Andrew Gn acknowleges the public at the end of his 2014 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show in Paris

Andrew Gn on Sunday paid tribute to his favourite artists and designers including Cubists Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso in an art-inspired collection held fittingly at Paris' Palais des Beaux-Arts.

Singapore-born Gn also named Italian architects and designers Gio Ponti and Carlo Mollino as influences on his spring/summer 2014 collection.

"I took it on myself to transport the energy of their visual language to clothes -- just as one can assemble furniture and art works to create a unique interior world," he said.

Sleeveless belted sheath dresses were overlaid with black python lace and trimmed with black ribbon while silk shorts in mint green or black were teamed with tops with Braque-inspired doves and stars appliqué.

Other elegant looks included tailored white dresses with black trim and an electric blue shift dress with a Cubist-inspired inset.

 

A model presents a creation by Andrew Gn during the 2014 Spring/Summer ready-to-wear collection fashion show

For evening, stand-out looks included a colour-blocked silk mousseline gown with yellow bodice, pearl grey skirt and black Mollino-inspired embroidery.

Others named as an influence on the collection by Gn included another Cubist, the French painter and sculptor Fernand Leger, and Scottish contemporary artist Peter Doig.

 

Q&A with Andrew Gan

The designer offers us some insight into the inspirations behind his latest designs.

Andrew Gn

Q: What is the signature piece of this Spring/Summer 2014 collection?

A: A dress in an intense shade of blue, embroidered with a cubist-style profile. This Spring/Summer 2014 collection pays homage to extraordinary modern designers and artists such as Gio Ponti, Carlo Mollino, Fernand Léger, Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso and Peter Doig.

 

Q: What personality, historical or contemporary, could wear every piece from your new collection?

A: Peggy Guggenheim, a great art collector and a remarkable personality.

 

Q: A film, an image, or a sound: what would best represent the spirit of your new collection?

A: The Villa Noailles in Hyères, which inspired my "Façade" print among others.

Q: If you could give Cara Delevingne a new look, what would you propose?

A: A very short haircut, like Mia Farrow's in Rosemary's Baby, with a little dress in light, sheer white cotton with a geometric cutout pattern.

 

Q: If you could design the costumes for a film adaptation of a well-known work, which would you choose?

A: A fabulous vampire story that would travel through time and space. The Hunger with Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie is one of my all-time favorite films.

 

Q: How do you see the luxury and fashion industries evolving over the coming years?

A: Towards a bipolarization of the markets: the high-end will become increasingly exceptional, while the low-end grows more and more mediocre. But also, towards a bipolarization of the creative side: fashion houses and stylists that nourish the creative essence, and pirates that steal and copy with impunity.

 

 

Photos: G. de Laubier, AFP/Patrick Kovarik