Gothic Architecture Meets High Fashion in Guo Pei’s Gravity-Defying Dresses

In what has to be one of the most spectacular collisions of high fashion and architecture, fashion designer Guo Pei has tapped into the "immutable" qualities of Gothic buildings with a series of outfits inspired by vaults, spires, flying buttresses, and elaborate window tracery. According to Vogue, the Chinese designer described her work as "a dialogue between the human body and spatial dimension," while Pei's own Facebook post explained her Fall 2018 collection with just a short phrase: "Time flows unhurriedly, while architecture stands immutably."

Many of the designs in Pei's collection seem to have been conceived as architectural structures in themselves, projecting outwards from the body to create striking church-like forms. Converting the rigid stone structures of the Gothic style into fabrics designed to hang from the human body is clearly a challenging technical feat, and proves extremely satisfying for architecture-obsessed onlookers when achieved with the audacity brought to her work by Pei.

News via Vogue.

Correction Update: A previous version of this article stated that Guo Pei designed singer Rihanna's dress at the 2018 MET Gala. This was incorrect; Pei designed the dress Rihanna wore to the 2015 MET Gala, but the dress the singer wore in 2018 was designed by John Galliano. ArchDaily regrets the error.

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Cite: Rory Stott. "Gothic Architecture Meets High Fashion in Guo Pei’s Gravity-Defying Dresses" 06 Jul 2018. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/897758/gothic-architecture-meets-high-fashion-in-guo-peis-gravity-defying-dresses> ISSN 0719-8884

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