I don’t know if it’s the Obama connection or what, but Jason Wu’s show last Friday certainly gave this jaded reporter some Obama-style hope that good things can happen to nice people, and that talent can get paid.
While it’s great that he’s getting so much buzz and attention this season, thanks to Michelle Obama, keep in mind, Wu’s been hitting the right notes with his customers for a while now, and as far as high profile (read: celebrity) supporters, he’s already had a small group who have been “consistently supportive,” he told me after the show.
“All of this has been amazing,” said the exceedingly calm and gracious Wu, “but I have to stay grounded.” And to his credit, he really has done just that—he is as sweet, polite and most importantly—sincere about it—as he was when I first met him after his first show in 2006.
Wu told me at a cocktail party in his honor last week that he hadn’t felt pressure to make the show bigger just to accommodate all those with sudden interest in him—”it’s about the people who have supported you from day one—the retailers and the editors who have been there for me”—though his publicists might have decided otherwise: “I’ve never been to his show before, but it was the only show I wasn’t going to miss this season,” Suze Yalof Schwartz, Glamour editor-at-large told the AP at the show.
So of course his was the hottest invite in town, and I assumed there would be a fight at the door to get in, industry or otherwise—and indeed, the clipboard wielding assistants insisted to more than a few stragglers that there was absolutely no standing room available, even though we saw plenty of room by the time the show had started. But all in all, things were no more chaotic than at a typical show—a few seating snafus here and there, and his publicist running around looking a bit frazzled making sure that everyone from Vogue was happy—it seemed the whole magazine was there, including a fur-collared Anna Wintour, of course.
There was little doubt once the show started that Jason Wu had wooed us, and everyone around us. The word “optimistic” will probably be the most overused adjective this season by reporters trying to describe the positive mood many designers seem keen to embrace this season, but from start to finish that is what Wu’s juicy colors, polished and pretty frocks and exotic textures conveyed. I predict he’ll give Oscar de la Renta a run for his money, because these clothes have all the Park Avenue polish of Oscar, with none of the over-the-hill stuffiness.
After all the hype leading up to this show, it almost seemed a shame to kill the anticipation so early in the week. On the other hand, the gloom and doom of late has everyone in fashion a lot more starved than usual for an entrée with some substance. Jason Wu is our new boy wonder, and deservedly so.
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