The deluxe edition of Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy pays homage to one of the artist’s most beautiful creations: the Da Jing (Magnificent Gold) gown featured in her Samsara collection of 2006. Inspired by the reincarnated title character in Tim Burton’s film Corpse Bride and one of Napoleon Bonaparte’s embroidered uniforms on view at the Musée de l’Armée in Paris, the dress exemplifies Guo Pei’s imaginative and sophisticated interpretation of seemingly divergent sources. The work is also representative of China—the artist’s home country—as a place of contemporary transformation and cultural rebirth.

 

Constructed of individual vertical panels, Da Jing is completely embroidered with couched gold thread in a repeating pattern of lotus pods and trailing plants, symbols of everlasting exuberance and purity of mind in Chinese culture. This object was one of the first elaborately worked masterpieces created by Guo Pei’s atelier, Rose Studio, and its meticulous embroidery took more than 50,000 hours to create. Its original presentation during China International Fashion week in Beijing marked the birth of Chinese haute couture. Published by and exclusive to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Hardcover with gold stamped slipcase. 277 pages.