As the man behind Michelle Obama’s finest fashion moments, Jason Wu is on a mission to prove professional clothes can be pretty

A the man behind Michelle Obama’s finest fashion moments, Jason Wu is on a mission to prove professional clothes can be pretty. Jane Mulkerrins meets him New York

On the second floor of an ornate five-storey townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, Jason Wu is perching on a sleek grey sofa.

‘I had fun decorating this house,’ grins the Taiwanese-born, Canadian-raised, New York-dwelling fashion designer. There are vast gilt mirrors and claw-foot baths, juxtaposed with minimalist chaise longues. ‘It’s my fantasy house,’ he enthuses.

In truth, the androgynous 33-year-old, in white trainers and skinny black jeans, the sleeves of his jacket rolled up, looks barely old enough to have a mortgage. And while he is doing very well for himself, with a successful eponymous label almost a decade old – its reputation boosted in no small measure by the two inauguration gowns he designed for Michelle Obama – whether even he could afford this property remains to be seen.

The house has actually been hired for the day, by Hugo Boss, for whom Wu has acted as artistic director of womenswear since 2013, and which, this week, is launching Boss The Scent for Her.

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