Notes on SPRING SUMMER 2021
During the lockdown, like many others, I had a lot of time to think about my purpose and my work. I strongly feel that, despite all the unknown, we have to move forward. We have to project ourselves towards better times. We, designers, are the core and the driving force of the whole fashion ecosystem. The weavers, printers, embroiderers, ateliers, all depend on our creative work. We must keep on. Some might question “who knows when and where women will be able to wear these clothes you’re designing …?” Maybe, but if we think within that limiting scope, we stop fighting, and the whole system stops and collapses. We accept to loose the war. So I set out to design a collection which would simply bring joy, pleasure and hope. Times may be very grim, but surely we’ll be celebrating again someday. First I thought of white. It symbolizes purity, cleansing, rebirth. Total white looks with contrasting textures and materials : guipure, silk, lace, tweed, fringe… Smooth and knobby, matte and shiny, soft and structured… Then I moved into colors, in a range of a striking peacock blue, tangerine, chartreuse, pale turquoise, blush pink, Sahara beige… And I ended with prints, going in two different ways: A figurative print called “Iris Border”, inspired from one of my mother’s Japanese kimonos. It has vivid colors and motives reminiscent of Japanese watercolors of the Meiji period. Then a more abstract print called “Impression of Cherry Blossoms”. It was inspired by a series of contemporary paintings which I saw recently, described them to my team in detail, asking them to work from imagination. I like the result very much. I named this collection “May there be light
https://andrewgn.com/en/collections/ss21?nav=1