sleek or punk. With the overarching theme of body and sensuality it’s less restrictive. It’s niche and about community, but it also doesn’t shut off anyone that isn’t part of the community — I’m not just buying for the 20 to 35-year-old ‘cool’ girls, it’s somewhere hopefully my mum can come and shop as well. When you hear the brands we stock you might think they only do crazy silhouettes, but there are a lot of more tame products that are very well made — nobody cuts a suit like Rick [Owens], for example. The idea isn’t to be standoffish and for people to think they’re not cool enough to shop here, it’s about being inviting so people want to try things. I’m not building to grow demand, I’m building to inspire.
Vogue: What are your ambitions for VoyeurVoyeur?
I have ambitions beyond London. Eventually, I’d like to expand to Asia. My parents are from Beijing, so bringing it there, or to Tokyo and Seoul, where you can be independent and small and still thrive. I’d also love to represent talents in a business-to-business capacity and help them showcase in Asia. I’d love VoyeurVoyeur to become an entity beyond retail that’s not just consumer based, but also artist based, going beyond fashion and into art, design, interiors and lifestyle.
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