Guo Pei interview before the exhibition

“Clothes are the architecture of the body,” reads a Guo Pei quote on a mural at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco, where her 80 dresses are on display through November. The “Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy” exhibition unfolds as a poem; Just a quick walk will take the audience to her level of wisdom. Payne’s work as a fashion designer is simply understated by the magnificence and technical prowess of her work. Borrowing freely from many sources – China’s imperial past or the natural world or European architecture – Pei creates finely crafted garments that link to fashion, performance art and sculpture. And some of her pieces — like Da Jin’s dress in the exhibit — take tens of thousands of hours to make.

“I feel so lucky to have decided to make clothes,” she tells POPSUGAR. Pei’s journey to become the second Chinese designer to be invited as a guest of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture (French Couture Authority) is remarkable. Born in Beijing, she developed an early love for embroidery through her maternal grandmother, who told stories about her upbringing during China’s last imperial period. During the Cultural Revolution, embroidery was banned, so she spoke of rich Chinese court clothes. “Back then there was no color on the clothes, everything was plain,” Pei said. When she started sewing with her mother, her fascination with beautiful clothes grew stronger; Her glaucoma kept her from making clothes for the family.

Pei later enrolled in China’s first fashion program and spent ten years working in name-brand companies. Still, she wanted to do embroidery, so she eventually set out to revive the art on her own. In the year As girls were not educated in the 1930s, she traveled to different villages to meet artisans, eventually starting her own practice, Rose Studio, in 1997. Today, it employs 450 artisans, of whom 300 are embroiderers.

Many know her as the creator of Rihanna’s gold-embroidered gown at the 2015 Met Gala, but Pey was an acclaimed designer before that moment. The couture designer has successfully channeled her love of fantasy, architecture and spirituality, marked by her technical creativity and global outlook.

Pei’s motivation is still far from over. The legendary designer spoke to POPSUGAR about her childhood, the evolution of fashion in China and her hopes for the future of the industry. Read ahead for the interview, slightly edited for clarity.