Peter Kan Mui (April 29, 1953 – August 18, 2009) was a
Chinese-American
Chinese Americans are Americans of Han Chinese ancestry. Chinese Americans constitute a subgroup of East Asian Americans which also constitute a subgroup of Asian Americans. Many Chinese Americans along with their ancestors trace lineage from m ...
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
Teresa Carpio (born 30 September 1956) is a Hong Kong English- and Cantonese-language pop singer, actress, and singing teacher. Carpio was popular in Hong Kong during the 1970s and 1980s. She is the paternal cousin of actress and singer Rita Ca ...
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
in
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...
to Chinese immigrants.
His father was an economics professor at
Oklahoma City University
Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...
.
He graduated from
Trinity University with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...
degree.
Career
Mui began his career trading porcelain from the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...
and jewelry and importing and exporting furniture after moving to
China. His career as a fashion designer was jump-started after
Bonwit Teller
Bonwit Teller & Co. was an American luxury department store in New York City, New York, founded by Paul Bonwit in 1895 at Sixth Avenue and 18th Street, and later a chain of department stores.
In 1897, Edmund D. Teller was admitted to the par ...
, a luxury department store, purchased five of his silk blouses that he had designed.
Henri Bendel
Henri Bendel, Inc. (pronounced BEN-del), established in 1895, was a women's department store based in New York City which in its later history sold women's handbags, jewelry, luxury fashion accessories, home fragrances and gifts. Its New York Ci ...
,
Saks Fifth Avenue
Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; colloquially Saks) is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washington ...
, and
Neiman Marcus
Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...
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
The Peninsula Hong Kong is a colonial-style luxury hotel located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is the flagship property of The Peninsula Hotels group, part of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels Group. The hotel opened in 1928 and ...
, 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
In political science, the term banana republic describes a politically unstable country with an economy dependent upon the export of natural resources. In 1904, the American author O. Henry coined the term to describe Honduras and neighboring c ...
,
Ann Taylor, and
Talbots
The Talbots, Inc. (doing business as Talbots and stylized as TALBOTS) is an American specialty retailer and direct marketer of women's clothing, shoes and fashion accessories.
As of 2018, the company operated 495 Talbots stores in the United S ...
. 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
Nordstrom, Inc. () is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and founded by John W. Nordstrom and Carl F. Wallin in 1901. The original Wallin & Nordstrom store operated exclusively as a shoe store, a ...
and
Macy's
Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...
.
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
ieces of clothingas 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 .
Mui's tattoo clothing has been featured in top magazines, including pictorials with model
Lucia Dvorská in the 2009
''Sports Illustrated'' Swimsuit Issue. In addition to producing clothing for his own brands, Peter Mui developed signature tattoo clothing lines for
Athleta
''Athleta'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Volutidae.
Species
Species within the genus ''Athleta'' include:
* '' Athleta abyssicola'' (Adams & Reeve, 1848)
* † ''Athleta affinis'' (Brocchi, 1814)
* '' A ...
and
Harley-Davidson
Harley-Davidson, Inc. (H-D, or simply Harley) is an American motorcycle manufacturer headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1903, it is one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depressi ...
, and has produced special edition tattoo clothing collections for
Marvel
Marvel may refer to:
Business
* Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company
** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment
** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe
** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics
* ...
and
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
's
Pirates of the Caribbean. The last recorded revenue amount for his company was $12 million.
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. He also appeared as an
extra
Extra or Xtra may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film
* ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film
* ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film
Literature
* ''Extra'' (newspaper), a Brazilian newspaper
* ''Extra!'', an American me ...
in
''Across the Universe'' (2007), a film his daughter,
T.V. Carpio, starred in.
Personal life
In 1976, while exploring China, he met singer
Teresa Carpio
Teresa Carpio (born 30 September 1956) is a Hong Kong English- and Cantonese-language pop singer, actress, and singing teacher. Carpio was popular in Hong Kong during the 1970s and 1980s. She is the paternal cousin of actress and singer Rita Ca ...
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.
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.
See also
*
Chinese Americans in New York City
The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest and most prominent ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, hosting Chinese populations representing all 34 provincial-level administrative units of China. The Chinese American population ...
References
External links
Entrepreneur Magazine - Profile*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mui, Peter
1953 births
2009 deaths
American fashion designers
American country singer-songwriters
American fashion designers of Chinese descent
American musicians of Chinese descent
Businesspeople in textiles
Musicians from Oklahoma City
Singers from New York City
Singer-songwriters from Oklahoma
Artists from Oklahoma City
Businesspeople from Oklahoma City
Country musicians from New York (state)
Country musicians from Oklahoma
20th-century American businesspeople
Singer-songwriters from New York (state)