PARIS, February 28, 2007 – With Marisa Berenson sitting front-row in a red, rock-crystal-strewn Andrew Gn linen coat, the designer sent out looks extravagant even by his own lavish standards—a Fall collection that’s sure to send Berenson and the rest of his loyal ladies rushing to his private atelier.

Inspired by the early twentieth-century architect Josef Hoffmann and the interior designer Armand-Albert Rateau, the clothes had a Belle Époque opulence and a twenties shape—witness the feather-dusted frayed-organza capelets, the satin tunics and drop-waist numbers with jeweled necklines, and a bubble dress embroidered with fringes of gold chain.

The couture details came fast and furious: velvet passementerie on a kimono coat, a Byzantine jewel closure on a cardigan (to match the model’s drop earrings), and tiny pheasant-feather collars on tweeds. There were bags, too: minaudières and exotic skins that the designer is launching in collaboration with Judith Leiber. And there were 12-ply funnel-neck cashmere sweaters, anything but understated.

It’s a matter of course that Gn, a lover of excess, should have a tough time paring down the looks in his show, but—for all but his most faithful fans—a briefer lineup would make for a bigger impact.

– Nicole Phelps