Himalaya, Ensemble, Spring/Summer 2020 includes a radiating golden crown reminiscent of a halo surrounding a saintly head in an early modern painting, along with a gown contoured to suggest a vestment of the Catholic Church known as a chasuble. The passementerie edging in the form of pom-poms further suggests a European tradition. However,  the viewer is transported away from Western signifiers by a veritable universe of Chinese embroidery techniques and Buddhistic imagery. “The West pays more attention to visual effects, while the East pursues delicacy,” Guo Pei observed. In this work, she balances both worlds, reimagining the silk shading stitch, eponymously named after the strands of fine silk floss traditionally used to create intricate floral and animal motifs. This technique appears on imperial Chinese robes, including pieces from the Liao Dynasty (916–1125 CE), and is a beloved and much-utilized stitch in historical Peranakan embroideries. Instead of silk strands, Guo Pei utilizes gold and silver metallic threads to create the delicate floral imagery and halos for the Buddhist deities (mirrored by the halo of the fashion ensemble). This daring reinterpretation of a traditional technique creates a shimmering surface that appears to emanate light, enhancing the religious symbolism of the embroidered imagery. 

Gold and silver threads are part of the lineage of Chinese and world embroidery techniques. Embroidery with metal threads was historically made by couching wire, very thin metal strips, or wire or metal strip-wrapped fiber cores to a fabric. As the process was refined, economical artisans applied extremely fine gold leaf to organic substrates such as paper (in the East) and animal skin or gut (in the West), which were then wrapped around fiber cores and used as metal threads. Due to the inherent delicacy of these threads and the costliness of the gold and silver metal, it was most common to attach the metal threads to fabric with couching stitches. This technique held the threads in place with minimal manipulation, while allowing the maximum amount of precious material to remain on the surface of the garment. If traditional metal threads were overworked, an artisan was in danger of damaging and wasting costly materials. 

The practice of utilizing couching stitches to attach contemporary metallic and metalized threads, which are more resilient than their traditional counterparts, is also seen in Guo Pei’s couture. However, by using metal threads for silk shading embroidery (among other methods), she has re-envisioned how materials and embroidery stitches can be combined, innovating a technique that has equal footing in the past and present. 

In Da Jin (Magnificent Gold), 2005, the thread continues. Requiring 50,000 hours to complete and an army of artisans, this gown with radiating panels imitating the sun is hailed as “the birth of haute couture in China” by the China National Silk Museum  and is embraced by Guo Pei as a “personal masterpiece.” Embellished with lotus and other floral motifs in gold and silver metallic thread, rococo metal threads, and sequins, this dress was embroidered with couching stitches traditionally used for metal thread. 

Guo Pei employs a technique known as goldwork, which includes the traditional use of gold and/or silver metal threads along with an array of other metal materials. An Amazing Journey in a Childhood Dream, Ensemble, 2007, a pale pink dress lavishly embroidered with silver, nods to the English embroidery traditions of the 16th through 19th centuries, when elaborate metal wires were used to adorn aristocratic as well as military garments. The goldwork technique used for this dress varies from older Eastern and Western traditions in that it includes extremely fine metal tubing with a variety of decorative surface effects to create dimensional designs. The metal tubing can be cut to the precise dimension required for a form; it is then slipped onto a threaded needle and gently attached to the surface of a design. This process is repeated until the padded form of a leaf, for instance, is completely covered in shimmering gold or silver. The ensemble exhibits a plethora of these materials, including so-called pearl, bullion, and rococo threads, along with more traditional metallic threads with fiber cores.

Guo Pei’s reimagining of gold and multicolored metallic thread as silk shading and satin stitch is an innovation that quite literally jumps off the cloth in Garden of Soul, Ensemble, 2015. Embellished with this signature technique, some of the embroidered flowers were carefully cut from the structural support fabric and allowed to seemingly float midair on strands of Swarovski crystals below the dress (see detail). Since the flowers could easily flutter and rotate with the movements of the wearer, it was necessary to employ a technique known as double-sided silk shading, in which the front and reverse sides of the embroidery are essentially identical. Double-sided silk shading is a painstaking and time-intensive technique, requiring advanced training and perseverance. Since metallic threads are trickier to manipulate into a smooth, cohesive unit than their silk counterparts, the subtle addition of these delicate flowers speaks to the talent at Rose Studio.

Strands of metalized thread take on a dreamlike quality in Alternate Universe, Two Person Dress, Fall/Winter 2019–2020. Conjoined at the skirt, two bodices merge to become one gown. Conceived as a part of her Alternate Universe (2019–2020) series, the dress displays surrealistic imagery inspired by afterlife and reincarnation. Constructed of gauzy pineapple fiber (piña), this gown is made with steel wire, embroidered with gold and silver threads, raffia, goose feathers and embellishment with resin beads, Swarovski crystals, and rhinestones.

Three-dimensional, padded embroidery, also referred to as raised work or stumpwork, seems to spring from the dress in fantastical forms. A raven made of silk shading embroidery in radiant metallic threads flaps its wings, which transform from embroidery into jet-black bird feathers (see detail). Although this three-dimensional embroidery technique gained popularity in 17th-century England, Guo Pei takes it further, using it to cross the boundary between dreamscape and reality. Her embroidered bird seems to transform, lifting off the gown into flight. 

Through her innovative use of golden threads and embroidery stitches, Guo Pei has created a universe that is at once traditional and futuristic, philosophical and whimsical. Her fantastical couture embodies messages, mementos, and inspiration that she absorbed throughout her life, from listening to her grandmother’s tales when she was a small child to embarking on her own adventures around the world. Unbound by the painterly fluidity of the embroidery stitch, her work embodies Eastern and Western traditions through imagery and precise technical stitches, juxtaposing geometric and floral shapes along with soft and rigid materials. By integrating the endless versatility of embroidery into her designs, Guo Pei looks to traditional iterations of both Chinese and European techniques, reimagining them in a confluence of couture with vibrantly innovative stitches. 

Text by Kristal Hale, Andrew W. Mellon Conservation Fellow, the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy is on view at the Legion of Honor from April 16 through September 5, 2022.

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