From pizzas to omelets, Rihanna’s jaw dropping canary yellow gown was the subject of fan created memes following her appearance at the Met Gala on Monday. With an ornate fur trimmed train that featured elaborate details, the Bajan pop star posed on the red carpet sending both the fashion industry and the Internet crazy. However, who was the designer of such a genius creation? And just how long did it take to make it?
Enter Chinese couturier, Guo Pei. The 45-year-old Beijing based designer who Rihanna, revealing to Vanity Fair, found while surfing the web. “I was researching Chinese couture on the Internet and I found it,” she commented. “It took her two years to make it.”
Pei, whose intricate designs usually take many hours sometimes years to create, has two pieces that are featured in this year’s Costume Institute exhibition “China: Through the Looking Glass”. One of her designs, Magnificent Gold, took 50,000 hours to make and takes up an entire room. Pei imports lavish materials, such as silk, and are all handmade, adding to the length of time for production. She employs 450 craftsmen, of whom 300 are embroiderers and 150 are designers, pattern makers and sewing technicians according to the Wall Street Journal. What’s the most expensive item in her showroom? A man’s suit made from 30,000 pieces of real pearl that can cost up to $800,000.
Contrary to the hype of Rihanna’s Met gala dress, Pei is not a newcomer to the fashion world. She has been designing for 26 years. According to the The Straits Times, Pei took up fashion studies at the Beijing Second Light Industry School, then specialized in ready-to-wear in a women’s fashion company, Tian Ma. She started Rose Studio, a bespoke clothing business, in 1997. Pei has become a household name in China, developing a celebrity fan following that includes actresses Zhang Ziyi, Fan Bingbing and Li Bingbing.
At the moment, her eyes are on Paris. In the coming months she plans to open an atelier studio in the French fashion capital on Avenue Montaigne, where Christian Dior started his couture house many years ago. In July, Pei will also unveil her first couture show during Haute Couture Fashion Week. Adding to her already full schedule, she plans to release a ready to wear collection sometime this year.
So how does Pei feel about her work turning into memes? Per The Cut, she’s thinks it’s “cute” and “happy” that people find it entertaining.
All hail the new empress of couture – just leave those pizza and omelet jokes at the door, though.
Check out one of Pei’s fashion shows here:
Click here to view the embedded video.
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