When Jason Wu first stitched a miniature corset for a collectible doll at age 17, he was unknowingly apprenticing in the very structure that would define his later work in lingerie and fashion. Now, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Wu has returned to that foundation with "Fashioning Chinese Women: Empire to Modernity," an exhibition that traces how women's undergarments and outer dress evolved together across a century of Chinese social change. For Wu, the mannequins themselves are the revelation. He customized the faces and proportions of 50 3D-printed figures to reflect the actual body shapes of each era - noting that a 1900s silhouette required the frame of a modern teenager. This attention to the body's architecture is a hallmark of lingerie design, where fit is both engineering and art. The exhibition's 70-plus looks include embroidered Qing dynasty robes and sleek qipaos, but the story beneath them - of corsetry, binding, and the liberation of the silhouette - echoes the lingerie museum's own collection. Wu's new label, Atomic Lab, extends this dialogue with a limited-edition doll dressed in an emerald qipao, complete with genuine jade. It is a collector's piece that, like lingerie itself, exists at the intersection of intimacy and exhibition. The show runs through October 12.
Originally reported by WWD