{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1361723"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1361723/"}},"images":null,"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1361723","accessionNumber":"FE.69:1-2016","objectType":"Dress","titles":[{"title":"The Earth","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Ma Ke is perhaps the most successful female fashion designer in China today. Born in Changchun, Jilin province, she graduated from Suzhou Institute of Silk Textile Technology in 1992. In 1996, she and her university classmate Mao Jihong founded the fashion brand Exception de Mixmind in Guangzhou. In the next ten years, they turned it into one of the most successful home-grown fashion brand in China, opening 53 stores across China, with many Chinese celebrities as loyal clients, including the folk signer Mrs. Peng Liyuan (China's current First Lady). Her commercial success has given her the freedom to collaborate with graphic designers, photographers and film-makers, including Wang Xu, Stanley Wong and Jia Zhangke, to produce more one-off experimental projects. \n\nMost critically, Ma Ke sees the role of the fashion design as part of 'society's conscience', retaining traditional skills and imparting 'cultural memories'. In 2006, she moved to Zhuhai to create a new fashion label, Wuyong (literally meaning Useless). In 2013, she resigned from the position of creative director and lead designer at Exception de Mixmind in order to concentrate on the development of her critical vision. For the Wuyong collections, Ma Ke employ a team of workers skilled in spinning, weaving, dying and sewing in traditional style.  \n\nThis cotton dress is part of an ensemble from the first Wuyong collection/the Earth. The amazing ice-crack effect is achieved through a complex process, which involves painting with gypsum slurry, and then rubbing and crumpling. \n\nThe ensemble was displayed along with two other Chinese fashion designers, Wang Yiyang and Zhang Da, in the V&A's China Design Now exhibition in 2008.  \n\n","physicalDescription":"Sleeveless dress, white paint, earthy grey fabric","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Ma Ke","id":"AUTH336719"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Cotton, painting with gypsum slurry, rubbing and crumpling to create the surface texture","categories":[{"text":"Fashion","id":"THES48957"},{"text":"Clothing","id":"THES48975"},{"text":"Textiles","id":"THES48885"}],"styles":[{"text":"conceptual","id":"AAT69446"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":[],"imageResolution":"none","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"011","id":"THES308620"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"dress","id":"x47499"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Guangdong","id":"x29887"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2007","earliest":"2007-01-01","latest":"2007-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Ma Ke","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"1470","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"366","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Shoulder to shoulder (flat)"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"568","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Waist (flat)"},{"dimension":"Length","value":"365","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"shoulder","note":""},{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"980","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"bust","note":""},{"dimension":"Circumference","value":"2130","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"hem","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"The ensemble was displayed in \"China Design Now\" exhibition at the V&A in 2008. It was loan from the artist Ma Ke, who subsequently donated it to the Museum. ","historicalContext":"Exhibition history: China Design Now (V&A, 2008); The V&A display in coincide with Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan's state visit to the U.K. (Lancaster House, 2015).","briefDescription":"Dress, cotton, designed by Ma Ke, from \"The Earth\" collection, made in Zhuhai, Guangdong province, China, 2007","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"Unique","id":"THES48864"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["FE.69:1-2016"],"accessionNumberNum":"69","accessionNumberPrefix":"FE","accessionYear":2016,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"1","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-01-19","recordCreationDate":"2016-07-15","availableToBook":true}}