Jason Wu unveiled “Collage,” his spring 2026 ready-to-wear collection created in collaboration with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, in a show staged in the Agger Fish building at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The collection, formally authorized by the foundation, translates the foundation’s archival material and the artist’s fabric-focused works into mixed-media garments that combine translucent textiles, solvent-transferred images and unexpected materials.
The presentation threaded its runway through Robert Rauschenberg’s installation A Quake in Paradise (Labyrinth) (1994), a maze of transparent, reflective and opaque panels that incorporate Rauschenberg’s own photographs alongside Aaron Siskind’s Divers from the 1950s Pleasures and Terrors of Levitation series. With a drone recording overhead, models walked the path between the panels as the clothes—swingy strips of washed satin, silk twill and organza—moved and shifted with their motion.
Wu cited Rauschenberg’s Hoarfrost series (1974–76) and the Airport Suite editions (1974) as direct inspirations, reworking the artist’s emphasis on fabric, layering and surface treatment into wearable pieces. The designer used patchwork techniques to assemble slips, bras, jackets and evening gowns, many finished with delicate embroidery and artisanal detailing that echoed the textured, collage-like quality of Rauschenberg’s work.
Sixteen-year-old Kai Schreiber opened the show. Schreiber, the daughter of actors Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber, has walked in several high-profile presentations this season, including Calvin Klein and Michael Kors. Watts, seated in the front row, said of her daughter, “She’s doing a great job,” and added that Schreiber trains as a dancer and has been preparing for runway work.
Other front-row attendees included actor and playwright Danai Gurira, model Devon Windsor, Larsen Thompson and actors Lily Rabe and Hamish Linklater. Observers noted the integration of the gallery-like environment and runway choreography, with garments designed to engage visually with the installation’s reflective and transparent surfaces.
The collaboration with the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation gave Wu access to archival source material and an opportunity to foreground print and photographic processes in fashion. Several looks incorporated solvent-transferred images, a technique that echoes Rauschenberg’s experimental approach to surface and medium, while the interplay of sheer and opaque panels in the clothing referenced the installation’s layered planes.
Critics and attendees framed the show as part of a broader trend in which contemporary designers seek institutional partnerships with artist estates and foundations to create work that explicitly references visual art. In this instance, Wu’s garments aimed to function as portable compositions—garments that, like Rauschenberg’s pieces, were concerned with surface, texture and the juxtaposition of disparate materials.
The show underscored Wu’s continued interest in artisanal finishes and storytelling through fabric, and it highlighted how collaborations with visual-arts organizations can inform the technical and conceptual development of a collection. By staging the presentation within a major Rauschenberg installation, Wu placed his designs in direct dialogue with the artist’s work, inviting viewers to consider the garments as extensions of the foundation’s archival and aesthetic priorities.