By his own reckoning, Andrew Gn is a cat with nine lives. Despite facing down two serious medical setbacks in the past five years, the most recent just a couple of months ago, he is working his way back to top form. He reckons he has seven more lives to go, at least, and he’s not wasting a minute.
Not one for brooding or nostalgia, Gn prefers to keep pushing forward, taking with him the things he’s always loved (and collected), like chinoiserie. He shot the video accompanying this collection in his apartment, so one immediately gets the mix he favors for his personal surroundings and why his ladies identify so closely with him. They occupy the same world.
For fall, favorite items—an early 18th-century Queen Anne cabinet or a 19th-century coromandel screen—inspired lush brocades and rich prints. A brocade evening coat in emerald on a maroon ground, or a slightly more subtle version in bronze against slate, features handmade jeweled buttons and pearl edging, which is the designer’s bid to give the over-neglected jewel a new style of wear. A clever emerald leopard print nods to Henri Rousseau’s Le Rêve, a reference to Gn’s taste for exoticism. Crystal and cabochon embellishments simultaneously reference Rococo and tribal inspirations, ranging from a touch of sparkle on the sleeves of a beige coat with a white fur collar to full-on silver inserts covering a little black number with one of the season’s other signature flourishes, removable pleated cuffs.
Gn also revisited a few signatures. Followers of the designer’s heritage Instagram account will recognize a futuristic, winglike take on the pagoda shoulders he’s been honing since his pan-Asian collection of 2003—a shape that nods to his obsession with traditional dance costumes in Bali and Thailand. “It’s powerful, but it also makes a woman look very feminine,” Gn offered, nodding to a bolero jacket in vibrant red. (It also comes in black.)
Statement colors are one of Gn’s strong suits, as on a jeweled bolero in a mustardy “Beijing yellow” or travel-friendly Fortuny-pleated lamé tops and gowns in fuchsia, beetle green, or gold. Those were offset by romantic pastel shades like lilac, periwinkle, or the blush pink Gn chose as an accent color at home. That brings an added layer of meaning to a collection that, despite being officially titled Hope and Glory—a tribute to the late Dame Vera Lynn—could well be subtitled Homage à Ma Maison.
And given that Gn’s maison is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, he’s mulling loyalists’ requests to reedit some old favorites. “They ask because they’ve worn the original ones to pieces, and now people are very eager to get out and enjoy life and look wonderful again,” he offered. That, and one can only buy so much cashmere loungewear.
