Who Is Rejina Pyo? The Designer Changing Contemporary Women’s Wear
Rejina Pyo
When it comes to contemporary womenswear that feels both effortless and deeply considered, few names carry as much weight in London fashion right now as Rejina Pyo. A South Korean designer who swapped Seoul for the streets of London over a decade ago, she has steadily built one of the most talked-about independent labels in the industry — one that refuses to chase trends and instead bets everything on longevity, artistry, and the real women who wear her clothes.
Who Is Rejina Pyo?
Rejina Pyo is a South Korean fashion designer based in London, widely recognised as the founder and creative director of her eponymous label. Since launching the brand in 2014, she has become a respected voice in contemporary womenswear, known for her sculptural silhouettes, bold use of colour, and a design philosophy that puts lasting style ahead of seasonal noise.
Her label sits in a space that is rare in today’s fashion landscape — it is elegant without being cold, playful without being disposable, and unmistakably confident in its own identity. That confidence has drawn in a loyal global following, a strong network of premium stockists, and no shortage of critical acclaim.
Rejina Pyo Biography and Early Life
Rejina Pyo was born in 1983 in Seoul, South Korea, where she grew up with a natural curiosity about aesthetics, creativity, and the way clothes could express something deeper than appearance. From an early age, fashion wasn’t just a passing interest for her — it was the lens through which she made sense of the world around her.
Before making the leap to pursue formal design education, she spent time working for a large South Korean retailer, gaining real hands-on experience in the industry. That grounding in the commercial side of fashion would later prove invaluable when she came to building a brand of her own. But she always knew that working within someone else’s creative framework was never going to be enough.
Education and Move to London
In 2008, aged 25, Rejina Pyo made the decision that would change everything — she packed up and moved to London to study at Central Saint Martins, one of the most prestigious and fiercely competitive art schools in the world. She initially enrolled in the one-year graduate diploma course, with her parents expecting her to return to Seoul once it was over.
She had other plans.
Her ultimate goal was to secure a place on the MA Fashion Design Programme — a course with an acceptance rate that makes it one of the most coveted spots in global fashion education. Remarkably, when she applied, she was the only student from the diploma course to be accepted. She completed the MA in 2011, marking the end of her formal education and the beginning of something far bigger.
Career Beginnings
Rejina Pyo’s graduate collection didn’t just impress her tutors — it won her the prestigious Han Nefkens Fashion Award, a highly regarded prize judged by figures including the editor of The Gentlewoman and the design duo Viktor & Rolf. As part of the award, she was commissioned to create an installation at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam. Titled Structural Mode, the work existed right on the boundary between wearable garment and sculpture — an early signal of the artistic dimension that would come to define her brand.
After graduating, she went on to work as first assistant to Roksanda Ilincic at Roksanda, one of London Fashion Week’s most beloved labels. She also worked at Raeburn, another London-based brand known for its thoughtful approach to design. In 2011, she also collaborated briefly with Weekday, the H&M Group brand, further broadening her experience across different creative environments.
Launching the Rejina Pyo Label
In 2014, Rejina Pyo launched her own label, and the fashion world quietly took note. The brand debuted on the official London Fashion Week schedule for the SS18 season, arriving with a clear and distinctive point of view that set it apart from the crowd almost immediately.
Her designs quickly developed a signature language: sculptural midi-dresses with exaggerated shoulders, puff-sleeve silhouettes, bold two-tone colour combinations, and asymmetric knitwear that managed to feel both considered and spontaneous. A Rejina Pyo dress — whether a floaty linen style or a structured statement piece — carries a confidence that is designed to belong to the woman wearing it, not the other way around.
The Rejina Pyo Greta dress, a fan favourite from her collections, captures this perfectly — architectural in its construction but entirely wearable in practice. It reflects exactly what the brand stands for: clothes that can be worn again and again, across different occasions, without ever feeling tired.
From the beginning, her philosophy has been clear: she is not designing for the catwalk or the trend cycle. She is designing clothes that real women want to live in.
Brand Growth and Recognition
The turning point came with the SS17 season, when the brand was picked up by some of the most respected retail destinations in the world — Net-a-Porter, Browns, Harvey Nichols, and Shopbop among them. Signature styles like the marigold Jamie dress and the silver Issy dress were soon being worn by prominent figures in the style world, which brought a wave of press coverage and social media visibility that firmly established Rejina Pyo as a name to know.
By 2020, the label had grown to over 100 stockists worldwide — a remarkable achievement for an independent brand navigating an industry that has never been more competitive. For those looking for a Rejina Pyo sale, her pieces occasionally appear on platforms like Net-a-Porter and Browns, offering the chance to own something genuinely special at a reduced price.
The SS22 London Fashion Week show was held at the London Aquatics Centre — a bold and memorable venue choice that underlined the brand’s growing ambition. Not long after, she opened a flagship store in Soho, London, designed with the same sensibility as her clothes: clean lines, natural materials, unconventional textures, and sculptural elements throughout.
Awards and Accolades
The recognition has been consistent and well-earned. Rejina Pyo’s career has been punctuated by a string of awards that reflect both her creative talent and her standing in the industry.
