“Haute couture is not made for commercial gain, but more for a kind of inner quest; a satisfaction of our spiritual being.”
– Guo Pei
Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei’s Fantasy Couture exhibition, held at the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco, takes haute couture one imaginative step toward the pursuit of truth. The exhibit places focus on culture, life, fantasy, art, nature and reincarnation in a way that feels both soothing and elating at the same time.
The gowns range from quirky (there’s the ball gown depicting a monkey, pulling the strings of 18 marionettes), to awe-inspiring excess (the “Magnificent Gold,” which took a whopping 50,000 hours to make), to botanical, to the symbiotic relationship between cultures, to religion. More than 80 designs span cultures from East to West, unraveling the threads of convention only to resew them as something newer, better, more delightful than before. The details are intrinsic, with every pleat, every fold and every adornment placed so deliberately, as if it was always meant to be right there.
Each display is enhanced by sketches and plaques, revealing the creative process, details about craftsmanship and the depth that each worker brought to the design. In Elysium, which explores root structures, for example, Pei employed basket weavers to help emulate the intricacies and structural importance of roots.
The Himalaya collection incorporates ancient obis, or Japanese belts, that have been turned inside out to reveal the textiles. These silk belt pieces may be found in small details throughout the outfit or on soft, silk fringe dangling elegantly from a sleeve. I don’t think I admired this section enough and would definitely spend more time here if I were to go back.
The special exhibitions gallery is found in the lower level of the museum, down a curved, stone staircase. Here is where the journey begins, with shiny gold and silver mannequins adorned with gowns and suits, jewelry and platform heels and boots. It is worth noting the absence of hair on many of the models, adding to the mystique, enabling admiration of the design without the burden of figuring out who might dare to wear these exquisite pieces.
Themes here include:
– theatrical Chinese designs of An Amazing Journey in a Childhood Dream,
-the nature-inspired Garden of Soul,
-the root-bound motifs of Elysium,
–L’Architecture’s Parisian art and architecture,
– Alternate Universe, an exploration of reincarnation and the afterlife
Every section was beautifully curated with compelling information, though sometimes I wanted just a little more to help guide me through her designs. I think this is where booking a tour or an audio guide would be really informational.
After we had admired the last dresses we returned to the main gallery to leave, only to be bestowed an exquisite encore. On a dress scavenger hunt of sorts, we wandered the permanent collections, in hopes of spying one more expertly-placed design, like the last piece that makes the puzzle complete. We ended our tour in the vast room that holds the French and Italian Baroque and Rococo art, with Pei’s Dajing or Magnificent gold gown reigning proudly in the center, commanding all eyes to admire her golden magnificence.
The journey of Guo Pei cannot be complete without a closer inspection of those aforementioned shoes. The height! The detail! The extravagance! Pei has been quoted saying that “fantasy is the height of your spirit; it is the most important part of life because it fuels its meaning.” So it is only appropriate that these works of art quite literally elevate the designs.
Though the Guo Pei exhibit has left San Francisco, you can still visit it at the Bower’s Museum in Santa Ana, Calif.
