The Philippine Online Chronicles

One of the most talked about topics of 2009 was who would First Lady Michelle Obama wear to the inauguration ball. Several well-known designers submitted their designs such as Badgley Mischka, Christian Lacroix, Monique Lhuillier, Oscar de la Renta, Karl Lagerfeld, Diane von Furstenberg, Carolina Herrera, and Marc Jacobs. Verily, the whole thing was short of a fashion battle, and when the First Lady walked out that night wearing an ethereal white chiffon gown, her choice could not have been more perfect. The battle was won by 26-year old, up-and-coming designer Jason Wu.

In that unimaginably surreal moment when Wu saw his dress on TV, he admits that the fact did not set in until the phones in his apartment started ringing and ringing.

“It’s difficult to describe. I was over the moon. I know I am an unusual choice for a first lady. I didn’t think it was my turn yet,” said Wu in an interview the day after the inauguration ball.

Wu may have thought his time was not ripe yet, but that fateful night revealed otherwise. It marked and sealed the start of his rising career in fashion.

To dress a First Lady

“It was like a dream, except not a dream in a way because I could never have dreamed something like this would happen. I didn’t have any idea she was going to wear the dress,” said Wu.

Ironically, Wu never met the first lady before he designed a dress for her. It was Ikram Goldman who introduced his work to Mrs. Obama and asked him to submit his sketches.

“I sent several sketches, but the one she picked, the white dress, was actually the very first one I drew,” he said.

When he was finished making the dress, Wu could not just send the gown to Goldman through Fedex. Instead, he personally flew to Chicago, with the garment bag in his lap, and hand-delivered the same to Goldman.

Now the monumental gown is stored within the hallowed walls of the Smithsonian National Museum, together with the inaugural gowns worn by Jackie Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, and Laura Bush.

“It’s priceless to be a part of history,” said Wu.

Indeed, Wu has ensured his mark in fashion history. It is however, not only due to the First Lady’s adoration of his work. He has, in fact, another influential lady as one of his ardent fans sealing his place further on the fashion map — American Vogue’s Anna Wintour.

The hard to please Editor-in-Chief had her eyes set on Wu even before the First Lady recognized him. She sat in his show at New York Fashion Week last 2008 and was reported to have had a faint smile on her face all throughout the show, and even clapped and grinned when Wu finally took his bow. Needless to say, Wu received the Vogue stamp of approval from no less than the head honcho herself.

Other than this, Wintour also nominated Wu as one of the finalists in the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA)/Vogue Fashion Fund sponsorship for new talent, a project which she also spearheaded.

While Wu may not have won first place, he did garner more than his fair share of support from two high-ranking females in the fashion world.

From Barbie to Bergdofs

Before he started designing clothes for women, Wu initially designed for dolls. Originally born in Taipei, his parents, who run an import-export business, immigrated their family to Vancouver when he was nine years old. It was there where he had his first interaction with fashion, learning to sew and draft patterns, and sketching designs using dolls as his mannequins.

Wu later on went to a school in Connecticut, took sculpture studies in Tokyo, and then joined a an exchange program at a Rennes, Brittany school. During this period, he occasionally visited Paris where his love for fashion grew even more. He eventually decided that he wanted to be a fashion designer.

Surprisingly, however, he did not begin designing for real women then. Instead, he undertook freelance doll clothing designs for Integrity Toys where he had a line in his own name. Later on, Wu started working on a high-end fashion line for dolls which was called Fashion Royalty. A prodigy in his own right, he became the Creative Directory of Integrity Toys when he was 17 years old.

After high school, he decided to return to New York and studied in Parsons School of Design. He did not finish, however, and stayed merely for 3 ½ years, leaving afterwards to intern for designer Narciso Rodriguez.

After his internship, he finally launched his own eponymous label in 2006. Marked with his signature aesthetic of classic glamour combined with modern ease, Wu was immediately touted as a natural successor to ‘occasion wear’ specialists such as Oscar de la Renta and Carolina Herrera. In 2009, Wu received his first award from Fashion Group International who acknowledged him as a Rising Star.

Wu’s steady rise in the fashion ranks smacks of wunderkind nuances, and there seems to be no signs of slowdown from him. His collections for Spring 2012 and Pre-fall 2012 have already received generous praises, with Vogue referring to him as “the princeling purveyor of sheath dresses.” Vogue continued on with their praise saying: “His spring 2012 runway had every one of his pretty and precious Wu-isms all present and correct—delicate lace, sparkling embroideries, fluttery feathers galore. But it was how they were worked, and what they were worn with, that revealed new dimensions to what this young designer is capable of.”

Currently, Wu has a collaboration with Target to be released this February 5. His clients, other than Mrs. Obama, include Ivanka Trump, Lisa, Cant, Amber Valetta, Diane Kruger, and Jaime King.

The tabloids may have named him an overnight sensation for being Michelle Obama’s designer pick, but his staple presence in New York Fashion Week, roster of loyal A-list clients which include the First Lady herself, Diane Kruger and Jaime King, and a Rising Star award from Fashion Group International, only proved that he is more than just basking on a temporary spotlight. He is in it for the long run.

Photos screencapped from Vogue, Glamour Nerd, and Glamour.