Leaving aside their cultural or ethnographic significance, tribes are inherently exclusive; you’re either in or you’re out. The interesting aspect of Andrew Gn’s Fall concept, Global Tribal, is that it suggested a macro view—allowing him to stir together Central American patterning and Belle Époque artists within one big melting pot of a collection. Better still, Gn’s refinement of the references—highly interpretative, nonliteral—recuses him from the appropriation debate that sometimes gets raised in these cases. The repeated appliqué on the coat that opened the show, for instance, came across as a high-impact graphic first and foremost. The black, puff-sleeved dress beautifully embroidered with two peacocks can be traced to the illustrations of Aubrey Beardsley, but it could just as easily have been Ottoman in origin. Gn pointed out that another geometric motif seemed Scandinavian, despite the fact that it originated from the Copts of Ancient Egypt. Given all these ingredients—and there were others, trust—it’s no wonder the outcome fed the eyes such rich flavor.
Which brings us to an irony that Gn likely won’t mind reading: If the premise was all-encompassing, the clothes themselves were exclusive. Whether the limited-edition vintage animal-print jersey that Gn bought at an auction and applied judiciously to the sleeves of a fierce, contoured coat; the Klimt-inspired swirling gold embroidery on a khaki dress with scrolling renaissance sleeves trimmed in mink; or a deluxe black jacket in astrakhan and mink with ostrich-feathered sleeves, the designs put a modern spin on bygone decadence. And the diversity of the looks, Gn pointed out, suits the way women shop today. “Each piece is almost like a curated piece,” he said, noting the challenge of bringing them all together. “A woman today won’t buy five of the same theme; she’ll buy five different things. Commercially, that’s important; but it’s also the world we’re living in.”
It’s worth noting that a final grouping of gowns wasn’t created as a statement on cross-cultural imagery, and the two dresses with shell-like, caped shoulders were dramatic on their own merit. But the adventurous looks seemed the way to go this season, especially because not many other designers could make a bishop-sleeved, fringed dress in a sparkly green zebra-stripe jacquard look so naturally chic.
