Jason Wu Quotes
-
when I moved to Canada in '93, I started reading fashion magazines, and that's where I spotted the M.A.C ad that RuPaul were in. That's sort of how I first "met" you - in the red bodysuit. That was so iconic to me.
→ -
I love the idea of working with women because I always feel like a man designing womenswear needs women around him to really have a sense of what they're doing.
→ -
Buy things you truly love, things that are special, but not a lot of them. It’s about value, not quantity.
→ -
My inspirations come from everywhere. It's important to look at everything and anything.
→ -
As a designer you have to just do whatever you want to do. The second I came to terms with that, it transformed my work.
→ -
I always have the TV on. When there's no TV, I play music. I like having noise. I think that's why New York is so suitable for me, because it's never really fully quiet.
→ -
The idea of transformation is super-important to me. You can see it in the way I approach things. I have never been a clean-faced, freshly scrubbed hair person. I'm the New York designer who doesn't do that. I think about the hair and makeup almost as much as I think about the clothes because it all has to work.
→ -
In designing for the first lady, I tried to sort of be in her shoes, but I didn't really look at her as an important political figure. I looked at her as a woman who would like to wear a beautiful dress to an important gala.
→ -
I would love to take an old space and restore it to exactly the way I want it. Like an old factory, just something with great bones and lots of character. I'd take an old house and flip it into something very modern inside, or the other way around.
→ -
I think a beautiful dress on the wrong woman could mean nothing. It has to be the right woman and the right clothes. That's why you need that personal touch. I mean, that's why I went into this business to begin with.
→ -
I think it's really important to make things your own in your voice. I started when I was 23, and in the beginning of my career, there was this expectation of a young designer being edgier, cooler, more downtown. But I was never that person.
→ -
I worked 10 years as a toy designer before I started my career as a fashion designer. It's something I just fell into and really liked.
→ -
I didn't understand anything about fashion until I moved to Canada when I was 9. That's when I learned English and was exposed to fashion magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue.
→ -
I miss All Stars, by the way. I was just telling people: how am I going to get by until January?
→ -
I woke up one day and I was like, "I don't have anything to save for myself for the future." That's when I started archiving things. I take four or five things that are really key to each collection, and I restore them or, in some cases, remake parts of them, and archive them.
→ -
Designers have always shown outlandish and exuberant clothes, but that hasnt always translated to the streets.
→ -
In American culture you leave home at 18. In the Asian culture, your parents don't really want you to leave home. So my parents just thought I was going to be one of those kids. I was like, "I'm never going to make a living at whatever I do." I just liked pretty things.
→ -
We all want to be a little glamorous, a little playful and a little mischievous at times.
→ -
I hope I am the antithesis of disposable fashion.
→ -
I realized the importance of archiving. So I save key pieces from my collections, as well as any red-carpet things that become iconic. I always ask for that stuff back. I'm like, "It's going in my archives."
→ -
Anyone who knows me knows that I don't know anything about politics. Every time I go to Washington, I feel like I'm in Legally Blonde.
→ -
I think what I create is serious fashion, but I don't want to keep my focus on that. You have to look at a lot of different things. I mean, people are always surprised when they find out that my favorite show is RuPaul's Drag Race.
→ -
My parents loved me, and I think they realized that I was probably not going to have a normal 9-to-5 job. For the longest time, my dad thought that I was just going to be home until I was, like, 35, which, weirdly, is completely normal in Asian families.
→ -
I love old architecture. I love collecting furniture, mixing really earthy things with the very polished. I don't come from an interiors background, so I'm not an expert. I just enjoy going to antiques shows and finding interesting things.
→ -
I think clothing is transformative. When you put something really beautiful on, you feel something. In so many ways, were always playing a form of dress-up - its just a grown-up, much chicer version of it. Its nice to be able to be whoever you want to be.
→ -
My parents are very comfortable with the way that I am, and I think they've always been. Without that, I don't think that I would have ever have been able to grow into the person that I am today. I never felt like I was hiding anything from them.
→ -
I was very preppy in my childhood. I also went through an anti-clothing moment where I just wanted to wear sweats because I'd just moved to Canada. My mom was always trying to get me into proper clothes, but I never wanted to wear them, and now that's all I wear.
→ -
I need to feel like I'm part of something. I need to feel part of the world when I go to sleep.
→ -
I hope being gay isn't the most interesting thing about me.
→ -
My mom used to take me to antique shows, which I hated because everything was so dusty and old and there were all these weird ladies selling their antiques. We call them "eclectic" now. But it was really amazing that I was exposed to that when I was younger. Now that I have my own taste, I understand it more.
→
Related Authors
-
Diane von Furstenberg Fashion designer -
Peter Som Fashion designer -
Thakoon Panichgul Fashion designer -
Monique Lhuillier Fashion designer -
Marc Jacobs Fashion designer -
Vera Wang Fashion designer -
Phillip Lim Fashion designer -
Giambattista Valli Fashion designer -
Stella McCartney Fashion designer -
Prabal Gurung Fashion designer -
Alexander Wang Fashion designer -
Emilio Pucci Fashion designer -
Joseph Altuzarra Clothing designer -
Zac Posen Fashion designer -
Carolina Herrera Fashion designer -
Elie Saab Fashion designer -
Roberto Cavalli Fashion designer -
Oscar de la Renta Fashion designer -
Karlie Kloss Fashion Model -
Donna Karan Fashion designer