SCAD FASH displays cultural couture

Pei’s “The Great Queen” from her “One Thousand and Two Nights” collection in 2010 is recognizable as the dress Rihanna wore to the 2015 Met Gala. The gown is 55 pounds of silk, lush fur and layers of embroidery. It took 20 months to complete and is, stated by Guo, “to express an infinite pursuit of beauty”.

Abby Peters, writer
November 28, 2017

The SCAD FASH Museum of fashion + film in Atlanta is now featuring renowned Chinese couturière Guo Pei’s exhibit ‘Guo Pei: Couture Beyond’. The exhibit showcases more than 30 of Pei’s most opulent, intricate dresses of the last decade. Pei was named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” and one of The Business of Fashion’s 500 “People Shaping the Global Fashion Industry.” She has dressed celebrities, distinguished ladies, royalty and political elite. Her work has been shown in various medias like Vogue, Women’s Wear Daily, Harper’s Bazaar, and Forbes and was also displayed in Paris Fashion Week in January 2016. The exhibit is open to the public until March 4, 2018 with the cost of museum admission.

Pei’s “Magnificent Gold” is part of her “Samsara” collection from 2006. It is made from handcrafted embroidery and stitched with silken threads wrapped in gold. The dress took approximately 50,000 hours to craft.
Pei’s “Blue and Porcelain”, popularly known as the “Ming Vase Gown” is part of her “One Thousand and Two Nights” collection from 2010. The dress is an ode to China’s history as fine porcelain makers during the Ming dynasty. The peony at the center of the dress and the fan-fold pleats are used to symbolize the era. The dress is crafted out of silken embroidery, kaolin and pigmented with cobalt blue.
Pei’s “The Great Queen” from her “One Thousand and Two Nights” collection in 2010 is recognizable as the dress Rihanna wore to the 2015 Met Gala. The gown is 55 pounds of silk, lush fur and layers of embroidery. It took 20 months to complete and is, stated by Guo, “to express an infinite pursuit of beauty”.
This dress is from Pei’s “Legend of the Dragon” collection in 2012. The feathery embellishments going down the length of the dress into the train represent the feathers of a Phoenix, or fenghuang in Chinese. This mythical bird represents great beauty and benevolence . There is also a tiny butterfly in the detailing of the train to represent young love.
This is a gown from Pei’s “One Thousand and Two Nights” collection in 2010. It was worn by supermodel Carmen Dell’Orefice in the collection’s runway show. It is made of silk mesh and the peaked shoulders of the dress represent a canopy or parasol which was the symbol of a Chinese monarch’s sheltering protection of the realm.
This garment is part of Pei’s “Garden of the Soul” collection from 2015. This collection includes some of her most intricate designs. The dress depicted above is an embroidered silk ballet dress with hand painted motifs, embellished with sequins, Swarovski crystals, Swarovski beads and brass florets.