"Couture" kept coming up again and again as Andrew Gn singled out various pieces from his Resort collection, showing off the workmanship and level of detail. It's true; hand-beaded coral motifs, garlands of black and white miniature leather daisies, and guipure lace cutouts aren't the stuff of street-fashion brands. They're the reason why Gn attracts such an upscale, global clientele. But there was something especially fresh about some of his looks this time around: a sporty counterpoint that mixed well with his First Lady polish (Hillary Clinton is a fan). It was visible in the athletic-style grosgrain stripes on embellished silk jerseys and white piqué inserts on plackets and shoulders. Those guipure lace cutouts appeared in relief on a pair of short shorts—no preciousness there.
Gn has a healthy obsession with fabric, specifying organdy instead of organza for its stiff sheerness, using Mikado silk to give a beaded limeade caftan more form, and ordering an exclusive dégradé papery tweed from Mahlia Kent (its transition from orange to gold to black evoked city lights shimmering on a harbor). He said he made the very literal association of Resort with getaway to arrive at the coral brocade that appeared on a dress coat and evening dress alike. And yet these are hardly vacation togs—good luck packing all those beaded-bodice crinoline gowns. They numbered at least a dozen, which registered as a few too many. Then again, a high-profile client could probably buy the whole lot for the price of a couture jacket.
