All across New York Fashion Week there are whispers about its future. Many of the city’s famed designers, like Proenza Schouler, Rodarte, Thom Browne, and Altuzarra, have recently decamped to Paris leaving a creative chasm in the schedule. However, not everyone has left, notably not Jason Wu (whose international celebrity may be in part thanks to his famous all American clientele that includes Michelle Obama and the current FLOTUS Melania Trump).
With the weight of American fashion riding on Wu’s shoulders, he showed an arresting collection in Brooklyn today. Colourful and unfussy, the collection was at its core, 'all-American sportswear', as he described to WWD. 'There’s quite a lot of sensuality and sexiness, — very feminine — but a bit more casual for sure.'
The collection tossed between shirting and separates in rose-hued ticking stripes, and clashing florals twisted together. The hothouse of fauna prints were a deft reference to his recently launched eponymous perfume, which is Wu's first fragrance venture.
Dresses were rendered with gaping cutouts and a-symmetric silhouettes. The snappy palette coloured ultra feminine tailoring and sporty, body-con slip dresses.
Though Wu has a substantial red-carpet following, this spring/summer 2018 collection delivered a dressed-down look from the label. Instead of delivering blockbuster ball gowns or slinky red carpet designs, he played with draping, knotting and cutting to create the knockout effect.
To complement the pared-back designs, Wu’s model army, which included Bella Hadid, Lineisy Montero and Lily Aldridge, struck gold with bronzed, but nearly barefaced make-up looks. Other than a streak of black eyeliner that dramatically painted their lids, their skin was strobed with dots of fake freckles drawn on. In an equally unpossessing move, their hair was merely slicked back and kept off their faces so as to let the clothes talk for themselves.