Go East
Fei Fei Sun by Steven Meisel for American Vogue May 2015
The Silk Road At the Christian Dior Haute Couture spring 2009 show in Paris, John Galliano’s lining on a cream silk gown referenced the designer’s fascination with blue-and-white porcelain.
Forbidden Kingdom Designers’ imaginations have been fired by visions of pleasure pavilions and blossoming branches, with a handful of familiar motifs emblematic of China itself: the peony, the pagoda, the phoenix captive on the grounds of a summer palace. Alexander McQueen dress embroidered with birds, butterflies, and flowers, from autumn 2006.
Raise the Red Lantern Cinema has also strongly influenced Western impressions. The cheongsam dress became a red-hot fad in the mid-20th century, when films like the world of Suzie Wong introduced moviegoers to a fantasy interpretation of Hong Kong. This gold-embroidered evening dress is from Chanel Haute Couture’s autumn 1996 collection.
Hidden Dragon Western pop culture still often portrays Asian women as having mysterious powers of sexual mastery. With its perilously plunging back, this dress-very Anna May Wong-suggests those received ideas of dangerous feminine seduction. Jean Paul Gaultier Haute Couture’s silk-satin sheath was shown on the runway with leaf bracelets and matching trousers for autumn 2001.
Blue Willow Many of the garden motifs we associate with China were first popularized in the West by the aristocracy of France and England as patterns on imported or domestic-imitation china and wallpaper. Valentino created this blue-and white bouquet-printed gown in autumn 1968.
Chungking Express Fired-breathing dragons has long been Western symbols of “the Orient”-and the cinematic stereotype of the dragon lady in a tight sheath has permeated Hollywood since such films as The Bitter Tea of General Yen and Daughter of the dragon were released in the early 1930s. Yves Saint Laurent dress by Tom Ford, autumn 2004.
The Painted Veil Mei Lanfang, a 20th-century Peking Opera singer famous for playing female roles, inspired John Galliano’s spring 2003 Christian Dior Haute Couture collection, including this theatrical ensemble and gilled headpiece, which will be showcased in the exhibition.
The Gilded Cage Peacocks, cranes, and other gorgeous winged creature appear on many of the garments in the exhibition. This autumn 2006 Alexander McQueen pieces embroidered with copper sequins and overlaid with copper silk mesh. Its long sleeves, high neck, and slinky cut are reminiscent of the qipao, which-in its modern, figure-hugging form-was popularized by shanghai socialites in the 1920s and 1930s.
Porcelain Doll Masterpieces of Chinese decorative arts-rendered in jade, lacquer, cloisonné, porcelain-will be juxtaposed with garments in the Met’s second-floor Chinese Galleries. Here, a vase-shaped dress by Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel Haute Couture, from the spring 1984 collection.
Red China Scarlet has so many associations: firecrackers in their bright wrappers; the lucky red-paper trinkets of the Chinese New Year. John Galliano summoned to mind these references for Christian Dior Haute Couture in spring 1997 with this silk fringed dress with a delicate tracing of flowers from the shoulder.
