Chinese couturier Guo Pei has made waves in the wold of fashion by creating pieces of art with her dresses. Her amazing designs can be seen at the Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy in San Francisco’s Legion of Honor museum.
From Chinese imperial history to cathedral architecture and everywhere in between, she draws her inspiration from everywhere, which is why she has been able to successfully blur the boundaries between her fashion and art. Pei incorporates the most extraordinary accessories and themes in her gowns and dresses, making them ethereal and strikingly beautiful.
Dan Cristian Padur/Unsplash. Guo Pei’s work has been cited as a work of art and is on display at various art museums across the world.
When talking about Guo Pei’s work, San Francisco’s Fine Arts Museum CEO Thomas P Campbell said that she did not care much about what’s trending worldwide currently. She sails in her own direction, and has charted her own path. She brings out all the figments of her imagination to create the most exquisite designs, and build links and themes unimaginable. In his words, he is amazed at how she can synthesize her creations so broadly.
Kit Sanchez/Unsplash. Guo Pei draws inspiration from architecture to history and everything in between.
Campbell first discovered Guo’s work in 2015 at the China: Through the Looking Glass exhibition held at New York's Metropolitan Art Museum. Her famous Da Jing gown was on display at the time, with its intricately lavish embroidery in silver and gold all across its bodice and bell-shaped skirt The entire gown took some two years and a million dollars to reach its full glory.
Later that year, Guo gained international attention for designing Rihanna’s Met Ball attire: a lemon-yellow lavishly embellished cape with a 14-foot trail, a costume that weighed almost 40 lbs. It was during this period that she suddenly became a fashion sensation in the Western world, while she had previously been honing her talents and crafts silently for decades.
Kris Atomic/Unsplash. It was Guo Pei’s grandmother whose stories of exquisite royal dresses drew her to the world of fashion.
Guo was born in 1967 during Mao's cultural revolution period. She had quite a serious childhood, with a father who was a platoon leader. She found solace in the arms of her grandmother, who was one of the members of the Qing dynasty and although her grandmother had to give up all of her material possessions, her passion for fashion remained intact. At nights, Guo would listen to tales of her grandma’s exquisite attire and royal garments, and this is how Guo developed her love for dresses and all things beautiful.
She pursued her interest in fashion design and went on to have a successful career in China’s newly-built fashion industry. Since she had no one to look up to when growing up, Guo developed her own style and paid no heed to the traditional ways of doing things. It wasn’t long before she was making news across the world for her unique art piece dresses and red carpet attires.
