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Designer Adrian Wu brings video game inspired collection to Toronto’s runway

George Pimentel/WireImage

TORONTO – Often referred to as one of North America’s youngest up and coming talents in fashion, Canadian designer Adrian Wu is set to return to Toronto’s World MasterCard Fashion Week Tuesday to debut his spring 2013 collection.

Wu will send models draped in garments dreamed up from an unusual mix of historical references and the idea of a technologically advanced world, which he says were inspired from the popular video game Bioshock.

“The game is inspired by this dystopia and the idea of what if there was nuclear war and civilization advanced. My collection this season is inspired by [the thought of], what if the Cuban missile crisis happened in the 1950s,” said Wu during an interview with Global Toronto’s The Morning Show.
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“I grew up in the 90s and the 2000s and that was the videogame generation; that was the tech boom. I think I like to apply and remember that what I do should be relevant and the tech world is relevant nowadays.”

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The 22-year-old designer, who is often described as being ahead of his time, developed every aspect of this year’s show; from casting the models, to the lighting and set design.

Wu made his debut in 2010 at Vancouver fashion week and was quickly accepted into Insituto Marangoni, a highly regarded fashion school in London, England, as one of only 20 applicants selected each year.

Ironically Wu never had aspirations to pursue a career in the fashion industry – let alone become one of the fastest rising stars in the industry.

“I was discovered online. I never planned to do this – I thought I was going to be a sex therapist, go to U of T and fall in love with my boyfriend,” said Wu.

“Three years ago I realized I could sew and that’s how I jumped into the fashion industry – turned out I was good at it.”

His Spring/Summer 2012 collection which showed at Toronto fashion week lead to a controversial report in the National Post over what were described as “industry mocking creations.”

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“It was a big compliment to me that she [the reporter] would even notice me. This is a learning process for me – I don’t know everything about fashion, I don’t know everything about life. But that was a big wake up call, it was like okay, wow, maybe I should take my ideas more seriously,” said Wu.

“I’ve come to learn that maybe life is all about contradiction and maybe it’s more than fashion, you know, why can’t it be more than fashion?”

Adrian Wu’s Spring 2013 collection will show at 3pm on Tuesday at David Pecaut Square.

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