Guo Pei: Chinese Art And Couture

Guo Pei: Chinese Art and Couture opened the museum’s Season of Chinese Art, which explored the best of the genre and presented it for a contemporary, international audience. With 20 Chinese art masterpieces from the Museum’s collection and 29 dresses by Guo Pei, this blockbuster exhibition spanned two galleries and is part of the Museum’s commitment to examining the Asia’s diverse cultural heritage, interconnections within Asia, and connections between Asia and the rest of the world. Mr Kennie Ting, Director of the Asian Civilisations Museum and Peranakan Museum, explained “Guo Pei: Chinese Art and Couture is significant to our visitors for two reasons. Firstly, it is our first special exhibition dedicated to fashion and thus is representative of our shift to the contemporary domain. Our aim is to make a point as to how heritage and tradition are still very much relevant to the contemporary; that heritage and tradition can be remarkably sexy and alluring. Every masterpiece in the exhibition is a unique blend of contemporary and traditional design, material and craft. Secondly, the exhibition has been designed to give visitors a simple and visually arresting overview of Chinese art history: imperial art, export art, and folk art. We wanted a show that would introduce visitors to aspects of Chinese art – materials like silk and porcelain, the craft of embroidery, motifs such as peonies and phoenixes – in a completely unexpected and, hopefully, very memorable fashion.”

In another dialogue, in the section ‘China and the World’, we saw classic Chinese patterns of flowers, crests, and clouds, not just on precious blue-and-white porcelain, but also incorporated, using the same method of brush painting blue pigment, onto Guo Pei’s sculptural masterpiece 青花瓷(Blue-and-White Porcelain).
The continuation of Chinese artistic traditions and culture by the Chinese diaspora was evident in the many cross-cultural masterpieces in this exhibition. Guo Pei’s bridal collection, which has been embraced by Chinese celebrities and other wealthy clients, was inspired by historical bridal ensembles made in China but imported to Southeast Asia to be worn by Peranakan Chinese brides. One of her creations, shown in the ‘Treasured Heirlooms’ section, was the genesis for this collaboration between ACM and Guo Pei. The couturière saw a bridal ensemble in the Peranakan Museum’s travelling exhibition on Peranakan Chinese art in Paris back in 2010. Her interpretation of that Peranakan bridal ensemble, worn by Angelababy for her wedding, was seen by exhibition curator Jackie Yoong. She made the connection to the Peranakan Museum’s historical bridal ensemble and then began to conceptualise this exhibition.
“In this exhibition, fashion and history come full circle. We see how the past inspires the present, we see how traditions are revived and rejuvenated, and we see how export objects and foreign ideas influence the local. I encourage visitors to take a close look at the incredible detail in Guo Pei’s fantastical works – to fully experience the devotion and dedication behind the thousands of hours of stitches required to make them”, said Ms Jackie Yoong.