ELABORATE DESIGNS
Exhibit highlights Chinese couturier’s intricate work
Guo Pei’s business is one that’s built on patience. A lot of it.
While the Chinese couturière now enjoys international recognition and a dedicated following of clients for her one-of-a-kind designs — not to mention is the only Chinese designer recognized by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris — her ascent in the fashion world, she says, has been a slow, steady climb.
And it’s a fact she’s completely content with. Fast fame, Pei says, comes with immense pressure, and she’s grateful she didn’t have to experience that early on in her career. Because, for many a young designer, there’s already plenty of pressure to go around.
“When I was younger, I felt pressure came from lots of work, busy work. But later on, I realized the pressure actually came from feeling that I was not yet good enough or not yet able to create what I wanted to create,” she says. “So, after years of experience, inspiration and accumulation of experience, now, over 30 years later, the pressure is actually much less. I really don’t feel much pressure in that kind of work.”
It’s for this reason that the seasoned couture creator recommends young designers follow her lead, and slow down.
“I would like to say to young designers who are interested in this field of work, and are starting a career ... I would say that if you feel the pressure, what you need to do is to really put all your effort into learning and gaining experience,” she says.
“And, take it slowly. Don’t rush. Don’t try to become famous too soon. Because fame brings pressure. Fame brings high expectations, and that brings pressure. So, take it slowly.”
The petite, energetic designer’s career in fashion began in the 1980s, a decade before she would strike out with her own business with her husband Jack.
“I already worked as a designer for 10 years,” she says. “So, a lot of people were wearing my clothing on the streets.”
Despite being proud to follow her passion as a designer, Pei admits she wasn’t pleased with the designs she saw people wearing around her at the time — even when those designs were her own.
“I was very unhappy,” she recalls. “It was just the beginning of China’s opening up and reform. Nobody had the opportunity to wear beautiful gowns. Nobody, at that time.”
The country ’s lack of colour and beauty in fashion and design was what initially prompted Pei to start Rose Studio, her couture establishment.
“When I started Rose Studio, I just wanted to make beautiful clothes. I wasn’t thinking about running a business,” she admits. “I thought I would spend the money, do it for two years, and then just go back to being a designer at my regular job.”
But, become a permanent business, it most certainly has.
Speaking to the media with the help of a translator at the opening for her Guo Pei: Couture Beyond exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery — the first fashion exhibition to be staged in the space — Pei responded to select questions, as well as those queries posed to her by the event moderator, American journalist Bronwyn Cosgrave, who referred to Pei as “the future of fashion.”
Meanwhile, off to the side, some of the designer’s most exceptional pieces from the past 10 years adorned the still forms of mannequins; each elaborate design making the lifeless forms seemingly come to life.
“Guo Pei’s specialty is a very rarefied form of fashion. It is haute couture, which means that it is all painstakingly made by hand,” Cosgrave said of Pei’s creations. “And, if you have seen the documentary Yellow Is Forbidden … you will see the labour and the love, and the extraordinary amount of hours that go into it.”
One of Pei’s greatest strengths lies in the intricate detail of her embroidery, which can take hundreds of hours to complete. While Pei admittedly garners much of her inspiration from the opulent designs of the Qing Empire, China’s last imperial dynasty, it wasn’t until she travelled to Europe that she found further inspiration to re-examine embroidery — and its history — back home in China.
Pei and her husband travelled to Italy and France where they discovered the artisan embroidery on display in the museums there. The encounter, Pei says, left her feeling inspired — and ready to return to her mission of recov- ering Chinese embroidery skills through her couture offerings.
“Over 20 years have past, and through the exchange of ideas and techniques with others, and through our own effort and our eagerness to learn and master these techniques — and also with our imagination — we have learned to create work with embroidery,” she says proudly. “I believe the hands of humans are great. They are very capable.”
Perhaps one of the best examples of the extraordinary capabilities of human hands — and the aptitude of human imagination for design — lies with one of Pei’s most famous designs: the bold yellow cape and gown worn by music superstar Rihanna at the 2015 Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala, themed China: Through the Looking Glass.
The imperial design, which Pei created in 2010 for a collection called One Thousand and Two Nights, took 30 months to make, is crafted from embroidered silk, boasts a five-metre train and weighs an astounding 55 pounds.
“There was a tremendous amount of details,” she recalls of the creation process. "I really wanted to make something perfect and beautiful.”
Unfortunately, when Pei first debuted the bold design, it didn’t go as planned.
“It was shown in China and, because it was very heavy and because it is also very (long), it was very difficult for the model to walk on the runway,” she recalls. “It didn’t show the absolute beauty of the garment.”
Needless to say, the cape-andgown combination wasn’t an instant hit for the designer. That is, until Rihanna’s team reached out to Pei and her husband in order to inquire about getting dressed for the 2015 Met Gala, themed China: Through the Looking Glass.
“To be honest, I didn’t even know who Rihanna was,” she says with a laugh. “So, I asked, ‘Who is Rihanna?’ ”
Once she learned the woman in question was a member of the Hollywood glitterati, Pei was unsure about whether the design would be the right piece for the Barbadian singer.
“To me, I didn’t really think that having a celebrity wearing this piece was necessarily the best setting,” she admits. “However, the inner beauty of Rihanna, and this yellow cape, turned out to be a great, perfect combination.
“It’s very different from showing it on the runway, because, for her to wear it, it became alive. It really helped to combine the inner beauty of Rihanna with my work. So, I’m very grateful for that.”
Of course, a designer discussion wouldn’t be complete without the asking, perhaps, of one of the most predictable questions one could possibly ask (and yet, one that’s often also the most difficult for a designer to respond to): Which design in the exhibition is her favourite?
“It would be difficult for me to say which is my favourite. I like them all,” Pei says diplomatically when prompted to choose her favourite design among the collection. “I create all my pieces with all of my heart. And all my work is a way to express my emotions.
“Beautiful emotions, that I feel.”