Michelle Obama's favourite designer Jason Wu: London Times

Quoted via London Times:

Jason Wu designsIn the grand tradition of Fashion Mothers, Mrs Wu knew that Michelle Obama had elected to wear one of her son's designs to the inauguration balls, before he did. She cried when she saw the evidence. Then he cried. For an hour. “I called my mother in Taiwan from New York the minute that I saw the pictures,” recalls Wu. “Naturally she'd seen them first. I think by that point everything I did was being tracked by the press in Taiwan; it actually eases the pressure on me, because I'm not always good at calling her back. Now she says that I don't have to. She knows what I'm up to from the cuttings.”

The weeping seems out of character, given what a model of rational and mature calm he is both times we meet. But this was an immense deal. Not just because the speculation leading up to the inauguration was intense. Not even because he worked for two solid weeks on the double- layered, one-shouldered, fairytale of a white chiffon, embroidered dress. But because being chosen to dress America's most significant First Lady in decades was a validation for someone whose early sense of identity was troubled. “Was my childhood traumatic?” he muses. “Let's just say Taipei 20 years ago was an extremely conventional society. I played with dolls. I made little clothes for them. I think if my family hadn't left it would have become traumatic.” more