The exhibition presented until July 6, 2025, at the Quai Branly museum in Paris, “Golden Thread: The Art of Dressing from North Africa to the far East” offers a geographical and chronological journey retracing the alliance between gold and fabric.
Discovered nearly 7,000 years ago, gold has never ceased to fascinate humankind.
The most precious and noble metal in the world, an object of desire, a symbol of wealth and opulence, a sign of elegance and refinement, it has been used since Antiquity to craft jewelry, adornments, and weapons. As early as the fifth millennium BCE, gold embellishes the first luxury fabrics intended for powerful men.
Over the following centuries, skilled weavers and artisans – Roman, Byzantine, Chinese, Persian, and later Muslim – developed the most ingenious techniques to create true textile artworks, where silk or linen threads intertwine with gold.
From North Africa to Japan, passing through the Middle East, India, and China, this exhibition traces the millennia-old history of gold in textile arts, ending on a more modern note with creations by Dior and the Lesage atelier for Chanel.
The exhibition is punctuated by contemporary works from Chinese designer Guo Pei.
Little known to the public, Guo Pei founded China’s first couture workshop in 1997, which would go on to become the country’s most renowned. Less than a decade later, she became the first Asian designer to be invited as a guest member of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris. One glance at her creations is enough to understand why.
Guo Pei
Guo Pei
Guo Pei
Japan
Guo Pei
Morocco
Tunisia
Tunisia
Tunisia
Guo Pei
Egypt
Egypt
Turkey
Algeria
Guo Pei
Guo Pei
Guo Pei
India
China
Guo Pei
Dior
Lesage for Chanel
Guo Pei
June 6, 2025
