Dear Matsumoto fans,
How are you?

It’s the end of July, an extremely hot summer.
People seem affected by the heat a lot this year.

Not only that, we are experiencing a lot of storms and sudden rain even at the end of July.
Even so, the rain refreshes our evenings and gives us some relief from the heat.

The past weekend was a three day holiday (Saturday, Sunday, Monday) in Japan. During this holiday, I had the pleasure of visiting Mei Lan’s art exhibition in collaboration with the gallery space of Shinano Gabou (a historical art shop in town).

Mei Lan is a Chinese Couture curator, taylor and painter.
She first moved to Suwa from China, and later on she established her activity in Matsumoto, where she runs a fashion atelier, and curates a selection of unique Chinese dresses.

She works as a tailor on commission, as well, and on occasion she paints on some of the clothing items for her customers.

In 2016, she started to paint some pictures about Chinese legends. She always loved painting and took on this journey as a self taught artist, finally beginning to display her art in galleries and in her atelier in recent years.

Her goal is for people to know through her activity that China has a 5000 year long history of fashion.
Through her art, she wishes to polish her spirit, as she reckons this is her goal in this life.

You can find more of Mei Lan’s art on her Instagram: lannosyo

I am looking forward to visiting her atelier and showing you more of her work in another article!

Shinano Gabou, Matsumoto Fukashi 3-7-8, frequently hosts exhibitions of local artists, I recommend paying a visit. If you are lucky you will be able to visit a local art gallery!