"China: Through the Looking Glass": A First Look at the Dresses in the Met s Costume Exhibition
Photographed by Steven Meisel, Vogue, May 20151/10The Silk Road
At the Christian Dior Haute Couture spring 2009 show in Paris, John Galliano’s lining on a cream silk ball gown (worn by model Fei Fei Sun) referenced the designer’s fascination with blue-and-white porcelain.
Fashion Editor: Grace Coddington
Photographed by Steven Meisel, Vogue, May 20152/10Hidden 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.
Photographed by Steven Meisel, Vogue, May 20153/10Forbidden 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.
Photographed by Steven Meisel, Vogue, May 20154/10Raise 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.
Photographed by Steven Meisel, Vogue, May 20155/10Blue 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.
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