FANTASTIC FROCKS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM
Image: Guo Pei couture. Courtesy of Guo Pei.
“In a way, I am just a seamstress,” says Guo Pei, one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, and one of the Business of Fashion's 500 most influential people. “I design stories. My design and clothes are my words,” she adds.
Image: Guo Pei. From Alternate Universe collection, A/W 2019/20. Courtesy of Guo Pei.
If they were words, these wondrous, meticulous, fantastical yet wearable creations would rival the pen of Angela Carter. Inspired by fairy tales, legends, and even military history, every fabric, shape, texture, and stitch resonates meaning.
Image. Guo Pei. From Elysium collection. S/S 2018. Courtesy of Guo Pei
Guo Pei’s work marries thousands of years of Chinese embroidery and painting traditions to the cannon of Western couture. When Rihanna wore that dress to the 2015 Met Gala, Guo Pei shot to fame. Now with a studio on the prestigious Rue Saint Honoré, in Paris, she is also the first Asian born and raised member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, allowing her to show in the Paris Haute Couture Week. Her collections have all met wide critical acclaim.
Image: Guo Pei. From East Palace collection S/S 2019. Courtesy of Guo Pei.
Guo Pei is a perfectionist, as well as a seamstress, who began sewing when she was two years old, and quickly developed a passion for dressmaking. In 1986, she graduated, top of her class, from the Beijing School of Industrial Fashion Design, and spent the next 10 years designing for major manufacturers, from childrenswear to high street fashion. Before long she had established her own business, Rose Studio, where her output transitioned rapidly from daywear for successful businesswomen, to elegant gowns for the red carpet, to elaborate wedding gowns, costumes for films, a commission for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Guo Pei emerged as one of China’s most prolific designers.
Image. Guo Pei. From Elysium collection. S/S 2018. Courtesy of Guo Pei
Lavishly embellished, drawing easy comparison with Alexander McQueen, Guo Pei’s confections are visionary— from weighty, exaggerated dresses and skirts moulded into bell shapes, to trailing gowns and majestic headpieces. Fashion mogul, Hong Huang, has described her detailing as “Chinese embroidery on steroids.” Now, it is rumoured, she employs nearly 500 skilled artisans. She is committed to preserving traditional Chinese embroidery techniques, and to nurturing a new generation of embroiderers.
Image. Guo Pei. From Legends collection. S/S 2017. Courtesy of Guo Pei.
And this, one feels, is just the beginning: “I’m trying to move beyond the recognized criteria of haute couture,” she says. “In that sense, I am still refining my ideas.
The exhibition of her work, Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy, currently on show at Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco, has proved so popular, its run has been extended to 27 November. Catch it if you can.