Robert Rauschenberg’s Fabric Works Inspired Jason Wu Spring Collection

Robert Rauschenberg 1925-2008, United States Follow +

A show at New York’s Brooklyn Navy Yard this month will place the work of avant-garde artist Robert Rauschenberg at the forefront of inspiration for a new collection by designer Jason Wu.

Rauschenberg’s inventive use of fabric has informed the silhouettes and textures of Jason Wu’s new collection ‘Collage’, which will debut on 14 September at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The runway show will be staged around a major Rauschenberg work on loan from the Foundation.

In the 1970s, Rauschenberg travelled to Israel and India, drawing inspiration from local craftspeople’s use of fabrics and paper. Upon his return, he created ‘Airport Suite’ (1974) and ‘Hoarfrosts’ (1974–76), two series of relief and intaglio prints on fabric that incorporated collage elements such as bottle caps, paper bags, buttons, and rope.

Wu said his new collection has ‘a very direct link to the legacy and mythology of Robert Rauschenberg’.

He described his own process as that of a Taiwan-born, Vancouver-raised immigrant who ‘collects what seem disparate references into my creations’.

Rauschenberg himself was no stranger to design—in the 1950s, long before artist-brand crossovers became common, he worked with Jasper Johns on window displays for Tiffany & Co, and later created costumes and sets for dance.

To mark the centenary of the American post-war pioneer, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation has organised a series of exhibitions and events running through 2026, including Five Friends, a major exhibition exploring his relationships and collaborations with Cy Twombly, John Cage, Jasper Johns, and Merce Cunningham.

On 12 September, the Museum of the City of New York will open a major solo exhibition devoted to his explorations of photography and found objects. The next week, the Menil Collection in Houston will present Robert Rauschenberg: Fabric Works of the 1970s, centred on Rauschenberg’s long-standing interest in textiles, including the ‘Hoarfrosts’.—[O]