Peter Kan Mui (April 29, 1953 – August 18, 2009) was a Chinese-American fashion designer. He was known most for his brand YellowMan, which was a successful high-end tattoo clothing brand. The last recorded revenue for the brand was $12 million in 2008. Mui was also a country musician on the side. He was the husband of singer Teresa Carpio and the father of actress and singer T.V. Carpio.
On August 18, 2009, Mui died after experiencing a heart failure. He was 56 years old.
Early life
Peter Kan Mui was born on April 29, 1953[1][2] in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Chinese immigrants.[3] His father was an economics professor at Oklahoma City University.[4] He graduated from Trinity University with a Bachelor of Arts degree.[5]
Career
Mui began his career trading porcelain from the Ming dynasty and jewelry and importing and exporting furniture after moving to China. His career as a fashion designer was jump-started after Bonwit Teller, a luxury department store, purchased five of his silk blouses that he had designed. Henri Bendel, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Neiman Marcus also purchased from him soon after.
In 1985, Mui purchased Pink & Dianne, a handbag brand, and began his own brand P.K. Mui, which was a sportswear collection. While staying at the Peninsula Hong Kong, he met Benson Tung, a tailor at Ascot Chang. In 1986, the two then co-founded, Mui co-founded Tungtex Holdings Co., a Hong Kong-based garment maker which made clothing for retailers such as Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, and Talbots. Mui also served as the president of Yellow River Inc., which was the U.S. subsidiary of Tungtex in New York. Yellow River's clients included Nordstrom and Macy's.
Around 2004 to 2005 Mui took out mortgages on all three of his homes in order to launch his brand YellowMan, a high-end tattoo clothing line with the idea of "combining wearable art with Asian empowerment." He named the brand after a racial slur that he was called during his childhood. For his brand he traveled the world looking for the best tattoo artists he could find to make the designs for his clothing. Mui found 10 of the best and devised a way to transfer an art traditionally done on skin onto clothing. The shirts, adorned with tattoo designs ranging from Maori tribal to American traditional, have become what Mui calls "wearable art," and the number of artists he used grew to 75. Mui said of his line: "I look at my [pieces of clothing] as being collectibles." Peter Mui later launched three other clothing brands: Misplaced Cowboy, designer jeans with tattoo art stitching; Mui Mui, Hawaiian-inspired shirts; and Samurai Surfer, casual shirts .[6][7]
Mui's tattoo clothing has been featured in top magazines,[8] including pictorials with model Lucia Dvorská in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.[9][10] In addition to producing clothing for his own brands, Peter Mui developed signature tattoo clothing lines for Athleta[11] and Harley-Davidson,[12] and has produced special edition tattoo clothing collections for Marvel[13] and Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean.[14] The last recorded revenue amount for his company was $12 million.[15]
Peter Mui was also a country musician on the side and expressed his pride in his Oklahoma upbringing through his country music. Mui produced multiple tracks under the name Misplaced Cowboy.[16] He also appeared as an extra in Across the Universe (2007), a film his daughter, T.V. Carpio, starred in.[2][4]
Personal life
In 1976, while exploring China, he met singer Teresa Carpio while she was performing at a night club and the two began dating. In 1979 the two married. In 1981, they had one daughter together, actress and singer T.V. Carpio. The couple split in 1983 but did not officially divorce until 1993.[4][17][18]
Death
On August 18, 2009, at the age of 56 years old, Mui died after experiencing a heart failure. He was 56 years old. He left behind a large tattoo art collection as he was a big collector.[3][7][19][20]
See also
References
- ^ "Peter Ken Mui". Ancient Faces. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
- ^ a b "Teresa Victoria on Instagram: "Today would have my dad's 67th birthday. I wish he could have met my kids. I wish he could have been there for my opening night of…"". Instagram. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
- ^ a b "Peter Mui - Apparel Designer" (PDF). Women's Wear Daily. September 9, 2009. p. 14. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
- ^ a b c "Wearing pride on sleeve". Los Angeles Times. January 17, 2008. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
- ^ "Tungtex (Holdings) Company Limited - Annual Report 2005" (PDF). Tungtex (Holdings) Company Limited. 2005. p. 15. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
- ^ "Yellow Man: Skin Deep". Entrepreneur Magazine. July 2008. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
- ^ a b "In Memory of YellowMan Founder, Peter Mui 1953—2009". YellowMan Blog. August 18, 2010. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
- ^ "In Print". YellowMan Press. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved May 6, 2010.
- ^ "YellowMan Swimsuit in 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue". YellowMan Blog. February 10, 2009. Archived from the original on November 25, 2009. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
- ^ "2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit". Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. Archived from the original on September 23, 2010. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
- ^ "YellowMan's YMX line at Athleta". YellowMan Blog. October 20, 2008. Archived from the original on March 10, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
- ^ "Wearable tattoo art offered by Harley-Davidson in new H-D INK collection". 1st5ive.com. Archived from the original on May 16, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
- ^ "Marvel Vintage". YellowMan Blog. Archived from the original on June 2, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
- ^ "Pirates of the Caribbean Tattoo Shirts". YellowMan. yellowman.com. Archived from the original on September 17, 2008. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
- ^ Munoz, Lorenza (January 22, 2008). "YellowMan turns ridicule on head". Mail Tribune. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
- ^ ""Every Man Dies"". YouTube. November 4, 2009. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020.
- ^ Chung, Winnie (April 9, 2004). "Carpio's way". South China Morning Post. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
- ^ "Stepping back into the lion's den". South China Morning Post. April 4, 1998. Archived from the original on February 12, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
- ^ "Surrogate's Court Declines to Order Demise of Fashion Business". New York Business Divorce. November 27, 2017. Archived from the original on August 23, 2020. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
- ^ "Needles and Sins Tattoo Blog | Tattoo Art Collection Auction Nov 13-14". Needles and Sins. November 9, 2015. Archived from the original on December 1, 2016. Retrieved May 8, 2020.