Madame de Pompadour was the stated muse at Andrew Gn this season. She was, as the designer told it backstage before his show, the original influencer, impacting art and culture in the court of Louis XV. But that level of pomp and circumstance didn’t carry into Gn’s well-considered clothing—and thank heavens for it. A favorite of society types, Gn can play to the well-off and well-trod better than any, but his Spring 2020 collection had an irreverent bite of sauciness.
Pearl and leather belts, boots, and earrings helped to counterbalance the prettiness of the clothing for sure, but Gn’s strict silhouettes in unexpected materials made this collection a recent highlight for him. Embroidered denim skirt suits, with ribbon-cinched waists and fluted hem skirts, were a smart subversion on high-fashion flou. Vegetable-dyed neon pink prints were not only sustainable, but read as easy, unfussy, and cool. The pieces that merited the most oohs and aahs from the audience were the finale dresses, with appliqués and embroideries on citrus colors that would make their wearer the centerpiece of any gala or charity ball. The only qualm with these perfectly lovely and well-considered garments was in the presentation. The soundtrack was Lizzo and Missy Elliott’s “Tempo,” a song that chants, “Slow songs, they for skinny hoes, can’t move all of this here to one of those.” Gn’s clientele is diverse of citizenship and body type—why show this collection exclusively on ultra-thin models?
