“I stopped doing four themes a year years ago; that is not sustainable. For me it’s one idea for four seasons, four chapters for one year.” So said Jason Wu during a walkthrough of his well-curated 2024 resort collection. The designer’s fascination with the sea and engraving-style prints, both of which appeared in his main spring line, continued here. Hidden within a fig and floral pattern were an octopus and pearl-bearing oysters. A group of these printed pieces were over-embroidered with sequins, yet finished with exposed seams, which more or less mimicked the crosshatch aesthetic of engravings while keeping things unexpectedly casual.
This kind of high/low play ties in with Wu’s sense of treating utilitarian substances as precious and precious substances as utilitarian. What he described as a ‘couture’ tweed appeared on a field jacket. A beautifully fitted hourglass jacket with yellow stitching, as is often the case with jeans. Continuing in structured mode, Wu created a petal dress in tribute to Charles James. “I’m really in love with the 1950s, I really love shape,” he said.
Wu’s resort collection mixed elements from that era with those from another time, the twisty 1930s. There was a narrow saffron sheath that would transform its wearer into a goddess, and petticoats with seaweed-like fringes. These also appeared on the side of a pair of full-leg pants and on the edges of the square top it was paired with. Modern, elegant and with freedom of movement, this ensemble was a beautiful example of the feasibility of evening wear. You could say it was while swimming.