Her MA final collection earned her the Han Nefkens Fashion Award in 2011/2012. She went on to win the Samsung Fashion Design Fund in 2017 — one of the most significant prizes available to emerging designers. The following year, she was shortlisted for the prestigious BFC/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund, placing her among the most promising talents in British fashion. Most significantly, she has been honoured with the British Fashion Award for Emerging Talent in Womenswear — an accolade that confirmed what her growing fanbase already knew.
Design Philosophy and Aesthetic
At the heart of everything Rejina Pyo creates is a balance between two worlds: the Korean sensibility she grew up with and the British design culture she has immersed herself in for nearly two decades. The result is a visual language that is hard to pin down but instantly recognisable — sculptural yet soft, bold yet refined.
She is deeply committed to the idea of slow fashion. The pieces she creates are intended to transcend the season they were made for and remain relevant for years. Separates are designed to be mixed and matched endlessly, which makes each piece feel like an investment rather than a purchase.
Her approach to casting and representation has also been ahead of the curve. Long before inclusivity became a fashion industry buzzword, she was putting out open casting calls for women of all ages, sizes, and ethnicities to walk her shows. She has always believed that the Rejina Pyo woman is not defined by a number on a label — she is defined by confidence, individuality, and a genuine love of dressing.
Inspiration for her collections comes from a rich and wide-ranging set of sources: painting, sculpture, architecture, and the stories of the women around her. One season, she cited the painter Etel Adnan — who continued creating with joy and urgency into her nineties — as the driving spirit behind her work.
Rejina Pyo and Art
The line between fashion and art has always been blurry for Rejina Pyo, and she has never seemed particularly interested in drawing it clearly. She is herself a painter, and that sensibility bleeds into everything from her fabric choices to her store design.
Her Soho flagship was conceived as a creative space as much as a retail one — described as a love letter to the abstract and elemental, with furniture from her own collection and a painting of her own on the walls. The store was developed in collaboration with designers Elliot Barnes and Barnaby Lewis, as well as artists Catherine Repko and Conie Vallese.
Beyond the store, she has collaborated with The Munch Museum on an expressive capsule collection, and her early post-graduation career was itself framed around an artistic commission — the Structural Mode installation at Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. For Rejina Pyo, making clothes and making art have never been separate pursuits.
Rejina Pyo Husband and Personal Life
Behind the label, there is a partnership that runs through every aspect of the brand. Rejina Pyo is married to Jordan Bourke — a chef, food stylist, author, and broadcaster who is widely recognised as an authority on Korean cuisine. The two met in London when Rejina was studying at Central Saint Martins, and she has said that meeting him was the reason she never went back to Seoul.
Jordan is not just her partner in life — he is also a director at the company, and the two work through decisions together. It is a genuinely collaborative relationship, one that shapes both the brand’s direction and its values.
Together, Rejina and Jordan co-authored Our Korean Kitchen, a cookbook celebrating authentic Korean home cooking — a project that brought together two of her great loves: her cultural heritage and the warmth of sharing food with people she cares about. The couple also have a son, whom Rejina has mentioned in interviews as someone she hopes to design for one day when the brand eventually introduces a menswear line.
Her personal style is an honest reflection of her design work: a mix of feminine dresses, sharp masculine suiting, and carefully chosen vintage pieces, usually worn alongside something from her own label.
Celebrity Fans and Notable Wearers
Part of what elevated Rejina Pyo from a well-kept secret to a genuinely mainstream name was the organic enthusiasm of women in the public eye who simply started wearing her clothes. Meghan Markle has been photographed in her designs, bringing the label to a global audience almost overnight. Style figures including Leandra Medine, Eva Chen, Kate Foley, Camille Charriere, and Pandora Sykes have all been seen in her pieces — women known not just for being photographed but for having genuine taste and credibility.
The Rejina Pyo shoes, in particular, have developed a cult following of their own. Known for their bold colours and sculptural heels — carved in distinctive geometric patterns — they are the kind of piece that completes an outfit without overshadowing it.
Rejina Pyo Net Worth
A precise net worth figure for Rejina Pyo has not been publicly confirmed or verified, and any specific number circulating online should be treated with caution. What is clear, however, is that the commercial story of the brand is a strong one. From a standing start in 2014, the label grew to over 100 stockists worldwide within six years, secured placement with the world’s most prestigious multi-brand retailers, and built a loyal international customer base that spans multiple continents. The opening of a flagship Soho store and high-profile collaborations with institutions like The Munch Museum further underline the brand’s growing cultural and commercial footprint. For an independent label in a notoriously difficult industry, that trajectory speaks for itself.
Rejina Pyo Today
Rejina Pyo continues to operate on her own terms — and that includes how and when she presents her collections. Rather than being locked into the traditional fashion calendar, she has leaned into a more flexible, community-led approach to showing her work. Events like the Copenhagen dinner — an intimate gathering where guests could connect with the brand directly — reflect a growing belief that fashion should be experienced, not just observed.
The brand continues to grow thoughtfully across ready-to-wear, accessories, jewellery, and Rejina Pyo shoes, with future ambitions that include expanding into menswear and even homeware. Whatever comes next, it is clear that Rejina Pyo is building something that is designed, much like her clothes, to last.
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