Janson Wu and his fashion design world

Photo credit: Wikipedia

When Michelle Obama wore a white, one-shoulder gown by Jason Wu to the Inaugural Ball in 2009, the then 26-year-old designer was, as the New York Times described him, “barely known outside the fashion beltway.”

Four years later, Wu, whom the First Lady wore again to the Inaugural Ball Monday evening, has reached mass recognition, having launched a diffusion line with Target in early 2012. The young designer has also partnered with St. Regis hotels on a luggage line and with faucet company Brizo on a bathroom collection, in addition to dressing celebrities such as Diane Kruger, Zoe Saldana and Michelle Williams for red carpet appearances.

The red, chiffon and velvet dress he designed for Obama on Monday night will only raise Wu’s growing profile. The sleeveless gown showed off Obama’s famously toned arms, and she accessorized it with a handmade diamond embellished ring by jewelry designer Kimberly McDonald, and shoes by Jimmy Choo.

Wu and Vogue's editor in Chief Wintour, alexisbittar.com

Jason Wu (吳季剛) was born in Taipei in 1982, then moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada at age nine. He learned how to sew by designing and sewing for dolls, and went on to study sculpture in Tokyo. Wu continued this career path at age sixteen by learning to create freelance doll clothing designs for toy company Integrity Toys under the lines "Jason Wu dolls" and later "Fashion Royalty". The following year, he was named creative director of Integrity Toys. He decided to become a fashion designer while spending his senior year of high school in Rennes, France before graduating from the Loomis Chaffee School in 2001, and studied at the Parsons The New School for Design, a division of The New School in New York. Now, he is a fashion designer based in New York City.

Read more about him at Time Style.

The Hakka Cookbook

"I NEVER KNEW I was eating Hakka food (客家菜) when I was growing up," says Linda Anusasananan, a food writer and former Sunset senior editor. "I just knew it tasted really good." In the new Hakka Cookbook (University of California Press; $40), Anusasananan shares recipes from her grandmother's kitchen and beyond.

Part cookbook, part memoir, the book celebrates the little-known cuisine of the Hakka people, who, after fleeing central China in the fourth century, traveled to southern China, many eventually migrating to places around the world including Peru, Australia, and California. That nomadic lifestyle added layers of diversity to the cuisine's rich broths, salty preserved vegetables, and robust Cantonese flavors. Some think of it as peasant food, but Anusasananan calls it Chinese soul food.

If you want to learn more about this California-influenced, Hakka-style noddle buffet, adapted from her book, please read February issue of Sunset magazine. And please go to author's The Hakka Cookbook blog to learn more Chinese recipes.