Much of the collection, which debuts this week, was shot in Hong Kong’s outdoor street markets.“Hong Kong is one of my favorite places to be in the world.” So says Jason Wu, the fashion designer who recently celebrated 10 years in the business. Wu, who was born in Taiwan, has been to the international city many times throughout his life. “It’s only an hour-and-a-half flight from Taiwan, so I’ve been going there since I was a little kid,” he says. “For me, it’s a place that holds of lot of childhood memories.” And while Wu goes to Hong Kong once a year—twice if he’s lucky—last November he found himself in the metropolis for work. Wu was was speaking at a forum at the same time that he was ready to photograph his Pre-Fall collection for Grey Jason Wu. Luckily for Wu, the other members of his team also happened to be in the city at the time, so they decided to do the shoot there. “To do an outdoor shoot in New York in November would be really difficult,” Wu says. “But Hong Kong has always been known for its great weather: It doesn’t really get that cold there. So since we were all in town we thought, Why not do it now?” Much of the collection, which debuts this week, was shot in Hong Kong’s outdoor street markets. “It just felt really appropriate because a lot of what Grey is about is everyday clothing,” Wu explains. “I loved seeing the clothes in these real life situations, especially because I very much grew up going to these food markets. That’s still a very important way that people in Hong Kong shop today. It’s not really a grocery store culture.” But besides the shoot, food was the predominant theme of Wu’s overall trip. When asked what he most enjoyed about his visit, Wu simply replied, “The food. Definitely.” Wu is a big fan of bubble tea, which he describes as being one of his childhood comfort foods. But that was far from the only thing he ate while in town. “Culturally speaking,” Wu explains, “Chinese food is predominant in Hong Kong. But there’s just so many different types. Between the street vendors and the hole-in-the-wall restaurants and the hot new places, there’s really something from everyone.” Indeed. Wu very much enjoyed grabbing dim sum, a Hong Kong and Cantonese specialty, at Yung Kee. However, there’s another establishment that he calls his absolute favorite. “Din Tai Fung actually originated in Taiwan,” Wu starts off. “It’s this Michelin star dumpling place that always has a line out the door. It’s not fancy, but you go in and there are like 50 people making dumplings behind a glass [partition] so you can see everything. I just think they have the best soup dumplings in the entire world, so I try to go whenever I can.” Sounds like it’s time to book a trip to Hong Kong. But what exactly should first-time visitors expect? “You know how we call New York the city that never sleeps?” Wu asks. “Somehow Hong Kong is that on overdrive. It’s always lit up, all the time. It never gets quiet. You could leave your hotel at 3 a.m. and things would still be in full swing.”
POST: 2024-04-26