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Artistic fashions of Chinese elegance and European grandeur are gracing San Francisco, and exclusively at the equally palatial Legion of Honor museum. Opening April 16th, 2022, the highly distinguished designer Guo Pei will have her remarkable masterpieces displayed in a large comprehensive exhibit titled “Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy” at the famous Land’s End gallery.
Organized by The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, this collection will be the first to fully showcase all her exceptionally talented work, featuring over 80 ensembles from the last twenty years, some seen on international runways and many which have never been publicly premiered before.
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This archiving of Pei’s prolific career will be arranged by theme, natural seasons, or artistic movement, such as Italian Baroque and French Rococo, Western and Chinese imperial history, and neoclassical architecture, making the Legion of Honor her fitting home.
“San Francisco, with our position on the Pacific Rim and our significant Chinese heritage, is a natural location to premiere the first major museum exhibition on Guo Pei’s work and we are delighted to present her exquisite designs to US audiences,” says Thomas P. Campbell, the director and CEO of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. He expounds on the significance of Pei’s success as statements to reflect on the historical relationship between Chinese art and its Western perceptions. “Our costume program highlights extraordinary designers who have changed the course of fashion history,” Campbell comments, referring to how Guo Pei is a perfect fit for the educational avant-garde museum. “Her career is emblematic of a shift in global fashion narratives and China’s rise as a fashion leader.”
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China’s visibility as a rising power in the fashion realm gained wide exposure during the Met Gala’s “China: Through the Looking Glass” 2015 exhibition. Particularly for Pei, Rihanna was attired in Pei’s handcrafted canary yellow dress that instantly broke the internet. The stunning ensemble was adorned in fur trim and featured a cape and a ravishing 16-foot train.
Pei reflected on her Western audience’s adoration with, “I did not expect such a strong reaction.” She was aware that before, “people’s perception that China did not have fashion or design. Many people used to think of it as a developing country.” Yet as China began to emerge as a powerful leader in fashion throughout the early twenty-first century, so did Pei.
Through her perseverance and success, she has become a pioneer as “China’s first couturier,” as later that year she was invited to join Paris’ Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture and couture week calendar, becoming the second native Chinese member.
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Pei began her cultivating her talent and passion for dressmaking as a child, learning to sew at a very young age. After graduating at the top of her class from the Beijing Second Light Industry School in 1986, in 1997 she launched her own label and atelier, Rose Studio. Since then her intricate work has been seen on the bodies of royalty, celebrities, and other political elites. 2016 was a major year for her as she not only debuted her highly-acclaimed Courtyard collection, but also became both one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, and one of the Business of Fashion’s BoF 500.
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The museum will transform into a palace of couture, with seven galleries of various distinct themes curated by Jill D’Alessandro. As D’Alessandro explains, “For Guo Pei, each collection starts with a philosophical idea—a spark of inspiration—drawn from a wide range of sources from her personal life and travels, as well as art and architecture, literature, and nature.”
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To briefly name a few, the Rosekrans Court is the opening gallery and explores theater and costume design in Chinese fashion. “An Amazing Journey in a Childhood Dream” is Guo’s piece for this, created in 2008 for her second child, and inspired by eighteenth-century French pastels.
The following gallery emphasizes nature and femininity with her botanical themed “Garden of Soul” (2015), and “Elysium” (2018). Her sophisticated “Dragon,” “East Palace,” and “Himalaya” collections also notably interweave both her cultural background and travels into her ensembles, utilizing fine materials such as silk and traditionally weaved textiles.
Lastly, her most recent 2019-2020 fantastical “Alternate Universe” collection is a reflective exhibit playing on afterlife and reincarnation, and darkness and light coexisting. Pei has detailed descriptions of all her elaborately elegant pieces, with this one embroidering familiar motifs from Aesop’s Fables.
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Pei humbly states that she is “honored and humbled that the prestigious Legion of Honor Museum will be presenting a retrospective of my work. In doing so, I hope that it will bring greater awareness and understanding of my life’s passion, and convey Chinese culture, traditions and show the new face of contemporary China.”
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“Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy” premieres April 16th and continues until Sept. 6th, 2022 at the Legion of Honor, Tuesdays-Sunday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. For more information to purchase advance tickets, visit https://legionofhonor.famsf.org/guo-pei.
Photography by: Daniel Chicchon/Unsplash
