HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 5 August 2023 – On 27th July, 2023, M+, Asia’s first global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District, invited over 600 guests to inaugurate the first-ever museum exhibition in the world dedicated to Song Huai-Kuei—widely known during her lifetime as Madame Song. The exhibition was open to the public on 29th July, 2023.
At the opening ceremony, M+ collaborated with fashion brand Shanghai Tang to present a fashion show, inviting guests to reminisce on Madame Song’s lifelong dedication to promote China’s culture to the world. Synonymous with the idea of ‘East meets West’, Shanghai Tang paired up their imperial tailoring collection with Madame Song’s multiple identities—artist, entrepreneur, fashionista, and cultural ambassador. Shanghai Tang’s founder the late Sir David Tang was Madame Song’s good friend, making the fashion stunt even more meaningful.
Shanghai Tang showcased bespoke dresses and jewellery series which represent the possibility of promoting cultural exchanges. The celebrity models on the fashion runway that night included Angie Ng, Zelia Zhong, Moon Lau, Christy Lai, Joyce Ngai and more. At the show’s finale, Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, led celebrity models to cheer and celebrate the perfect opening evening. Representatives from the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA), M+, Song Huai-Kuei’s family members and sponsors of ‘Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China’ attended the exhibition opening ceremony. During the event, Bernard Chan, Chairman of the M+ Board, Betty Fung, Chief Executive Officer, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority, Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, Doryun Chong, Deputy Director, Curatorial, and Chief Curator, M+, and Dr Pi Li, curator of ‘Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China’ and former Senior Curator and Head of Curatorial Affairs, M+ also dressed in Shanghai Tang to join in the ceremony.
Madame Song’s extraordinary story offers a lens through which the audience can appreciate the significant transformation of China’s visual culture after the country’s reform and opening-up to the world. Centred around the life and times of Song Huai-Kuei, the exhibition will feature more than 320 objects to narrate Song’s fascinating biography and her underestimated influence on transforming China during the period of reform and opening-up in the 1980s into a cosmopolitan and culturally diverse society today.
In July 2023, Shanghai Tang launched a pop-up store at The M+ Shop. In addition to showcasing the home items, clothes, handbags, and accessories of the brand, Shanghai Tang also selected a series of artworks and artist collaborated merchandise that are exclusively sold in limited quantities at The M+ Shop. SHANGHAI TANG+ pop-up space is featured at the shop next to the museum’s Artist Square Entrance, specially adorned with Shanghai Tang’s iconic fluorescent colours. Shanghai Tang believes that the symbol “+” represents the diverse and inclusive nature of the collaboration, pointing not only to the visual cultural forms that M+ has always conveyed, but also to a selection of designs carefully curated for the artistic pop-up. The brand hopes that the symbol “+”brings more potentials for fashion, art, lifestyle, and international cultural exchanges.
