Today marks the first Trooping the Colour ceremony since King Charles III’s ascension to the throne—and Kate Middleton’s first since assuming her new title of Princess of Wales.
Fitting, then, that she eschewed her usual Alexander McQueen tailoring in favor of something a little more daring: a custom look by Singapore-born, Paris-based designer Andrew Gn, paired with a Philip Treacy hat. The shamrock green hue is, of course, a nod to Kate’s role as colonel of the Irish guards—as is the Cartier brooch affixed to her lapel, which the Princess of Wales also wore on St. Patrick’s Day earlier this year. Technically owned by the guards themselves, the gold design is loaned out to royal women associated with the regiment and has been worn by both the Queen Mother and Princess Anne in the past.
This marks the first time Kate Middleton has worn Gn’s designs in public (another royal, though, Queen Rania of Jordan, has been a fan of his work for years; she wore a black crepe dress from the label to announce her son’s engagement). Having graduated from Central Saint Martins in London and the Domus Academy in Milan, Gn decamped to France to work with Emanuel Ungaro, where he honed his exquisite craftsmanship before a brief stint at the helm of Balmain.
Today he’s known for the elaborate references that inspire his creations—from 16th-century Ottoman porcelain to the wardrobe of Louis XV’s lover Madame de Pompadour to his Japanese grandmother’s 19th-century kimonos—with an archive of more than 10,000 pieces.
Happily, the most celebrated of his designs are now on display as part of his first major retrospective, Andrew Gn: Fashioning Singapore and the World at the Asian Civilisations Museum, from the lace dress worn by Emma Stone in La La Land to the draped custom bustier he lent Beyoncé from his fall 2010 collection, titled Persian Letters after Montesquieu’s 1721 novel.
