Guo Pei

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Guo.

Guo Pei (Chinese: 郭培, Mandarin pronunciation: [ku̯ó pʰěɪ̯], born 1967) is a Chinese fashion designer. She is best known for designing dresses for Chinese celebrities, and in America for Rihanna's trailing yellow gown at the 2015 Met Ball. Guo is the first born-and-raised Asian designer to be invited to become a guest member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture.[1] In 2016, Time Magazine listed her as one of the World's 100 Most Influential People.[2]

Early life and education

A silk couture evening gown embroidered with gold by Guo Pei, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City[3][4]

Guo was born in Beijing in 1967. Her father was a senior official and her mother a kindergarten teacher.[5] In 1986, she graduated after studying fashion design at the Beijing Second Light Industry School.[6] Three years later, Guo became chief designer at one of Beijing's first independently owned clothing companies in the post-Cultural Revolution era. She left the company in 1997 to form her own fashion brand.[7]

Career

Based in Beijing, Guo's fashion style borrows heavily from traditional Chinese imperial court design. Many pieces in her collection involve silk, fur and embroidery work.[8] Guo's work includes those at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the annual CCTV New Year's Gala.[9][10] She designed the dress worn by Song Zuying during her duet with Plácido Domingo at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.[11] The dress took two weeks to create, with 200,000 Swarovski crystals hand-sewn into the white gown.[10]

Her “One Thousand and Two Nights” collection debuted in November 2009, during China Fashion Week. American model, Carmen Dell’Orefice appeared in the show wearing an elaborate white embroidered fur-lined gown, with an escort of four to help carry its train. Dell’Orefice later went on to compare Guo to Charles James.[7] Guo was credited as a costume designer on the set of the 2014 film The Monkey King. The film's makeup and costume departments were nominated for a Hong Kong Film Award the following year but lost out to Man Lim Chung, in The Golden Era.[12]

In 2008, Guo conceived a canary yellow floor-length dress with a large circular train, edged with yellow coloured fur and embroidered with silver floral patterns. It took approximately 50,000 hours over two years[5] for her design team to create and weighed about 25 kg (55 lb) on completion.[13] Bajan singer Rihanna came across the piece on the internet while researching a design for the China-themed New York Met Gala in 2015. According to Guo, when first asked she agreed to the proposal but was wary about whether the singer would be able to withstand the weight. Rihanna appeared on the red carpet in the gown, followed by a three-person entourage to hold the large train. Early reactions to the dress design spawned viral memes on social media, with the eye catching yellow material and sizable train drawing comparisons to omelettes and pizzas. A photo of the design worn by the singer was featured on the front page of Vogue's Met Gala edition.[5] This media exposure made Guo more recognizable among Western audiences.

Guo Pei’s works were also exhibited at the annual exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, titled "China: Through the Looking Glass".[14] In 2016, Guo Pei became a guest member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Her first collection to be showcased as a part of Paris Fashion Week was her Spring Summer 2016 collection. Inspired by Spring flowers for femininity and the phoenix for peace and purity, the collection had traditional Chinese influences like gold tassles, intricate threadwork embroidery over silk, bibs and long trains.[15]

References

  1. ↑ parischerie.com GUO PEI: ROYAL COURT TO PARIS CATWALK
  2. ↑ Time Magazine, April 21, 2016
  3. ↑ http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2015/china-through-the-looking-glass/exhibition-galleries/208
  4. ↑ http://www.latimes.com/travel/deals/la-trb-metropolitan-museum-fashion-exhibition--001-photo.html
  5. 1 2 3 Sudworth, John (29 June 2015). "Guo Pei: Pop star Rihanna's fashion designer of choice". BBC News. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  6. ↑ Kolesnikov-Jessop, Sonia (20 January 2015). "Chinese Couturier Guo Pei Ready to Take on Paris". Blouinartinfo. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  7. 1 2 Horyn, Cathy (1 December 2010). "Year of the Couturière". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  8. ↑ Lawrence, Jeanne (2013). "Guo Pei, China's Empress of Haute Couture". New York Social Diary. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  9. ↑ Xiao, Changyan (22 July 2008). "Dressed for success". China Daily. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
  10. 1 2 Yang, Yang. "Guo Pei, China's First Class Dress Designer". China Radio International. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  11. ↑ Jansen, Chiu-Ti (17 September 2013). "New York Fashion Week Gets Chinese Flavor". Sotheby's. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "List of Nominees and Awardees of The 34th Hong Kong Film Awards". Hong Kong Film Awards. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
  13. ↑ Thomas, Natalie (15 May 2015). "Rihanna's 25 kg Met dress thrusts Chinese designer Guo Pei into spotlight". Reuters. Archived from the original on 12 August 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  14. ↑ Ahuja, Shilpa. "Guo Pei Spring Summer 2016 Couture Fashion Show Review". ShilpaAhuja.com. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  15. ↑ Ahuja, Shilpa. "Guo Pei Spring Summer 2016 Couture Fashion Show Review". ShilpaAhuja.com. Retrieved 20 March 2016.

Further reading

External links

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