Golden Thread: The Art of Dressing from North Africa to the Far East

Golden Thread: The Art of Dressing from North Africa to the Far East
From 11.2 to 6 july 2025 at the Musée Du Quai Branly, Paris

Weavers and goldsmiths in the near and far East used their skill and talents to develop techniques for combining gold with textile fiber through weaving, embroidery and and printing, transforming simple cloths into exceptional fabrics.
Because of their organic nature and extreme fragility, few ancient textiles containing gold have ever been found. Such artifacts have been discovered in greatest abundance in the tombs of royalty, princes and nobles.Other luxurious fabrics adorned with gold, from the Byzantine Empire, Islamic world and China, reached Europe as early as the high Middle Ages, in the form of trade goods or diplomatic gifts. Intended for the elite and ecclesiastical dignitaries, some of these fabrics have been preserved in the treasuries of Western churches.
Gold was initially reserved for the rich and powerful, but rose in popularity over the centuries. Its use gradually spread to the textile arts throughout the Asian continent, and than to the Maghreb countries.
This exhibition was designed in close collaboration with Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei, whose sublime, luminous garments are in evidence throughout. It reveals the diversity and richness of women’s dress embroidered or woven in gold, from a vast region stretching from the Maghreb to Japan, via the countries of the Middle East, India and China.

So far the introduction text to this surprising exhibition in the Paris ethnographic museum „ Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac“. The surprise for me was the Chinese fashion designer Guo Pei whom I had never heard of before; one her creations, a wedding dress from 2024, took 5 years of work, involving 8 people and 30 techniques; 5 dresses embroidered with gold thread (also from 2024) took 15 people and 5 years of work; another creation (Autumn /Winter 2016) took 20.000 hours of work and 8 people to weave and embroider this dress!

Born in 1967 in China Guo Pei learned sewing and needle work from her mother. In the 1980s she launched „Rose Studio“, one of the first fashion workshops in China. Later she transitioned into haute couture, inspired by her countries history and the cultures of East and West, creating designs that blend silk, gemstones, feathers, pearls and especially gold! I could not believe what I was seeing, why didn’t I know her?
Funny enough a few days later, a Swiss friend visiting HongKong did send me photos of her work in the M+ Museum in Hong Kong, a museum for visual culture. As surprising as her work in Paris. He also wrote that she is working together with embroiderer designer Martin Leuthold ( Jakob Schlaepfer fashion fabrics), the result was exhibited in „Golden Thread“, another fine example of the high art this designer has reached in the embroidery industry, this time for this exceptional Chinese designer working with hand-embroidery. I was torn between admiration and the touch of kitsch I felt in her work, but it was stunning and fantastic kitsch anyway! 

There also was one more surprising designer , inspired by gold after a travel to Egypt seeing all the gold in the tombs of the pharaohs , John Galliano for Christian Dior, Spring/Summer 2004

I liked the exhibition very much as it gave answers to such questions as where gold comes from (apparently from a collision of two planets long before our planet existed!). Also materials that looked like gold , as sea-silk (from the Pina Nobilis) and spider silk(FromNephila madagascariensis) producing gold-colored threads!

It was very well exposed and even though it was a very large exhibition, it was easy to keep track of the story of gold through the centuries and the continents from Asia to North Africa and Europe.

I did not buy the catalogue, as my luggage was already to heavy, but am going to order it. I include a photo of the cover, it seems to be in French only, published by the Musée Du Quay Branly together with Skira publishers (available at the museum at Euro 47). I could not find it at Amazon.