For a few seasons now Jason Wu has been leaning into more of an intriguing grit-with-glamour look. He’s also been open about introspection — the fashion industry’s need to slow down. Prior to Sunday’s sunny outdoors show at the Hudson Yards garden, he mentioned the potential decision to do one show a year. So for spring, he said, “Let’s do something culturally meaningful and let the work be lasting.”
His beautiful collection was a celebration of his inspiration, 82-year-old Taiwanese artist Tong Yang-Tze (Ms. Tong). As he told WWD in an exclusive inspiration preview, Wu’s friend Lesley Ma, curator of contemporary art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, introduced the duo. Her renowned large-scale calligraphic arts were selected by the museum for its 2024 Great Hall Commission being unveiled in November — her first major display in the U.S.
“The theme of the collection is ‘Ink,’ and that is a tribute to her life’s work, and at the age of 82, I get to be a part of her legacy, which I hope to help amplify through the medium of fashion,” said Wu, who learned calligraphy in elementary school.
His opening looks translated Tong’s graphic, inky works around the body a la raw-edged sportswear that was silkscreen printed once finished and laid flat, their folds left raw, as seen on his take on a denim jacket and a great trench coat. The idea of wrinkled canvases came through shiny crinkled woven jacquard separates, as well as custom satin gowns — “’50s-inspired numbers that have fallen apart over time,” he said, furthering his study of deconstruction and embracing “the imperfections of it all” with inky woven streaks on fil coupe and deconstruction elements (here, “ink droplet” lasered holes) on a strong array of fluid, pleated layers.
Rounding it out was a breezy, diaphanous white strapless gown, which would make for a great alternative bridal look, that displayed the movement-driven look he was after, while daywear’s more edgy layered, asymmetrical cuts — Sacai-like inspirations, perhaps, a seatmate quipped — proved to be an intriguing take on his muse’s abstract works.
