Guo Pei

Widely recognized as one of China’s pioneering couture designers, Guo Pei is the first designer of Asian descent invited as a guest member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris. She gained international acclaim when pop icon Rihanna wore her iconic yellow gown to the 2015 Met Gala, creating an unforgettable moment that showcased China’s rich creative heritage to a global audience.

Today, Guo Pei is renowned not only as a fashion designer but as an artist who elevates couture to an art form, creating pieces that command attention and reflect exceptional craftsmanship. Her distinguished works, including the signature Met Gala gown, the cathedral-inspired “Legend” collection, and major museum exhibitions worldwide, reflect her belief that true craftsmanship bridges cultures and tells lasting stories. As she puts it: “Creating art is a form of devotion. It requires courage.”

In haute couture, mastery is built stitch by stitch and hour by hour. For Guo Pei, this steady, often invisible labor is the heart of the craft. Excellence, she believes, comes not from perfection but steadfastness, or the willingness to refine, repeat, and rise to each challenge.

This spirit shaped “Glazed Splendor” in collaboration with Guangcai porcelain master Tan Guanghui. Combining porcelain and fabric, two materials that can't be more different, this project push her to rethink form, texture, and even weight. She describes how both she and Master Tan approached the project with the same value: persistence and trying again and again until the material revealed what it could become. “I can spend 50,000 hours making one garment,” she says. “And I can also spend a lifetime creating a single work.”

Creating art is a form of devotion. It requires courage.

Porcelain is traditionally valued for its delicacy, yet in “Glazed Splendor”, Guo Pei wanted it to carry strength, structure, and movement. This pursuit pushed her to rethink how each piece was shaped and glazed. The work required her and Master Tan to experiment with making the porcelain pieces curved so they could follow the lines of the human body. The final construction utilized a unique method where two layers of thin, glazed porcelain tiles were used, and gold wiring was sandwiched between them to provide the necessary connection and integrity.

Working with a material so fragile required not only technical skill, but the courage to experiment beyond familiar boundaries. "Neither of us know what the result will be, but we were very excited and very willing to try," she says. This mindset and persistence that allow her and Master Tan to uncover new possibilities within a centuries-old craft.

Guo Pei sees tradition not as something to be preserved unchanged, but as a foundation for new creation. While traditional Chinese crafts risk fading away, she believes that documenting these skills is essential, not only to preserve them but to inspire innovation that keeps them alive for future generations.

“Inheritance merely connects yesterday, while creativity moves us into the future,” she says, capturing her philosophy of using history as a springboard for contemporary expression. This belief shapes her approach to craft and artistry. For Guo Pei, innovation is an act of respect, a way to let history spark ideas that resonate with the present. “What I’ve learned from traditional culture is a spirit,” she says, “a spirit of creation and breakthrough, a spirit of transcendence.”

Many of Guo Pei's works are built over years, stitched layer by layer until they finally reach perfection. Yet she doesn't seem troubled by the pace. "I don't often count time when I am creating," she says. "Sometimes I take two years or even three to five years to make a piece of clothing."

The yellow dress Rihanna wore took almost two years and 50,000 hours to create. The “Glazed Splendor” couture, made under the constraint of time, required an extensive effort that involved crafting and assembling over 13,000 porcelain pieces for the two-layer garment. Indeed, perfection is reached through patience, repetition, endurance, and the willingness to try many, many times until a piece feels complete.

Creativity moves us into the future.

When asked about the excellent quality of her craft, she attributes it to discipline and devotion. "A person must bravely step out of their comfort zone," she says with certainty. "Master Tan and I both have the same spirit of strongly wanting to continuously improve and surpass ourselves in our profession.” To Guo Pei, that drive feels almost combative. “I feel like a warrior on the battlefield,” she says. “I won’t avoid any difficulty.”

This mindset guides her approach to every collection, allowing her to dedicate her time to her work and pushing her to experiment with new forms, materials, and levels of precision. The results are masterpieces that lasts across years.

For Guo Pei, the pursuit of excellence can't simply be defined as a competition with others, but a personal, almost spiritual journey. She notes that unlike objects made for practical use, high art can appear "useless" in everyday life. Yet she believes that art is exactly what gives the human spirit inspiration and helps the world move forward.

This perspective is central to how she defines success. After forty years in the industry, she no longer seeks affirmation from peers or external measures. Instead, she focuses on surpassing her own “superego,” an inner standard that continually pushes her toward growth. “I want to become a fashion artist,” she says. “In life, you should be your own role model.”

Nowadays, as we are able to access almost any kind of information with technology, as the internet offers constant distraction, Guo Pei worries that the noise of modern world will make it harder for young people to find their footing. "Young people rarely persist," she observes, noting that having too many options can leave them uncertain about what they truly love or want to pursue.

She hopes that works like “Glazed Splendor” will inspire an "inner impulse" in young creators and show that beauty comes from patience. Her advice encourages a simple but courageous approach. "One is everything, and one is the key to success," she says.