Madame Song:
Pioneering Art and Fashion in China
Madame Song:
Pioneering Art and Fashion in China
14 Apr 2024
Meet the icon who transformed the landscape of arts, fashion, and popular culture in China from the 1980s to 2000s.
Song Huai-Kuei (1937–2006), widely known during her lifetime as Madame Song, was a legend in the spheres of Chinese art, film, music, and fashion during the 1980s and 1990s. With her husband, Bulgarian fibre artist Maryn Varbanov (1932–1989), Song helped foster a forward-looking creative scene and cultivated a modern, international lifestyle in China at a time when the country was largely isolated from the rest of the world for much of the Cold War.
This Special Exhibition brings to light Madame Song’s fascinating multiple identities and professional pursuits. It chronicles her life and practice from the 1950s to the early 2000s and unveils Song’s thus-far overlooked and underestimated influence on China's transformation into the cosmopolitan and culturally diverse society it is today.
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung, M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Garments: Pierre Cardin Archives. Photo: Lok Cheng, M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung, M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Garments: Pierre Cardin Archives. Photo: Dan Leung, M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung, M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Lok Cheng, M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung, M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Garments: Pierre Cardin Archives. Photo: Lok Cheng, M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung, M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Garments: Pierre Cardin Archives. Photo: Dan Leung, M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung, M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Lok Cheng, M+, Hong Kong
Explore the Merchandise
Related Event
The content of this/these programme(s)/activity(ies) does not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Image at top: Fashion shoot at the Forbidden City with Madame Song and a group of Chinese models trained by her, 1980s. Photo: © Yonfan