Guo Pei exhibition; a trip into fashion and fantasy for Macleans College textile students
Posted on April 30, 2024
Over 100 Macleans College textiles students experienced the exclusive New Zealand exhibition of Chinese designer Guo Pei at the Auckland Art Gallery.
The Year 11, 12 and 13 students relished the rare opportunity to view the extravagant and breathtaking fashions of this globally-renowned designer.
Guo Pei is one of China’s premier couturiers and one of the world’s most innovative designers. The students were inspired by the imagination of the embroidery, use of applied designs and creativity of the garments - an exhibition well worth viewing with over 60 garments on display.
Guo Pei garments have been worn by many famous people including Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Rihanna, who at the Met Gala wore the famous Yellow Queen gown weighing an impressive 25kg. The colour yellow is significant to Guo Pei; as a young girl living in China she wasn’t allowed to wear yellow as this was a colour only for emperors. The Guo Pei gown, Magnificent Gold, is ordinarily housed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
After the Guo Pei exhibition, the students were taken through the Robinson Gift Collection which afforded the students an opportunity to view famous paintings by Picasso, Monet and Matisse. They then experienced an exhibition entitled Threads of Time: Travel, Trade & Textiles; an exhibition linking textiles through history and exploring how fabrics offer insight into the interwoven threads of fashion, art and identity in the politics and cultures of the past.
This was a well-received and inspiring trip for all the students, who will now use these ideas to inform and enrich their own work.
