{"id":1990,"date":"2015-10-13T13:50:23","date_gmt":"2015-10-13T13:50:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.delightfull.eu\/en\/inspirations\/?p=1990"},"modified":"2015-10-13T13:50:23","modified_gmt":"2015-10-13T13:50:23","slug":"the-fashionable-life-a-collectors-oasis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/2015\/10\/13\/the-fashionable-life-a-collectors-oasis\/","title":{"rendered":"THE FASHIONABLE LIFE: A COLLECTOR'S OASIS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

THE FASHIONABLE LIFE<\/em><\/strong>: A COLLECTOR\u2019S OASIS | Designer Andrew Gn creates a serene, modern sanctuary on Paris\u2019s Right Bank.<\/p>\n

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THE FASHIONABLE LIFE<\/em><\/strong>: A COLLECTOR\u2019S OASIS | Every evening, designer Andrew Gn used to retire from his grand Paul Poiret\u2013inspired atelier in Paris\u2019s Marais district to his equally decadent 18th-century flat on the city\u2019s Right Bank. Brimming with gilded Louis XV furniture, antique Chinese urns, and his collection of Rococo-era portraiture, his home was a natural extension of the lush, intricate clothes he had produced since starting his namesake label in 1996. But over the years Gn began to suffer from visual overload and found himself craving a streamlined sanctuary where he could escape from the beads and tassels of his salon. \u201cI was looking to change,\u201d he says. \u201cI wanted something more modern and functional, and something with green. When I found this place, with that heavenly patch of garden in the back, it was irresistible.\u201d<\/p>\n

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SEE ALSO:<\/strong>\u00a04 INNOVATIVE DESIGNS FOR PATIO AND FRENCH DOORS<\/a><\/p>\n

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THE FASHIONABLE LIFE<\/em><\/strong>: A COLLECTOR\u2019S OASIS | Located just 15 blocks away from the old one, the new apartment required a year and a half of ambitious renovations to become the airy suite of sunny rooms it is today. \u201cOh, it was long and tedious,\u201d Gn says cheerfully, his sentences punctuated by a rumbling, deep belly laugh. When he bought the ground-floor space in 2012, its layout\u2014constructed in 1895\u2014was very much in the French bourgeois style, full of shadowy antechambers and cramped corridors. \u201cI brought down a lot of walls and created much bigger spaces, particularly the living room, dining room, and library,\u201d he says, adding, \u201cThe previous owner was an older lady whose taste was very different from mine\u2014not contemporary, not modern.\u201d<\/p>\n

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THE FASHIONABLE LIFE<\/em><\/strong>: A COLLECTOR\u2019S OASIS | Remaking the back garden, which overlooks a small park, was another daunting project. \u201cIt was extremely ugly before, with dingy gray stone, and the flowers were horrendous. I can\u2019t even remember what they were,\u201d says the designer, who replanted the crowded beds with an elegant mix of ferns, hydrangeas, and white roses. \u201cThe outdoor space is quite small, so I wanted everything to be green and white. I think white is very relaxing, and when I look out at it from my bedroom window I get the feeling that I\u2019m on holiday.\u201d A set of mid-20th-century French garden furniture, made of thin strips of black lacquered steel, completes the postcard-from-Paris effect. \u201cWhen I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is go outside and see if there are any new leaves sprouting on the ferns,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s my little paradise.\u201d<\/p>\n

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THE FASHIONABLE LIFE<\/em><\/strong>: A COLLECTOR\u2019S OASIS | While the new apartment functions as a visual palate cleanser, Gn hasn\u2019t forsaken his elaborate tastes. In fact, he maintains his old flat in its original condition, replete with enormous crystal chandeliers and an army of silk florals, and has no intention of selling it. \u201cThey are on the same street, just 15 blocks away from each other,\u201d he says of his homes. \u201cFrom one to the other, it\u2019s a five- to seven-minute walk, or 10 minutes at a stroll. I sometimes spend weekends at the old apartment or entertain there. It\u2019s a very precious and intimate place, good for formal, sit-down candlelit dinners.\u201d His new apartment, on the other hand, is reserved for simpler meals: \u201cI\u2019ve been trying to keep my food clean here, to match the ambience. I\u2019ve even lost a little weight!\u201d<\/p>\n

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THE FASHIONABLE LIFE<\/em><\/strong>: A COLLECTOR\u2019S OASIS | For Gn, the separate living spaces reflect the breadth of his appreciation for design and his insatiable quest for variety. \u201cBoth this baroque side and this modern side always coexist in me, the classicism and the contemporary,\u201d he says. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to say I\u2019m Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde\u2014I believe that I can have both sides at the same time. They\u2019re always being reflected in my work.\u201d Gn\u2019s fall collection, for example, features an oversize coat that at first glance resembles a rich tapestry but is actually covered in micro-sequins\u2014a modern twist on an heirloom material. \u201cIt\u2019s just a simple coat with a little collar, and you can throw it on over your T-shirt and jeans and go out,\u201d he says. \u201cJust because it\u2019s ornate doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s difficult to wear.\u201d<\/p>\n

The designer\u2019s roster of gold-standard clients, which includes Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks, and Emma Stone as well as Hailee Steinfeld and Rashida Jones (both of whom wore his dresses on Oscar night this year), also speaks to his broad mix of aesthetics. \u201cWomen come back to me because my clothes are very special but never costume-like,\u201d Gn says. \u201cThey\u2019re functional but with very refined, couture-like details.\u201d<\/p>\n

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THE FASHIONABLE LIFE<\/em><\/strong>: A COLLECTOR\u2019S OASIS | Most people buy a home and then decorate it, but Gn approached the process backward, squirreling away mid-century furniture and abstract art for years before he envisioned a place to put it. \u201cWhile I was collecting my classical pieces\u2014the 17th-, 18th-century objects for my old apartment\u2014I was simultaneously collecting modern and contemporary pieces, and they were being stocked away in warehouses,\u201d he explains. \u201cI finally realized that I wanted a whole separate house for them! So I decorated in reverse, with a whole bunch of things I already owned.\u201d He composed each room himself, starting with a color palette and proceeding to furniture, fabrics, and art. \u201cI\u2019m not a professional decorator, so I had absolutely no deadline,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s an ongoing process. I\u2019m never saying, \u2018Oh, my God, I need to finish it in six months,\u2019 so I took the time to find all the perfect things. Some people buy an armchair just for the sake of having an armchair, but I waited until the right one came along.\u201d Case in point: The handsome wingback chair in his library is a 19th-century find from the Drouot auction house in Paris, reupholstered in vintage leopard-print fabric. An African wood stool, made in the mid-20th century and acquired from Pierre Berg\u00e9 & Associ\u00e9s, stands nearby.<\/p>\n

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THE FASHIONABLE LIFE<\/em><\/strong>: A COLLECTOR\u2019S OASIS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE FASHIONABLE LIFE: A COLLECTOR\u2019S OASIS | Designer Andrew Gn creates a serene, modern sanctuary on Paris\u2019s Right Bank. THE FASHIONABLE LIFE: A COLLECTOR\u2019S OASIS | Every evening, designer Andrew Gn used to retire from his grand Paul Poiret\u2013inspired atelier in Paris\u2019s Marais district to his equally decadent 18th-century flat on the city\u2019s Right Bank. Brimming with gilded Louis XV furniture, antique Chinese urns, and his collection of Rococo-era portraiture, his home was a natural extension of the lush, intricate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":1993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1078,1082,1081,321,109,1080,1079],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1990"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1990"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2500,"href":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1990\/revisions\/2500"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/delightfull.eu\/inspirations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}