Andrew Gn’s timeless designs take center stage.
Andrew Gn designs the kind of clothes you want to keep. They’re the antithesis of fast fashion. They’re indulgent and timeless, not classic.
“My motto has always been absolute beauty,” he said. “And what I make are beautiful things, things that people don’t wear once and throw away. They pass them down.”
Penne Weidig, Tootsies’ senior buyer for American and European collections, said Gn’s coats are collector’s items.
“The first time he came to the store, he gave me a blouse,” Weidig said. “I still have it. I still wear it.”
Weidig was introduced to Gn in the late ’90s or early 2000s. In those days, before email and digital look books, emerging designers would mail brochures stamped with pictures of their clothing to prospective boutiques and department stores. Stacks of those brochures were sent to Tootsies — then located in Highland Village — each week. Something about Gn’s aesthetic caught Weidig’s eye.
“It had a lot of detail,” she said. “It was very French, ladylike and different. There was the signature embroidery that he does even to this day. And lots of black and white.”
She showed his work to Mickey Rosmarin, the womenswear shop’s late owner, and off they went to Paris.
“We bought his collection, and the next season we had him come to the store for the first time,” she recalled. “I remember this vividly. We took him to Goode Co. Barbecue on Kirby with Becca Cason Thrash, Holly Moore, me and Mickey. That was his first stop.”
A fun tradition was born.
“Houston was love at first sight,” Gn said. “I love barbecue because it’s something we don’t really eat in Europe, the food here can be really chi-chi. I love brisket, sausages, okra and potato salad.”
Last week, the Singapore-born, England-educated designer returned to Houston for his sixth or seventh visit. He doesn’t remember how many times he’s been here, but he can tell you exactly what he’s eaten each trip.
“I also asked for deepfried chicken and mashed potatoes and biscuits before they sent me off to the plane,” Gn said, laughing. Weidig confirmed, his departing meal was from Popeyes.
Over the years, she’s also taken him to Frenchy’s Chicken, Uchi and Max’s Wine Dive. In between their foodie adventures, Houston’s “Best Dressed” types pop into Tootsies to see the clothes.
On Tuesday evening, the store’s creative director, Fady Armanious, and senior buyers hosted an after-hours catwalk presentation and seated dinner for top customers. Gn brought 10 racks lined with nearly 80 looks from his fall collection.
He calls it “high daywear,” though Weidig insists it’s “event-specific clothes for the lady on the social scene.”
“We chose to do a lot more ‘occasion’ dressing,” he explained. “We chose more wild pieces for the runway because it did capture the attention of these women. A lot of people are loving the V-neck blazer with a snake applique — I believe in an evening blazer. When a woman enters a room wearing that, she will not go unnoticed, we call those head-turning outfits.”
Two shoppers in particular, Alicia Smith and Brigitte Kalai, ordered the same evening suit in two different colors.
“We’ll share them!” Smith said.
Brocade dresses with feather trim and fringe caftans were also popular purchases, which makes sense. Gn describes his customer as a woman who loves the finer things in life. Someone who appreciates a silk lining, and how much work goes into creating a garment.
The trend that Gn didn’t see coming is cross-generational dressing. “Before Houston, I was actually in New York, where a girlfriend of mine organized a little party for her friends, all aged 25-29. I dressed their mothers and their grandmothers. This is a new generation for me, so now I’ve dressed three.”
Gn likes to hire younger girls to work in his Paris office. They feed his curiosity and keep him up to date.
“Because of social media, we’re always bombarded with images,” he said. The constant overload suits his personality. “I’m a greedy boy. I’m never satisfied with one thing. There’s not one ‘right’ way. There are many ways.”
Gn shows four collections a year and designs a different T-shirt for his team to wear to each one. They’re always inscribed with words, phrases or muses that inspire him at that moment. He gifted a stack of black T-shirts scribbled with “I Feel Sexy, Sensual, SUSIE-WONG, AGN” in white letters to his Houston dinner guests.
“What I love about the Houston woman is that when she sees beauty, she cannot resist it,” he said. “There’s no stopping her. If she likes it, she wears it.”
That’s also one of the reasons Weidig still visits his Paris atelier four times a year after two decades of working together. “His is the only designer address I know by memory: 79, Rue du Temple.”
The feeling is mutual. “Houston is very special to me. Mickey was a very good friend, and it’s one of those relationships that just go on.
“Many of the designers that started out at the same time as me aren’t around anymore. But I still have something to say.”
And plenty more Bayou City restaurants to try, too.