Wearable Arts In Auckland
Despite the media hype around it, this dress didn’t even make my favourite top ten from this exhibition. Don’t get me wrong, the Imperial Yellow dress was beautiful and very intricately embroidered but the standard of all the dresses / gowns in this exhibition was genuinely mind-blowing, it was like being able to walk amongst a World of Wearable Arts show. A week later and my head is still buzzing with inspiration….
Guo Pei’s story is as fascinating as the engineering behind her dresses. Growing up in communist China, fashion did not exist, so when she announced that she wanted to be a fashion designer everyone thought she wanted to be a seamstress, the concept that the shape and silhouette of clothing could be altered was not commonplace in China in the 1970’s and 80’s.
Added to that, China in the 70’s and 80’s was a very patriarchal society, women were not expected to be entrepreneurs, if they worked outside the home / domestic setting it was as an employee not an employer, making Guo Pei’s journey to owning her own fashion house all the more remarkable.
Sadly, it appears the hundreds of artisans who worked on bringing her designs to life, were not well paid, especially in the early days. Hopefully, the notoriety Guo Pei is receiving now will be reflected in the wages paid to her extremely talented embroiderers and seamstresses.
The attention to detail in each ensemble was impressive. Each gown had its own accessories and shoes which were works of art in their own right. However, I imagine some of the shoes would be like walking on stilts 🙂
I wouldn’t normally advocate taking photos up someone’s skirt but at this exhibition it is a must. I think the organisers missed a trick not putting mirrors on the floor under some of the dresses as the workmanship inside the skirts is amazing. The detailed beading and embroidery we see on the outside doesn’t stop at the hem.
This dress was intriguing, viewed from the side the model appears to be very pregnant but from the front you are presented with a hollow but inflated skirt….
That is filled on the inside with hundreds of golden flowers…
I’m not sure if Guo Pei was trying to make a statement (I see soft, opulent petals in a voided pregnancy) with this dress but this idea of presenting two very different faces on the same garment fascinates me.
Some of the gowns were definitely more Art than Wearable…
The V at the front and silhouette created by the wide skirts of this dress kept luring me back to look at it. I feel the need to use this as inspiration for something but I’m not quite sure what yet….
I was equally fascinated by the engineering behind some of the dresses as I was by the beautiful designs and forms created. This voluminous skirt appears to be constructed from threading a flexible rod through a channel sewn into the fabric, creating a continuous coil that was attached at the waist.
Sadly we were not allowed to touch the dresses (there were attendants in every room making sure we did not get too close) but oh how I wanted to feel the fabrics and look more closely at how each dress was constructed!
If you get the opportunity, this really is a MUST SEE exhibition, I know a few people who have been to see it several times already!
20 thoughts on “Wearable Arts In Auckland”
What a fabulous collection – thank you for sharing the photos! The amount of work that went into each one is staggering.
How many ankles got twisted wearing those beautiful shoes? You are right about putting mirrors underneath otherwise the detail could be missed by the viewer.
Ha ha you are so right, I doubt I would be able to stand in any of the shoes but they did look gorgeous!
Thank you SO MUCH for sharing these pictures. Real piece of art. Intricate, refined with lots of details. Interesting to see where a mind full of ideas can produce! Bravo! Wish I live closer to this exhibit!
I suspect most of these dresses are not at all practical to wear to an event (I don’t think you can sit in some of them!) but they are definitely art. The pieces were grouped into themes and even within each theme the style of each dress was completely different – as you say, she clearly has a brilliantly eclectic mind – something I aspire to!
I had not hear of this designer until now! (That golden yellow dress didn’t darken my feed either 😉 ) Thank you so much for sharing this and these photos! I am going to be doing more ogling of this designer online….
It’s funny, for such a brilliantly talented designer I am surprised she is not better known, perhaps she is an icon in the fashion world?
Wow, thanks for reporting on this exhibition, it seems fabulous!
Thanks for showing us this designer’s work. I had not heard of her either and didn’t know who Rihanna was until last year. I am currently designing a large scale work for my class and I didn’t realize how much I would be interested in the structure in fashion. I have never been a real fashion fan but there are some wonderful ideas there for sculptural work. And I would be like you wanting to touch and see how it was all put together, what they used for understructure etc. Have you seen Iris van Herpen’s work? I have been inspired by her “nature” themes. https://www.irisvanherpen.com/
Ha ha, at least I can admit Rihanna had made it onto my pop-culture radar 🙂 Your large scale piece sounds intriguing, while mainstream fashion doesn’t hold much interest for me either, WoW in Wellington is a great example of just how crazy the silhouettes and constructions in fashion can be and there’s usually at least one felt artist on display too…. I can but dream that one day I will be one of them…. sigh
Thank you for the link, another designer I have not heard of but her dress-scultpures are incredible! I confess I was looking at them imagining how they could be constructed with felt….
I’d not come across either of these designers before. I actually prefer some of the Van Herpen designs but that blue one of Guo Pei’s you mentioned Teri looks very much as if the torso section could be made in felt.
