There’s no consensus on whether fashion is art, but it is generally accepted that clothes are reflective of the times. In building his spring 2026 collection around the idea of collage, Jason Wu reflected back to us the fragmentation of society and the primacy of imagery. “I think the collection addresses imperfection, and we are in a time where things are complicated and we can’t pretend that everything is perfect, because it never was,” said the designer in a pre-show interview. Among the takeaways from Wu’s show were the learning that we can find beauty in imperfection—and, of course, in art.
Following on his collaboration with Taiwanese artist Tong Yang-Tze for spring 2025, the designer partnered this season with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, which is marking the centenary of the artist’s birth this year. Granted access to the archive, Wu selected Rauschenberg’s Hoarfrost series, executed between 1974 and 1976 in which he applied photographic images to textiles using a solvent transfer technique. Clippings from newspapers and magazines were collaged with found objects and everyday effects of consumer society like actual Purina dog food packaging (versus Warhol’s interpretations of Campbell’s soup cans). “I think a picture is more like the real world when it is made out of the real world,” Rauschenberg once said.
Wu wanted to take this collaboration to the next level: “When it comes to working with an artist that’s so well known and so well respected, the thought process has to start with him as an inspiration, not just his work, but how he did things.” Wu found a point of communality in the artist’s use of collage. “That’s basically what I do in my career,” the designer continued, “I collect everything that I see, and I blend it together into a collection.” In recent seasons, Wu has been exploring deconstruction, and he continued to do so for spring. The skirt of the opening look, which was collaged with images from photos of ’40s and ’50s lingerie fell away from the body. (Rauschenberg’s Hoarfrost series was unframed, and often haphazardly attached to the wall.) Another recurring motif was Wu’s use of strips of fabric which he patched together and showed under transparent fabric or, alternatively, he strategically placed the strips on top of that fabric. Striped shirting and shirt dresses with buttoned panel construction were a nod to the American sportswear tradition. The designer’s use of upholstery like damasks related back to the peeling wallpaper dress he showed for fall.
Some of the prettiest dresses combined prints with lace. Adding to the impact of the presentation was that the models walked among Rauschenberg’s 1994 work A Quake in Paradise (Labyrinth), a series of panels (some transparent) on which Rauschenberg’s printed collages are in dialogue with images of divers from Aaron Siskind’s 1950s Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation series. “There are a lot of clothes in the world,” Wu said. “I think what we do has to mean more than just buying a new dress.” In concert with the Rauschenberg Foundation the designer transformed a runway show into a never-to-be-repeated art filled experience.
