~ I only recently, less than a year, heard about Chinese fashion designer, Guo Pei, the stereotypical "Overnight" sensation who worked for decades before being "Discovered".
Guo rocketed to international stardom when singer/actress Rihanna wore the gown shown at right to the 2015 Met Gala. The theme of the gala that year was, China: Through the Looking Glass. As they say, the rest is history!
Rihanna later confessed to Vanity Fair that she was not all that confident of herself in it and "Felt like a Clown."
Guo had been creating her fantasy fashions for Chinese celebrities for decades, was considered a national treasure, was funded by the Chinese Government but was unheard of outside of China until that fateful evening.
Jess Cartner-Morley of The Guardian
wrote, "Rihanna's wardrobe is the most talked-about, influential
and dissected in pop right now" and that whatever she wears "is
immediately reproduced on the high street, because it sells".
Guo was born in Beijing in 1967 to two members of China's Communist Party, her father being a former battalion leader of the People's Army and her mother being a kindergarten teacher. In an interview with Forbes magazine, she recalls her father having thrown away her sketches and paintings as a child.
In the same interview Guo says she got her start in sewing at the age
of 2 years old, helping her mother make clothes for the winter and
developed her love for dressmaking. During her childhood, Mao suits were considered the only correct form of clothing and Guo Pei defied this with loose-fitting dresses.
When the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco opened their exhibition, Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy, in April of this year, I decided I HAD to see it. I finally did last month and was completely blown away!
I
managed to get dozens of photos of the wildly visual creations which
are a brilliant melding, mixture, blending or collision, however you
want to describe it, of fashion and art. I have not seen anything like them since my days
working with Obiko in San Francisco (link below); I wonder if she ever saw those shows?
Viewfinder link:
I will group the images into categories for separate articles in order to keep them from
getting totally out of hand and tedious for reading. I will post them in the links below as I do. I hope you enjoy
them.
The exhibition will be open until
Sunday, November 27, 2022, Tuesdays through Sundays, 9:30 am to 5:15 pm.
I have every intention of returning to see it in more depth.
Lincoln Park
100 34th Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94121
415-750-3600
Net links:
SCAD ~ Guo Pei ~ Couture Beyond
YouTube links:
FF Chanel ~ Guo Pei | Fall Winter 2019/2020 | (Full Show)
Wall St. Journal ~ Meet Guo Pei, China's 1st Haute Couture Designer
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