Andrew Gn is prepared for his close-up.

As he celebrates 28 years in business, the Paris-based designer is the topic of his first major retrospective, “Andrew Gn: Fashioning Singapore and the World,” on show on the Asian Civilisations Museum (ACM) in Singapore until Sept. 17.

He’s working on a biography, to be published next fall, and is in talks to bring the exhibition to institutions in the USA, France and the remaining of Asia, including China. “So it should be about five, six years of my life. It’s like engaging myself in a James Bond movie,” he says, with considered one of the booming laughs that punctuate his conversation.

Gn is sitting on the mirrored Gio Ponti dining table in considered one of his two apartments in Paris, surrounded by his prolific collection of ceramics. While his other house is a maximalist ode to the 18th century, this space within the north of the French capital reflects his modernist leanings, with a combination of midcentury furniture and abstract art.

While he’s dressed everyone from Queen Rania of Jordan to Lady Gaga, the genial designer has kept a comparatively low public profile up to now, preferring to cultivate close personal relationships along with his customers. Early in his profession, trunk shows introduced him to society doyennes corresponding to Lynn Wyatt, Blaine Trump and Susan Gutfreund.

“They became my friends, and I actually treasure those friendships. And I also got to know what they like, and that contributes rather a lot to my work, since it’s a really useful way somewhat than designing for a lady that doesn’t really exist,” he says.

Following two major health scares, including a stroke last 12 months, he now prefers to welcome VICs at his ornate couture salon within the Marais district, dominated by an 18th-century Murano glass chandelier formerly owned by Italy’s historic Doria Pamphili clan.

Gn has reached a stage in his profession where he’s pondering of the way to present back. As a primary step, he’s donated 160 designs to the ACM, starting from a linen dress with pagoda epaulets, embroidered with colourful Asian-inspired motifs, to the pointy-shouldered cropped jacket with signature jeweled buttons worn by Lily Collins in “Emily in Paris.”

“I would like to begin constructing my legacy,” he explains. “And I feel it is admittedly such an honor, at first, to be honored by your individual country. It means rather a lot to me and it starts from there.”

While studying at Central Saint Martins School of Art in London within the ‘80s, Gn went on an exchange at Parsons School of Design in Latest York City. There he was capable of seek the advice of garments by the likes of Claire McCardell and Geoffrey Beene within the archives on the Fashion Institute of Technology.

“You wear gloves, you handle them, you study them, and that is how I learned,” he recalls, adding that he hopes to create the same facility in Singapore.

“It’s to teach a latest generation about what a guipure [lace] is, the best way to make a certain form of embroidery,” he explains. “It’s not through images on TikTok, or IG — despite the indisputable fact that we’re lively on it — that you simply’re going to study fashion. Fashion is a craft. It’s about making clothes. You could learn from the true stuff.”

One in every of his earliest fashion influences was his Peranakan Chinese grandmother, who typically wore embroidered lace tunics with contrasting sarongs. He remembers her chewing betel leaves as she hand-beaded sandals with female friends and relatives.

Gn’s father was a merchant who bought fabrics corresponding to Indonesian batiks and wonderful silks from Thailand on his travels. His mother would have them made into Chinese cheongsams or Western-style suits — looks which have influenced the designer’s trademark combination of fresh lines, vivid hues and lavish embellishments.

Gn, who graduated with an MA from Domus Academy in Milan, likes to say that London taught him the best way to dream, Latest York taught him about business, and Milan taught him concerning the industry. Nevertheless it was in Paris that he realized his dream of founding his own label.

Launched in 1995 as a knitwear line, it has evolved into an occasionwear collection that’s carried by major retailers including Bergdorf Goodman, Saks, Matchesfashion and Net-a-porter.

Flanked by his longtime business partner Erick Hörlin, Gn has combined a cautious approach to investment with a progressive mindset that has helped his privately owned label to weather recessions and the e-commerce revolution.

“I at all times say that the style journey is sort of a marathon. Managing your creativity is like pacing your breath. Every breath counts and each step counts, so I carry on evolving,” the designer says.

“I do get offers every so often, but it surely’s actually a selection. I’ve at all times desired to be independent,” he adds. “There’s a high price to pay for freedom, but then I get to do exactly what I would like.”

There have been peaks and troughs. Gn recalls his appointment in 1997 as creative director of ready-to-wear at Balmain, which ended abruptly after an artificial hair ball bounced down the runway during his debut show.

“I desired to kill myself, but pondering back, it’s form of funny. Like, every thing went flawed,” he says. “It went viral, so I used to be generally known as the designer who sent hair balls down the runway.”

The following season, he was back on top after cutting-edge concept store Colette put his eponymous collection in its windows during Paris Fashion Week.

One key to his longevity is his something-for-everyone approach, which caters to customers of all ages, sizes and origins with items starting from thigh-grazing minis to feather-trimmed caftans. One other is his commitment to timeless designs.

“I at all times consider in creating less but creating only the most effective, and for the reason that early days, I don’t consider in designing trendy one-wear wonders. I think in creating beautiful garments that a lady could keep in her wardrobe for a really very long time,” he explains.

As of late he does lots of his business online and has worked hard to make his creations pop off the screen. “It’s all concerning the combination of visual appeal and in addition how finely it has been crafted in real life,” he says. “I would like a lady to say, ‘Oh my god, it looks good on the screen, but then after I receive it, it’s even higher.’”

Gn is about to make one other pivot. In June he’s launching his first bridal collection exclusively on Net-a-porter and next 12 months he’ll debut a more casual gender-neutral line.

“I’m so comfortable. It’s the primary time I can actually create something for myself,” says the designer, who plans to model the looks, but may also show them on women. With items starting from a nubby cashmere coat to logo sweaters, the his ’n’ hers line is geared toward the daughters of the Ladies Who Lunch. “Probably her lifestyle could be very different. Nobody has lunch anymore,” Gn says.

The Singapore exhibition is similarly designed to have interaction digital natives. Each outfit comes with a QR code that unlocks the secrets of its fabrication. The ultimate room explains your entire process, from sketches to toile to finished garment. “You’ll be able to create your individual Andrew Gn dress in that section,” he says delightedly.

Gn hopes his example will encourage young Singaporeans to follow their artistic dreams.

“I would like them after seeing this exhibition to find a way to depart the museum pondering that Singapore won’t be considered one of the most important countries on this planet, but we are able to definitely use beauty as a language to dialogue with the world,” he says.