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GUO PEI
China’s fashion empress on creating Chinese couture BY MARIANNA CERINI AND TONGFEI ZHANG
Hailed as the Chinese Coco Chanel, although more akin to Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, Guo Pei is China’s couturiere extraordinaire - the reason bespoke fashion exists in the country. We chat with the designer about her work, ascending career and why she loves ‘harsh women.’
L
ooking
at
Guo
Pei,
one
wouldn’t
guess
that this petite woman with a bob was the fashion powerhouse she is. Diminutive,
pretty
and
still
looking
very
much
like
a
college
student,
the
47-‐year-‐old
has
a
gentleness
unmarred
by
circumstance,
and a poised attitude that’s a study in etiquette.
Unexpected
traits
from
someone
so
high up in the industry. High
up
she
certainly
is
though.
Since
launching her business 17 years ago – when luxury brands were a foreign concept in China – the designer has become a trailblazer
in
the
country’s
fashion
realm,
building
her
atelier,
Rose
Studio,
into
an
internationally admired name whose gravity defying creations are so intricately crafted that they caught the attention of Lady Gaga. If one can talk
of
Chinese
haute
couture
today,
it’s
because of her. “I’ve
just
been
sticking
to
my
own
ideas,”
she
says
almost
dismissively,
“and
tried
always to be persistent and passionate about what I do. It’s all about following a routine – that’s the most challenging and interesting part
of
the
job.”
For
her
fashion
house,
that
has
meant
years of honing a level of craftsmanship so meticulous
it
now
equals,
and
in
some
cases
surpasses,
the
technical
feats
of
Paris
couture. Reinterpreting
both
Eastern
and
Western
motifs,
her
couture
collections
are
displays
of sartorial grandeur; risk-taking designs that draw easy comparisons to the aesthetic of Alexander McQueen. Like
the
late
British
designer,
her
works
are created to be worn. But could also easily
sit
in
a
museum:
lavishly
embellished,
they
are
made
of
visionary
garments,
from
weighty,
exaggerated
dresses
and
skirts
moulded into bell shapes to majestic headpieces
that
are
total
fantasy
or,
as
fashion
mogul
Hong
Huang
once
described
them
“Chinese
embroidery
on
steroids.”
One
dress
alone,
made
entirely
of
golden
28
November 2014 / www.thatsmags.com
panels,
took
50,000
hours
to
inish.
“For
that
particular
gown
we
adjusted
the
shape
millions
of
times,
and
worked
on
the
embroidery
over
and
over
again,”
Guo
recalls.
“It’s
a
personal
milestone,
and,
in
a
way,
I
think
it
really
marked
the
emergence
of
haute
couture
here.” Guo
debuted
it
in
2005,
after
a
visit
to the Musée de l’Armée in Paris where she found herself inspired by Napoleon Bonaparte’s regal military uniforms. One hundred artisans worked on it. Today,
her
studio
counts
a
team
of
450
people,
300
of
whom
are
exclusively
specialized
in
traditional
hand
embroidery.
Yearly,
they
generate
3,000
to
4,000
pieces
for
some
500
regular
clients,
including
public
igures
from China’s and the world’s highest political,
media
and
social
circles.
Dresses go from anything between RMB40,000
to
RMB5
million.
Although
Guo
says
margins
are
low,
it’s
an
impressive
volume
for
a
couture
operation,
one
no
doubt
tied to relatively cheap labor. The
road
to
get
here,
Guo
says,
has
been
a long one. The daughter of an army platoon leader who later held a high-ranking position in the
state
housing
authority,
Guo
was
born
in
Beijing
in
1967,
at
the
start
of
the
Cultural
Revolution.
Her
family
remained
in
the
capital,
and
in
1982
she
enrolled
in
fashion
studies at Beijing Second Light Industry School. China lacked any sort of worldly information about
fashion
at
the
time,
but
that
did
not
stop the designer from falling in love with the art of dressmaking. Upon
graduating
in
1986,
she
irst
took
a
job
designing
children’s
clothing
and,
soon
after,
went
on
to
work
for
woman’s
fashion
company
Tianma,
one
of
the
irst
generation
of privately owned businesses in a China where
the
drab,
functional
Mao
uniforms
that had been obligatory wear were starting to
disappear.
She
stayed
on
10
years,
taking
a
pro it
share
in
Tianma
that
allowed
her
to
save enough money to start her own bespoke atelier,
Rose
Studio,
in
1997.
Located
in
Beijing’s
798
Art
District,
an industrial area of former power plants and
factories,
the
studio
–
a
non-‐descript
three-‐story
of ice
building
that
also
acts
as
exhibition hall for some of her dresses – is a far cry from anything you’d imagine when thinking of couture. Yet it’s here that Guo took
the
irst
steps
towards
the
exclusive
art
of
custom-‐ itted
clothing.
