Guo Pei: Rihanna's Chinese couturier

She made yellow cape singer wore to China-themed Met Gala

Guo Pei, a Chinese couturier who is celebrating her 30th year in fashion next year, said she never expected to be thrust into the international spotlight with the giant yellow cape Rihanna wore at last May's Met Gala in New York.

The fur-trimmed cape, weighing 25 kg, with a 2.5-meter-long train and exquisite embroidery of floral patterns, is one of 16 garments from her 2010 collection One Thousand and Two Nights.

The 48-year-old designer never dreamed her creation would hit the cover of Vogue magazine and the front page of New York Times five years later but it did, after Rihanna came across the piece on the Internet while researching a design for the China-themed New York Met Gala.

"I didn't know who (Rihanna) was," Guo told China Daily. "Even after my husband explained to me, I still had no idea. I'm not an Internet user, because I think a person's energy is limited. When you focus on what you love, you can be ignorant of many other things."

She said it was kind of "predestined relationship" that connected her with Rihanna.

"When the yellow cape debuted in 2010, I hadn't imagined the beauty it presented when Rihanna was in it," Guo said. "The dress was given a new life in the eyes of the world as the cultural characteristics radiated from the American singer, as well as her skin color helped interpret the piece in a brand-new way."

"I was surprised. Then I realize that it is the person who wears the dress that is the essential element," she said.

The cape is on display at the Bowers Museum, in Santa Ana, California, until Jan 3 in the hopes of promoting the knowledge and art of Chinese haute couture in the US.

"The design may take only a moment, but the production process can take years to complete," Guo said. "The art of haute couture should not be judged by design alone, but more importantly the expression of artisanship."

"Without artisanship, no matter how many ideas you have, you can't bring them into reality," she added.

The One Thousand and Two Nights collection, including the yellow cape, took her team 30 months to complete. "It took five months to produce the materials alone, and most of the rest time was devoted to embroidery which was hand-made with gold threads," she said.

The embroidery has three layers, just like a "sculpture", she said. "I hope the audience can have a close look at the exquisite embroidery and be inspired by this traditional Chinese craftsmanship."

Guo's fashion style borrows heavily from traditional Chinese imperial court design. Many pieces in her collection involve silk, fur and embroidery.

"Westerns tend to relate the imperial design with Chinese style. My works represent the encounter between East and West," she said.

"The Chinese style values exquisiteness and subtleness, while the Western style emphasizes conveying strong emotions and artistic tension," she explained. "For instance, traditional Chinese paintings have a neat and smooth style, but Western paintings have strong visual effects when viewed from a distance."

"I try to combine both Chinese exquisiteness and Western expression together, so that viewers can not only feel the splendor at a distance but also can appreciate the exquisiteness of the layered embroidery close up," she said.

Aside from the yellow cape, two other of her pieces were presented in the Met's exhibition China: Through the Looking Glass. One of them is the "Magnificent Gold," a gold-brocade gown that was viewed by more than a million visitors.

The gold embroidery dress reportedly took 100 embroiderers 50,000 hours to make. Inspired by the spirit of a king and the spirit of the sun, the dress is regarded as a representation of traditional Chinese elements.

"I didn't purposely add Chinese elements in the design, but maybe the Chinese elements are floating in my blood," she said. "All your expression comes from what you feel and love. It's like instinct that you bring your tradition with you when you leave home."

"I hope to express the Chinese culture through the language of fashion," she said. "It's in the process that different cultures encounter with each other that the world becomes diversified."

Her other exhibit at the Met is a dress from her "blue and white porcelain" collection. The inspiration, she explained, was how the world began learning about China from its porcelain and the blue-and-white porcelain was the most famous.

"People said 'Guo Pei, you are so lucky that Rihanna wore your dress.' But I believe 'Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity'," she said.

Born in Beijing in 1967, Guo graduated with a major in fashion design from the Beijing Second Light Industry School in 1986.

Three years later, she became chief designer at one of Beijing's first independently owned clothing companies. She left the company in 1997 to form her own company, Rose Studio Couture Co, in Beijing.

"I'll attend the haute couture fashion week in Paris in January next year on behalf of Chinese fashion designers," said Guo. "I'm the first Chinese designer to receive such an honor."

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com