Guo Pei: Couture Beyond Exhibit at the VAG

With the Guo Pei: Couture Beyond exhibit, the Vancouver Art Gallery has hit it out of the park once again. And I continue to be impressed with the VAG.

The Guo Pei exhibit was a must because I love fashion, haute couture and costumes. In another timeline, I like to think I’m working as a costume designer.

Plus I never miss out on a fashion or couture exhibit, should I be in town, like the Zbwlaarctk Masters of Black in Fashion and Costume at the MoMu in Brussels, Manus X Machina: Fashion in the Age of Technology at the Met in New York, Audrey Hepburn & Hubert de Givenchy – Une Elégante Amitié in Morges, Peter Lindbergh: From Fashion to Reality at Kunsthalle München in Munich, and Manolo Blahnik – The Art of Shoes at Museum Kampa in Prague.

But this is the first time (I think) that the VAG has put on a couture fashion exhibit. Guo Pei: Couture Beyond is also the first Canadian exhibition devoted to China’s master couturière. The exhibit features over 40 extravagant and iconic pieces from her 2006-2017 runways.

If you’re a follower of fashion or pop culture and celebrity, you’d no doubt recognize one of Guo Pei’s most famous dresses, the show-stopping canary yellow cape gown that Rhianna wore at the Met Gala in 2015. The outfit went viral and was dubbed the “omelette dress.” Fun fact: the outfit weighed 55 pounds!

Guo Pei launched her atelier Rose Studio in 1997 and today employs nearly 500 artisans. She is the only Chinese national designer to ever been invited to present collections at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week.

The avant-garde exhibit broke down into the following collections: Samsara (2006), An Amazing Journey in a Childhood Dream (2008), 1002 Nights (2010), Legend of the Dragon (2012), Garden of the Soul, a collaboration with MAC Cosmetics (2015), Encounter (2016), Legend (2017) and Chinese bride (ongoing). The pieces were made up of intricate embroidery and Chinoiserie beading, using traditional Chinese designs and techniques from China’s last imperial dynasty, the Qing Empire, accompanied by custom-designed footwear, jewellery, and headpieces.

From Guo Pei’s An Amazing Journey in a Childhood Dream collection, several gowns employed an elaborate fabric folding technique that resembles origami.

For the 1002 Nights collection (where the Rhianna dress was from), Guo Pei’s other centrepiece was the cobalt blue and bone white porcelain gown. The silk gown was hand-painted and accompanied by a headpiece made from cracked porcelain. The design of the dress was inspired by a Chinese handheld folding fan and took nearly 10,000 hours to complete.

The Chinese Bride collection is ongoing, features beaded semi-precious stones and embroidery to create auspicious and symbolic motifs – like the dragon and phoenix, symbols of eternal love.

The dragon and phoenix motifs continued with the Legend of the Dragon collection. The red silk “dragon lady” jumpsuit shows 2 dragons in rolling waves surrounded by clouds. Guo Pei’s phoenix dress depicts the bird ascending in flight from the shoulder piece to the long plumage of feathers cascading down to the train. The vintage silk floral gown with its silk flowers and elaborate embroidery took 50,000 hours to make (!)

The Legend collection was inspired by the Cathedral of St. Gallen in Switzerland, one of the most important Benedictine monasteries in Europe. The Baroque-inspired designs embody the silhouettes of medieval warriors and heavenly saints.

In the VAG’s rotunda, I came upon the Garden of the Soul collection, where bright and colourful hand-painted flora and fauna motifs figured prominently in Guo Pei’s designs. The collection which was inspired by her visit to the L’espace Van Gogh near Paris.

The entire Guo Pei Couture Beyond exhibit was nothing short of awe-inspiring. To be in the presence of such fashion excellence – and at a Vancouver museum, no less. More of this please.