For his latest line, Canadian designer Jason Wu converges both runway and gallery, model as pedestal and fabric as medium, culminating in a spectacle of textile artistry for his Spring 2026 collection.  

Wu’s reference point is American artist and graphic designer Robert Rauschenberg’s Hoarfrost series (1974–76) and Airport Suite editions (1974), works defined by their translucent fabrics and solvent-transferred imagery. In layering images, textures, and a melange of unexpected symbols, Wu echoes Rauschenberg’s artistic discipline with strips of washed satin, silk twill, and organza assembled into airy matrices. 

Lingerie-inspired trompe l’oeil motifs, delicate embroidery, and artisanal finishes add intimacy, as tenets of Americana lore posit an unexpected twist. Take Rauschenberg’s Groundings (Hoarfrost) (1975), which famously incorporated a Purina Dog Chow bag into its layered surface, transforming the mundane into an emblem of culture. Wu seizes on that irreverence, weaving Purina’s checkerboard heritage into his designs with that same spirit of wit and affection. 

The runway further embeds Wu’s show into the context of collage, staged within a labyrinth inspired by Rauschenberg’s A Quake in Paradise (1994)—a kaleidoscopic installation of reflective and translucent panels juxtaposed with Aaron Siskind’s photographs.

In doing so, Wu deftly borrows from art history and actively converses with its legacy, treating his clothing as collage to further underscore fashion’s capacity for cultural documentation.