Adrian Wu

Early life

Adrian Wu was born in Burlington, Ontario. Wu credits most of Wu's inspiration from Wu's mother Jean Carole Wu. Wu's maternal grandmother Joan Davis was the head designer of Tai Ping Carpets Hong Kong in the 1960s. Adrian Wu attended Hillfield Strathallan College and in late 2009 Wu attended the University of Toronto aiming to go into a career of sex therapy. They dropped out after one year.

After creating Wu's portfolio, Wu was accepted by the Istituto Marangoni, but deferred the offer to start Wu's own company in September 2010. In 2011, Adrian Wu opened Wu's first boutique in downtown Toronto.

Career

Wu learned to sew in 2009 after they dropped out of the University of Toronto. Wu's first break was being offered a position at MuchMusic in April 2010 as a Fashion Correspondent, where they worked for half a year. The same day that Wu was offered the position, they received an invitation to show their Fall Winter 2010 Collection at Vancouver Fashion Week. Wu was nineteen years old. Wu showed their very first time at Vancouver Fashion Week which kick started Wu's career as a fashion designer. Wu participated in the Spring-Summer 2011 Collection at the National Gallery of Canada during the Ottawa Fashion Week in October 2010. In the same month, Wu met Shawn Hewson of Project Runway Canada through the Alumni Association of Hillfield Strathallan College. Hewson mentored Wu for a year and introduced them to The Fashion Design Council of Canada. In 2009 artist Mehrnaz had illustrated a painting of one of Wu's earlier pieces.

In November 2010, Wu was offered their first corporate collaboration with Allan Candy. Wu was commissioned to create dresses out of Allan Candy wrappers for an online advertisement. This was the first time Allan Candy had collaborated with a fashion designer and used the advertisement to launch the candy "DOPS".

Quickly known as the 18-year-old-boy who modelled their own dresses, Prestel published Adrian Wu internationally in a book called Style Diaries in February 2011. Wu was featured as "one of the most influential forces behind tomorrow's trends" – Simone Werle. Style Diaries was distributed in over 50 countries.

In March 2011, R&B singer Keisha Chante modelled Adrian Wu's dress in the Dare to Wear Love Fashion Show. Wu's work was featured after at Textile Museum of Canada as a part of Canada's first Fashion Exhibition, called Dare to Wear Love, in support of The Stephen Lewis Foundation.

At twenty-one, Wu debuted their Spring-Summer 2012 Collection at Toronto Fashion Week titled "Creatures of the Photons" with dresses resembling "large testicles and penis shapes jutting". See below for controversial links. Wu has been critiqued as having "remarkable silhouettes" quoted by The Ottawa Citizen. Huffington Post said Wu had "dramatic and breathtaking designs." Wu was also quoted as being "a fashion wunderkind" by both Ottawa Citizen and Toronto Star.

Wu had the opportunity to collaborate with Margaret Atwood for the Book Lovers Ball, hosted in support of the Toronto Public Library in January 2012. Wu created designs inspired by Margaret Atwood's book "In Other Worlds". Margaret tweeted that Adrian Wu is "a brilliant designer". In March 2012, Adrian Wu was also involved with the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada in Wu's annual event The Heart Truth Foundation. Jessi Cruikshank, eTalk's Host modeled the Heart Truth Fashion Show's opening dress. Later that month, Canada's Got Talent Host Dina Pugliese modeled Adrian Wu's custom designed dress for the Dare to Wear Love Fashion Show. The annual Steven Lewis Foundation Fashion Show was Toronto Fashion Week's Finale show featuring the top 16 designers of Canada. Celebrity models included Jeanne Beker and Bob Marley's grand daughter, Donisha Prendergast.

Wu has dressed celebrities such as Jessi Cruickshank, Keshia Chante, Dina Pugliese, Kreesha Turner, and Christine Avanti.

Wu has been covered by various publications including Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Life Magazine, Dresstokill Magazine, Huffington Post, Hamilton Spectator, Burlington Post, Toronto Star, Globe and Mail, The Vancouver Sun, World Journal, Flare Magazine, Fashion Magazine, ELLE Magazine, and the National Post. [21] Wu has also been covered by such television news programs like Fashion Television, Sun News, CityTV, CBC, CTV, AChannel, eTalk, and Associated Press.

Wu designed a tutu for The National Ballet of Canada's 60th anniversary celebration which is to be debuted late 2012. Wu has also recently been commissioned to their second corporate collaboration recently. Wu was to create a dress out of toilet paper for Cashmere (previously known as Cottonelle). Cashmere plans to launch this collection in September 2012. Wu became a spokesperson for Perrier as an official social influencer in 2012.

Debut

After Wu's debut at Toronto Fashion Week late 2011, Natalie Atkinson of the National Post criticized them for "threads hanging from the seam" and sending "unabashedly hairy-legged boys" down the runway. She concluded the review with "...if Wu is earnest, I would urgently refer Wu to land an internship at Comme des Garçons or Margiela".

Fashion Magazine called Wu 'overwrought' and Flare Magazine has said "One of the most unforgettable shows we saw this season".

Gawker

In early 2012, Wu had their "Hierarchy of Needs" FW12 show at Toronto Fashion Week, which involved models wearing Guy Fawkes masks. This caused controversy quoting the Toronto Star to say, "message baffles audience". Wu also caught the attention of Gawker, which questioned the designer's judgment for citing the group Anonymous.

Personal life

In 2015, Adrian Wu came out to the public as neutrois, a non-binary gender identity and started going by gender-neutral pronouns. In the following year, Wu wrote an article on the Medium explaining the concept of being non-binary and how it differs greatly from other transgender identities. Wu has since openly participated in the Trans Fusion drop-ins at the Sherbourne Health Centre in Toronto, advocating for the visibility of non-binary identities within the vast spectrum of gender diversity. Wu frequently posts video updates about their transition journey on their personal YouTube channel as of 2016.

Reception

Canadian fashion ranking aggregate website Canadian-Fashion.ca rated Adrian Wu 2 out of 5 stars for their body of work.

Fashion magazine reviewed Wu's debut collection saying it, "...failed to impress". It later went on to write, "While the gowns themselves were quite striking in a palette of muted colours and constructed to Wu’s signature voluminous style, it was not the focus of the audience, and apparently not that of its either. On more than a few pieces, faulty zippers and rogue hem threads stuck out like sore sartorial thumbs."