Michelle Obama's inaugural gown puts fashion designer Jason Wu back in the spotlight

Jason Wu was a relative newcomer in the fashion world in January 2009 when Michelle Obama appeared at the inaugural gala wearing a one-shoulder chiffon gown by the designer, then just 26 years old.

Suddenly Wu, who was born in Taiwan, was on the map. He has spent the last four years building his consumer base and product assortment to include clothes at a variety of prices, accessories, and even cosmetics.
But for all the buzz, neither Wu nor industry insiders expected the first lady to wear another of his designs to the second-term inaugural ball. Seems like she fell in love with Wu's red velvet and chiffon dress with a diamond ring by Kimberly McDonald at the neckline. Photos of it were instantly seen and shared on social media around the globe Monday night.

"Inshock!!!" Wu tweeted.
"To be honest, I was surprised," said Steven Kolb, CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America in New York. The organization has a membership of more than 400 top fashion industry talents, including Wu, who won its emerging designer award for women's wear in 2010.

"I've known him very well from the early years of his career," Kolb says. "He's basically the same person he was then. He's humble, and still has that childlike enthusiasm and excitement when something good happens."

But being a nice guy isn't going to get you far in the fashion business. "To succeed, no matter what opportunities you are given, if the talent isn't there, you have nothing to leverage," Kolb says.
The designer's ability to create clothes that are both modern and elegant set him apart from the pack, according to Ken Downing, senior vice president for fashion at Neiman Marcus. "A return engagement in elegance made for perfect partners when Michelle Obama chose Jason Wu again," Downing said in an email Tuesday. "Jason once again proved he is a designer that transcends generations."

The 2013 inaugural gown will be donated to the National Archives for display in a future Obama presidential library, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. Her first inaugural gown was given to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., where the ensemble is exhibited in the first ladies collection.

Wu is savvy about business as well as being creative. His company has grown from four to 30 employees as he continues to produce his seasonal fashion collections sold at such stores as Neiman Marcus. He also launched a high-end handbag and shoe line, and collaborated with Target in 2012. Among the designer's latest ventures is his Miss Wu contemporary line of clothing for Nordstrom, in stores and online this month.

Wu dedicated his life to his creative pursuits beginning at an early age. His family moved to Canada when he was 9 and he started designing and sewing clothes, using dolls as his first models, according to the biography on his website. At age 14, Wu went to Tokyo to study sculpture. He decided to become a fashion designer after spending his senior year of high school in Paris. Fashion studies followed at New York's Parsons School of Design and Wu launched his first collection in 2006. In 2008, he was a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund nominee for the Swarovski Award for Womenswear and received the Fashion Group International's Rising Star award.

"He's part of what I like to the call the new generation of American talent," Kolb says of a group that includes such designers as Alexander Wang, Prabal Gurung and Thom Browne, whose coat Michelle Obama wore to Monday's swearing-in ceremony. "There hasn't been a pool of talent like this in some time."