Agenda-setting intelligence, analysis and advice for the global fashion community.
[ NEW YORK, United States — Opens in new window ]
Jason Wu naming his latest collection “Immaculate” seemed to play right into any preconceptions you might have about the perfectly polished aesthetic on which he’s built his career. So the actual clothes were something of a surprise. Immaculate suggests precise, bandbox smart, but Wu literally blurred the lines, softening the strictness of a pencil skirt with a froth of plumes, fuzzing a minimal black suit with feathered voile, leaving seams raw. And was that an angora pantsuit?
“‘Immaculate’ doesn’t have to be perfect,” Wu said backstage, then, on reflection, he decided that actual imperfection was maybe a step too far for him. “When it comes to luxury, everything has to be impeccably made,” he insisted. He called his collection “a response to the craziness”, presumably meaning the volatility of fashion at the moment, rather than any wider global chaos. But, Seb Perrin’s soundtrack of clanging industrial music aside, Wu’s response was muted. Aside from acid yellow and a single hit of tomato red, the palette was somber, even funereal, an impression which was scarcely improved by merry widow black lace or a pressed flower jacquard. Shoulders were a feature, either bared or accentuated with fur tippets. Either look was odd, the shoulders too bare, the tippets tied across plunging necklines, slightly too much on show. So it figured that the best thing in the collection was the cover-ups, mannishly oversized coats which added a welcome touch of film noir glamour. Otherwise, Wu's re-definition of 'immaculate' was too uncertain to convince. And maybe that was his real response to the "craziness."
