Feature: Not for sale: Couture artist Guo Pei and her "museum collections"

Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei is interviewed at the M+ Museum of visual culture in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 19, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

by Liu Yinglun, Lu Min and Huang Xitian

HONG KONG, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- To Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei, there are not so many Fall/Winter or Resort collections as there are "museum collections," like the one she is now presenting in the M+ Museum of visual culture in Hong Kong.

"It is my goal to make clothes that belong in museums," said Guo, sitting meters away from "The Yellow Queen," a silk embroidered yellow gown complete with lavish fox fur trim and a 4-meter train. In 2015, American pop icon Rihanna almost crashed the internet with images, and memes, of her rocking the dress on the red carpet of the Met Gala.

When Guo completed the dress in 2009, who would be wearing it was not on her mind so much as the desire to express her ideal of timeless beauty, just as she did with the over 40 pieces on display at the "Guo Pei: Fashioning Imagination" exhibition at M+ through April 6.

Born in 1967 in Beijing, Guo went from being a successful mass-market ready-to-wear designer to owner of the atelier Rose Studio in 1997, and presented 10 haute couture shows at Paris Fashion Week at the invitation of the Federation de la Haute Couture et de la Mode, the governing body for the French fashion industry.

Guo looks particularly petite standing next to her works, which exude grandeur through either towering structure or intricate craftsmanship, or both. The designs speak of her exuberantly expressive inner world.

"My urge to create is sometimes too strong for my limited skills," Guo said. Many of her gowns are famous for the jaw-dropping number of hours they took to make. Guo said her studio spent 50,000 hours constructing her first couture piece "Da Jin," or Magnificent Gold, redoing the details time after time to incarnate her vision to a tee.

The strapless gown shaped like an upside-down lotus flower has a metallic gold finish because its entire surface is embroidered with Indian gold threads using traditional Chinese techniques like couching stitch.

To Guo, Chinese cultural elements are like her "mother tongue." "I can't express myself by means other than my mother tongue," she said, seeking to leave her own legacy by rendering the pieces in the best materials.

For "Lanfeng," or Blue Phoenix, Guo sampled crystals in over 1,000 shades of blue to pick the one kind to use for the beading. She constructed the skirt of "The Gold Boat" using traditional bamboo-weaving techniques in collaboration with artisans from east China's Anhui Province, an area renowned for bamboo production and basketry.

The heart and soul she poured into her works made it impossible to name any price on them. She once declined an offer of 5 million yuan (about 683,000 U.S. dollars) for "Da Jin", even though she could well use the sum to purchase a few condos in Beijing at the time.

Guo has since then distinguished merchandise and artworks -- the couture she created for museums are works of art, while clothes tailor-made for clients are products.

"I never sell my artworks, because they are priceless," said Guo. To fund the creation of artwork, Guo has to put most of her energy into making and selling products. The distinction has helped Guo compartmentalize her focus. Whenever she switches off the money-making mode, she sketches new designs to be turned into exhibits at museums.

Guo has preserved over 1,500 pieces of her artworks over the years, and has decided that she will ultimately donate them to museums around the world.

"I hope the light they radiate will reach future generations," Guo said. ■

This photo shows a work of Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei displayed at the M+ Museum of visual culture in Hong Kong, south China, Dec. 14, 2024. (Xinhua/Zhao Manjun)

This photo shows a work of Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei displayed at the M+ Museum of visual culture in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 19, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei is interviewed at the M+ Museum of visual culture in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 19, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

This photo shows a work of Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei displayed at the M+ Museum of visual culture in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 19, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

This photo shows works of Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei displayed at the M+ Museum of visual culture in Hong Kong, south China, Sept. 19, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)