China: Through the Looking Glass
A deeper look into the 2015 met exhibition
The Met gala has become synonymous with celebrities walking down a long red carpet, best- to worst dressed lists and elaborate fashion that the general public sometimes find too avant-garde. What the general public might not take into notice is that the gala is the start of a new fashion exhibition at the Met costume institute. The Met costume institute began as the Museum of Costume Art, an independent entity formed in 1937. In 1946, it joined forces with the Metropolitan Museum of Art and with help from Vogue editor in chief and fashion icon Diana Vreeland, the museum created extraordinary exhibitions that are still being held every year.
In 2015, the exhibition was titled “China: Through the looking glass”. It was a reflection on Chinese culture and how it has been perceived by the west, hence “through the looking glass”. I think it was a great choice of subject to use for the exhibition, because we’ve seen a huge growth in China’s impact on global politics and the fashion industry. During the 1990’s China’s economy grew enormously, because of the free market that opened. That led to the population becoming wealthier because of new companies that earned a big impact on the Asian market as other countries like Vietnam and Cambodia could develop with help from China’s new wealth. That created a new consumer of luxury fashion since the population got wealthier and larger, which meant that luxury houses like Hermès, Dior, Chanel and Louis Vuitton opened stores around China and today most of the big luxury brands have more stores in China than in any other country. Therefore I think that this exhibition was right in time, because the Chinese are one of the largest, if not the largest consumer group of luxury items, which has led to an impact on fashion and the fashion industry like never before.
As much as the exhibition is right in its time with China’s grip on the world it is also a celebration and reflection of Chinese aesthetics and their impact. Most people have heard about the silk road, a trading route connecting the East and the West. Reaching from Europe to China and making its way through the Middle east and Central Asia, this trading route created a fascination in Europe for Chinese aesthetics such as porcelain, silk, buddhism and other types of craftsmanship.
These materials were exotic in Europe, which led to a high price tag and are therefore seen as some of the earliest examples of luxury items. That resulted in a fascination with the orient and China, because it was a different culture from the ones in Europe. This fascination still exists, because the silk road lived on from 200 bc to the 19th century, because of colonialism which meant that these cultural expressions became available to the general public, because the trading developed with new technology like shipping and railway.
However, the picture of China has changed. That’s the reason why this exhibition explores three different periods of Chinese history. Imperial China, nationalist China and the People’s Republic of China. Designers tend to look more towards imperial China, because of the lavish colors and embroideries, but also for the imperial robe.
The imperial robe is a garment that radiates wealth and power and was worn by the empresses during imperial China. They are embellished with twelve symbols that are virtues of the emperor, which usually were symbols that we normally associate with China, like a dragon for example. The style of the garment became popularised in the 1930’s, because that was when surrealism became popularised with artists like Salvador Dali and designers like Elsa Schiaparelli. The art was an expression of the imagination and artists often drew inspiration from the orient which was a product of colonialism and because of that the fashion became influenced by Chinese aesthetics and the image the West had of the East.
Designers like John Galliano for Dior have explored these aesthetics in their haute couture, because of the rich craftsmanship in China, which suits well for haute couture because it is the most prestigious form of clothing manufacturing.
These dresses from Dior spring/summer 2003 haute couture collection explores the decadence and extravagance of Chinese opera. The decadence and avant-garde costumes were a perfect match with Dior and John Galliano in the early 2000’s who’s collections were more often than not decadent. The opera’s position in society came to an end during the cultural revolution, because it was perceived to be classicist by Mao Zedong and the red guards who established the People’s Republic of China.
While designers look for inspiration from different cultures and some of the countries where these cultures are found are among the world’s most powerful like China, the topic of cultural appropriation still needs to be discussed. Europe’s obsession with the orient has imprinted on its history, because the desire for minerals, materials and exotic objects have led to imperialism and colonialism, which has taken people’s lives and made languages go extinct, for example. In most of these cases the impact of colonialism has been large enough to make these countries struggle with corruption and poverty even today. Because of that, there is a reason as to why designers should be careful with what they’re referencing and taking inspiration from. Because it is unethical if you are selling a garment worth more than a thousand dollars and in some cases above a hundred thousand dollars, that is inspired by traditional clothing from a country and a culture that has been colonised, oppressed and might even be one of the world’s poorest countries today.
While most of us think about Chinese aesthetics as objects and symbols from the imperial era, the People’s Republic has also had a large impact. Post cultural revolution, a uniform was established by Mao Zedong, “the Mao suit”.
It symbolized unity, equality and utopia, because everybody wore the same clothes, which led to nobody being superior to the other, aesthetically. Designers have explored this field too, whether it’s Chanel’s classic suits or Jil Sander’s monochromatic minimalist collections, they both have a distinct expression in their clothes. That leads to having a certain consumer, because the expression appeals to a group of society. For example, Chanel’s suits tend to appeal to rich eldrely women, because it gives an impression of wealth and sophistication which is how these women want to be perceived.
The Mao suit’s legacy in China is interesting, because although the communist party remains and all industries and companies of a big size are controlled by the government, China’s fashion scene is blooming and individual expressions of style are very visible, unlike it was during Mao’s regime.
Street style photo taken by vogue runway during Shanghai fashion week ss21
Street style photo taken by vogue runway during Shanghai fashion week ss21
The difference is that Chinese designers tend to look for inspiration from China rather than elsewhere, which makes me draw parallels to China’s position in the world currently and it’s current rising nationalism, which is something we have seen in other countries where both nationalism and fashion are blooming, for example Russia. The russian fashion scene has been led by designer Gosha Rubchinskiy who has been using cyrillic letters and soviet sportswear as inspiration for his collections. A Chinese designer who is an example for looking back at her country’s past is Guo Pei who was featured in the exhibition “China: Through the Looking Glass” and also made the dress Rihanna wore to the Met gala that same year.
As a conclusion, in a time where China’s grip on the world gets tighter, this was an exhibition that cooperated well with its time, because the gap between the West and the East seems to only get smaller and the cultures that have been called exotic might not be as far away as we think. At the same time there are still cultural differences that are large, both in the past and the present, but if they will be erased in the future, only time will tell.