Nov.

11

Jason Wu

One of the hottest names in fashion right now is Jason Wu, the 27-year old fashion phenom that took America and the world by storm when a certain First Lady wore the white, one-shoulder, silk-chiffon-and-Swarovski-crystal gown that Jason and his team had hand-sewn especially for the historic occasion. The story goes that Jason had no idea that Mrs. O would wear his gown that cold January night, but, like the rest of the nation, sat mesmerized when the O’s took the stage. And just like that, Jason’s life changed forever.

Now, of course, the gown that Jason designed is on permanent display in the “First Ladies at the Smithsonian” exhibition at the National Museum of American History in Washington, DC alongside gowns worn by First Ladies Eleanor Roosevelt, Jackie Kennedy, and Mamie Eisenhower. Not bad for a designer who taught himself how to sew and draft patterns, at the age of 9, by using dolls as mannequins.

The table where Wu sewed Mrs. O's dress

After years of study in Tokyo, Paris and of course, Parsons in New York City, Jason launched Jason Wu Studio in 2006 and soon after, in 2008, was a finalist for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. This past June, Wu won the Swarovski Award for Womenswear at the CFDA Fashion Awards. And it appears that Jason is not content to rest on his past laurels because he plans to debut a cosmetics line with Shiseido, as well as handbags set to launch this January. And! Jason just announced that he is designing a capsule bridal collection for (ZR fave) Net-a-Porter which also debuts this January 2011. Whew, Wu!