I liked the way it was possible to see real closeup shots of the Van Herpen designs on her website. It did give some inkling of how the dresses were constructed. (It was just a pity that most of her models were skeletal, though they didn’t seem to have ugly knobbly knees like a good few of our western models!)
I quite often look at some of the more way out costume designs for ideas on stage costumes for our Pantos. A sleeve detail or some draping across and around a torso can make all the difference.
So thanks Teri and Ruth for these inspirations.
Ann
Yes, it would be fantastic to see some of these dresses on “real” people, although there was an interesting video of a fashion show / cat walk at the Guo Pei exhibition where one of GP’s patrons (I’m guessing she was in her 70’s, possibly older) paraded one of her extravagant creations down the catwalk assisted by 2 nubile young men for balance / support.
What marvellous dresses, Terri! I agree, most of them seem more like Art that Wearable, but they are magnificent to look at.
I grew up in Macau in the 80s, so got to see a lot of Chinese fashion – despite Guo Pei’s work being quite different, it still brought back memories!
Wow – I never knew that about you! Macau is an interesting place, we only got to spend a day there as part of a trip to Hong Kong. Were the casinos and tourism part of the culture back in the 80’s or are they are relatively new phenomenon?
From the information at the exhibition, it sounds like there were really only 4 or 5 silhouettes for Chinese clothing in the 70’s and 80’s, only the patterns on the fabric altered the style – is that your experience too?
Macau was lovely in the 80s for me, I played outdoors, went to friends’ places by taxi at age 8, and wreaked havoc in a lot of unsuspecting people’s lives by chiming in in their conversations in Cantonese! 😆 I got a lot of free stuff too by being fluent, too 🫢
Casinos were popular then, but there were only a few. Civil servants weren’t allowed by law to gamble (although if you were Chinese you could get away with it) apart from the Chinese New Year. I still remember my mum going once and returning with a bag overflowing with coins! I also recall the pawn shops near Casino Lisboa, which tells you they knew exactly where to place themselves for maximum profit…
Yep, silhouettes didn’t change much in traditional Chinese clothing at that time (not sure about it now, if we don’t count high fashion, but I think that’s mostly still the case). Practical clothing was simple and great for working, but the formal wear was indeed the most beautiful and intricate, and royalty took as much care with their fashion as they did with their architectural interiors – The Forbidden City was such a marvel! The emperor would sleep in a different room each night (to fend off killers and bad spirits) and wouldn’t run out of new rooms until the age of 18 😮
Can you tell I’d love to visit again?!
Amazing work from both artists. Fashion as art or art as fashion. I remember reading somewhere that models are just hangers to transport the cloths and the closer the look t a hanger the better the cloths look. The imagination then the structure and skilled handwork that go into them is amazing. I wonder what happens to most of these things after the show and a few exhibits.
Maybe that explains why wire-coat-hanger thin models are so popular on the catwalk! I gather some of the dresses on display are at least 10 years old and the shape and engineering involved in many of them means they won’t lie / hang flat for storage. GP must have a small wearhouse to house all her creations – all the more reason for her to set up a global exhibition tour so galleries “store” (i.e. display) her dresses for her! 🙂
Wow, what an inspiring back-story. In our culture, we really can’t comprehend the oppression and crushing levels of control some women face. It’s hard to imagine the drive, determination and effort it must have taken for Guo Pei to reach such heights and create such incredible work. Those dresses are truly magnificent, and those shoes… wow! I dont think I could even stand in them, let alone walk! But they, too, are incredible. Thank you for sharing this, I would love to see the exhibition in person.
True Artisan’s at their Best!!!
Truly God has Blessed each Artist with talent. Thank you for sharing. GiGi
First thought Teri, you wouldn’t be hopping on and off buses in that gear.
But oh my, these are mind bendingly stunning! I wonder if they ever hit a catwalk, I feel like motion would bring an additional dimension to each of the pieces.
I had an opportunity to travel through China in 1988. I was left with the impression of an oppressed society but one where there was a chink of light appearing under the door. There were opportunities opening but invariably (from our experiences) it was the kids of high up party members who were able to avail of these. Having made this statement I just checked out her Wiki page. A great read.
These designs are other worldly and must have been such a treat to see up close (if not touch!). But you are right Teri, recognition of the amazing talents of the artisans who worked on these masterpieces really needs to happen. A view years ago, I had the privilege to attend the Jean Paul Gautier show in Paris. Like this, it was jaw dropping. But while the celebrities and royalty who wore the pieces were identified, there was no recognition of the master crafts persons behind the label. Such a shame. But this does not detract from the treat of seeing these pieces.
Helene x
I had similar thoughts, these dresses are definitely more Art than Wearable but if I could afford to buy one I probably wouldn’t be catching busses any more 🙂
There was a video running on a loop in the exhibition of some of the dresses being paraded along a catwalk, as you say, the more articulated dresses were very interesting to see “in motion” but almost all of them uncomfortable to wear.