By Suzy Menkes International Herald Tribune

Tuesday, September 9, 1997

New names at old, established houses is the fashion story of the season. A rising thirtysomething generation is taking over at venerable French couture houses and burnishing the famous logos. The trickle of new talent has become a flood. What do the new kids on the block have in common? A multicultural background, fashion-college training — and enthusiasm for fashion's future.

... Andrew Gn Balmain ''European chic, American comfort, Chinese depth,'' says Andrew Gn to describe his design spirit. The streamlined clothes he has produced under his own label since 1993 show close attention to fabric and detail and reflect cross-cultural currents. He was born in Singapore, majored in fashion design at St. Martin's in London, did a semester at Parsons in New York and then studied at the Domus Academy in Milan. Georgina Brandolini, the director of Balmain, hired Gn in June to design ready-to-wear in tandem with Oscar de la Renta's haute couture. ''I pay a lot of attention to cut and do research on the form of garments and fabrics,'' says Gn. ''It is easy to create a garment which looks outrageous. The most difficult thing is to do something extremely simple.'' A casual tunic and pants in a famous Cecil Beaton photograph from Balmain's glory days was the starting point of the collection he will show in October. Gn wants to use ''the images and ambience of the house itself — it's all in the mix.'' How does he rate his training? Gn appreciated the way that St. Martin's ''made you love clothes''; that Parsons made him face fashion realities; that Italy ''puts your two feet on the ground.'' ''But London really teaches you how to dream,'' he says.... http://www.iht.com/articles/1997/09/09/vitton.t.php