Since the last season of Ottawa Fashion Week in March, Adrian Wu has been busy. Aside from doing interviews for CBC and eTalk, he has also been busy “celebrity shopping” for a new muse and model for his upcoming “Dare to Wear” charity fashion show in Toronto. Even more exciting is the possibilty of him sending a dress to the fashion monster herself, Lady Gaga. But don’t get too excited- sending her a dress is one thing, but getting her to wear it and recognize his name is another. Though he is busy with his summer projects, Wu has still managed to find enough time to create a resort collection.
Being one of the only Canadian designers to release four collections a year, Wu says that his “resort” collection is more a commercial term rather than a resort style. His newest collection is conceptually based on Mayan conspiracy and molecular constructions. The story behind his fashion film is of two girls landing on the top of the world, lost and unknown. This plays on the concept of extraterrestrialism and the idea that humans are trying to find life on Mars through molecular life. It also touches on the famous conspiracy theory that the world is to come to an end in 2012.
When I sat down to talk to Wu, he opened the discussion with how “nothing in this world is natural”. Wu strongly believes that everything is a social construction. As an atheist, he feels that “belief is a threat to intelligence”. His natural curiosity has lead him to develop a keen interest in philosophy, logical thinking, and curiosity. Wu also claims that he is an advocate for anti-institutionalism and anti-politics. He questions where our societal norms came from, who thought of them, and why they are in place. He drew on genderlessness again where he stated that the difference between a man and a woman is not necessarily physical features, but masculinity/femininity. “If a man was a size 2 and had the right figure for it, why couldn’t he wear a dress?” Wu says that gender should be irrelevant and that people should just dress to suit their body type. He is more interested in a person’s personal style than fashion trends, which are deemed as beauty by society.
Wu worked with Cloud in the Sky Studios to produce his resort collection video and spoke highly of their collaboration: “I believe in good work, I believe in quality work” said Wu, “They believe in the artistic meaning and message-spreading and overall sense of professionalism, craftsmanship, and quality”. The collaboration worked with Adrian acting as the producer and visionary for the film, and the Cloud in the Sky production crew acted as the directors that “translated [his] vision into filmography”.
Wu says that he would ideally like to move to Ottawa to build his name here. He says that Ottawa has shown a lot of love and hype for him, which would be helpful in promoting his name internationally. Wu says that we can expect him back at Ottawa Fashion Week and that like last season, we can expect not only his clothing pieces, but a fabulous production.
Click here to watch Cloud in the Sky’s fashion film.
^SK
Impressive designs and for a social cause. Great going!