Eight
years
after
starting
her
brand,
she
made her foray into haute couture with a irst
collection
of
38
dresses
(including
the
gold ball gown) showcased in front of China’s key
fashion
media
in
Beijing.
Her
star
soared. Guo has been holding fashion shows every
two
or
three
years
since
–
surreal,
opulent
spectacles that resemble art performances rather
than
simple
runway
walks,
with
references to Chinese fairytales and the yearnings of
a
woman,
gothic
impressions
and
long-‐lost
dreams. In
2008,
three
of
her
designs
inspired
by Chinese elements such as jade and pagodas were selected to be worn by the medal presenters,
tray
bearers
and
athlete
escorts
at the Beijing Olympics victory ceremonies. Chinese singer Song Zuying also donned one
her
creations
during
the
closing
night,
a
gown
adorned
in
200,000
Swarovski
diamonds sewn on by hand. In
an
almost
submissive
manner,
however,
Guo
does
not
hold
the
event
as
the
highlight
of
her
career.
“The
gowns
I
produce
for
events
like
the
Olympics,
or
for
some
of
my
clients,
don’t
really
represent
me
as
a
designer,”
she
says.
“I
like
to
think
of
them
as
mere
commodities,
rather
than
genuine
re lections
of
my
own
artistic
inclination.
In
a
way,
I
am
just
a
seamstress,
a
service
person
who
does
what
the
customer
wants.” If such dutiful attitude has proved popular
among
her
wealthy
clientele,
it
has
also
acted
as
a
double-‐edged
sword.
In
2009,
www.thatsmags.com / November 2014
29
I like what I call my ‘harsh clients’: women who know themselves well and have high standards. They are a propelling force for us designers.
30
after a number of hostesses for the televised Spring Festival Gala – a star-‐studded
show
produced
by
China
Central
Television
(CCTV),
and
shown on the eve of Chinese New Year with a yearly viewership of over
700
million
spectators
–
wore
her
designs,
a
wave
of
Internet
postings accused Guo of copying famous fashion houses in Paris. “For
a
long
time,
particularly
at
the
beginning,
I’ve
had
to
keep
my
head
down,”
she
considers.
“It’s
hard
when
you
want
your
ideas
to
thrive,
yet
have
to
satisfy
your
customers’
needs,”
she
explains.
“Particularly
when
they’re
trying
to
follow
the
trends
of
the
market rather than their own ideas. That’s why I like what I call my ‘harsh clients,’”
she
adds.
“Women
who
know
themselves
well
and
have
high
standards. Women who really understand beauty. I think those kind of
customers
are
a
propelling
force
for
us
designers.” Perhaps
no
one
better
than
legendary
model
Carmen
Dell’Ore ice
its
such
description.
The
eternally
elegant
fashion
icon,
whose
career
began
in
1945,
is
one
of
Guo’s
biggest
fans.
The
designer
lew
her
in
from New York in 2010 for her third collection – held in the National Stadium
at
the
Olympic
Village
before
an
audience
of
2,600
people
–
and
dressed
her
in
a
bejeweled
sheath
and
an
embroidered,
fur-‐ trimmed
cape
it
for
a
Ming
empress
(and
heavy
enough
to
require
an
escort of four men…) Talking
about
the
experience,
Dell’Ore ice
compared
Guo
to
Charles
James,
America’s
irst
couturier,
saying
she
was
“awestruck
by the pure beauty. She brings some part of the Chinese history forward
and
jumps
over
Mao
Zedong.”
Guo’s ambitions have only continued rising over the last few years. While she keeps delivering dazzling haute couture collections – the latter of which was presented to an audience of high-end New Yorkers
at
the
irst
China
Fashion
Night
Gala
during
last
year’s
New
York Fashion Week – the designer has also made plans to open an atelier
in
Paris,
and
branched
into
what
she
calls
“demi-‐couture.” In
2012,
she
launched
a
bridal
line
called
Chinese
Bride,
opening
a
wedding-‐themed
lagship
store
in
Shanghai’s
Bund
22,
one
of
the
city’s
premier
luxury
developments.
Besides
being
more
accessible,
dresses
don’t
have
a
lead-‐time
of
three
months,
and
can
be
made
in
two weeks. It’s a smart move to target and lure the fast-growing ranks of upper-‐middle-‐class
Chinese
brides.
The
gowns,
on
their
parts,
are
as
stunning
as
her
couture,
and
very
much
in
line
with
the
designer’s
fashion identity. “I’m
trying
to
move
beyond
the
recognized
criteria
of
haute
couture,”
she
says.
“In
that
sense,
I
am
still
re ining
my
ideas. “I
design
stories.
My
design
and
clothes
are
my
words,”
she
adds.
Just sit tight and wait for the next chapter from this fashion storyteller.
Legendary model Carmen Dell'Orefice in a Guo Pei gown. Above,
more
fantastical
creations
from
the
Chinese
designer
November 2014 / www.thatsmags.com
www.thatsmags.com / November 2014
31