East meets West on fashion week
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Guo Pei's Thousand and Two Nights collection. [CFP] |
China Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2010 closed Sunday but it was Guo Pei's "Thousand and Two Nights" collection Friday night that best concluded the week that began November 1: haute couture, east meets west and the return of luxury after the economic unraveling.
Guo Pei's show in the National Stadium displayed sixteen haute couture costumes in fur, silk and crystal.
Guo is considered to be one of the most talented designer in China but has occasionally been criticized for copying Western designs and this year's complex cone-style sleeves were reminiscent of the Gareth Pugh Spring 2009 collection. But she successfully displayed her original flair for lush luxury by combining traditional elements of China, Arabia and Japan with international design philosophies.
"The heaviest piece is possibly around 50 kilograms, and I forced models into 35-centimeter heels," Guo said after the show. She said the pursuit of absolute luxury is her fashion standard.
"She can design everything, even Beijing," 78-year old French model Carmen dell'Orefice said of Guo. She had appeared on the runway together with China's first internationally acknowledged supermodel Lv Yan and actress Fan Bingbing and called the show "close to perfection."
"Guo is a designer whose works are worth being collected by Chinese museums," top designer Qi Gang told Global Times. His SEC's Imaginary Land collection dazzled the fashion week Thursday.
Dubbed China's John Galliano, Qi's style resembles Dior in many ways, from the attention to details, exploitation of mix and match, flamboyant make-up, and his love for theater and feminity.
"For China Fashion Week, which is held after the Milan and Paris fashion weeks, my designs are absolutely influenced by the international trends," Said Qi.
But while Galliano featured silent screen heroines in his latest collection, Qi said his Imaginary Land Series was inspired by hallucinogenic Chinese mushrooms.
