Inner Worlds | Guo Pei

Art Basel’s Inner Worlds film series visits creatives in the places that inspire them

Discover the world of Guo Pei, the renowned Chinese couturière and founder of Rose Studio. In this episode of our ‘Inner Worlds’ film series, we visit the designer in her Beijing workshop and showroom. There, she takes us through the process of creating wearable works of art, recognizable by their hand-sewn crystals, pearls, and gold thread. Pei’s vision is uncompromising: ‘My main concern is to express everything I want to express without reservation’, she says.

Guo Pei gained worldwide acclaim after Rihanna wore her stunning yellow creation – immediately nicknamed the ‘omelette dress’ – at the 2015 Met Gala. The magnificent piece drew inspiration from traditional Chinese imperial court costumes. Meticulously hand-embroidered, it took over 50,000 hours to complete, weighed 55 pounds – and has since gone down in red-carpet history. Her work is shown at museums around the world, including San Francisco’s Legion of Honor, the Vancouver Art Museum, and Paris’s Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

The exhibition Guo Pei: Fashioning Imagination will be on view at Hong Kong’s M+ starting on September 21, 2024.

Director: Stefen Chow
Director of Photography: Nelson Quan
Sound: Qiao Xin
Editor: Deng Lefeng
Producer: Shawn Koh
Interviewer: Huiyi Lin (Chow and Lin)
Music: ‘The Yoga’, By TastyAudio

Art Basel 
Executive Editor: Coline Milliard 
Senior Editor: Alicia Reuter 
Video Commissioner: Jeanne-Salomé Rochat 
Creative Producer: Akiel Gallina