For Jason Wu, “Fashioning Chinese Women: Empire to Modernity” is more than a museum collaboration. It’s a return to a passion that first shaped his work.
“I started my career when I was 17, and I had designed dolls,” Wu said, explaining he got his start designing collectible dolls for Integrity Toys in New York. “It’s something that I kept doing the last 30 years, and so that allowed me to really understand how to sculpt figures and how to work in 3D.”
The exhibition — opening at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Sunday and running through Oct. 12 — explores the evolution of Chinese women’s dress across decades of social transformation. Wu customized the faces, hairstyles and finishes of the exhibition’s original 3D-printed mannequins for about 50 of its more than 70 historic looks.
But it’s also a deeply personal project.
“I’m 43, but I feel like I’m finally mature enough to really tackle my own background,” said Wu, who was born in Taiwan and is of Chinese heritage. “I was always really afraid to do it. Would I be too literal? How do I translate my culture in a way that still feels modern, and also incorporates my international training? It’s always been a really big topic for me, and a little daunting. So right now, it just feels like I’m finally ready to do it.”
