高定服装设计师鄞昌涛：乘着梦想的翅膀
文 · 李慧玲
新加坡高定服装设计师鄞昌涛
新加坡高定服装设计师鄞昌涛旅居法国多年，跻身顶级时装设计殿堂。他1999年3月受访时说，新加坡要发展知识经济，培养更多有创意的人，应该多鼓励年轻人到各地去。他认为，“能够做自己喜欢做的事，其实是一种奢华”。
人物小档案
鄞昌涛，1966年生，国际知名高定服装设计师，中日混血，自小在新加坡长大，毕业于伦敦圣马丁艺术学院和米兰多莫斯学院。1992年到巴黎学艺，曾担任著名法国设计师安伽贺（Emanuel Ungaro）的助手。1995年在巴黎创立个人品牌，多年来在国际服装界奠定了大师级地位。
鄞昌涛之所以和很多人不一样，大概是因为他不仅仅是个织梦者，而且是个有勇气用具体行动来实现梦想的人。他不仅能够从事自己喜欢做的事，而且能够用此来谋生。
不过，不要误以为他躲在巴黎陋巷里，饿着肚子龌龊地设计他的服装，赚的钱仅够糊口。他一年营业额大约是700万法郎（约230万新元）。单是秋冬季，可卖约400万法郎的服装。用他自己的话，就是“能够做自己喜欢做的事，其实是一种奢华”。
执着“美”梦
鄞昌涛，这位如今在法国炙手可热的时装界新宠只有33岁（受访时，现年59岁），目前在巴黎以自己的名字Andrew Gn作为时装品牌，被视为领导世界时装进入21世纪的新秀之一，所设计的时装简单朴素，线条鲜明。
学生时代上课时在课本上画出不同的服装款式时，鄞昌涛或许没有认真地想过：有一天会在世界时装之都的巴黎，坐在自己的服装公司里接受记者的访问。
他中学念立化，高中在华中初级学院就读，虽然会考成绩优异，却在参加国民服役期间决定走上一条与众不同的道路。当同学都报读剑桥、牛津或者留在新加坡国大深造时，他选择报读伦敦著名的圣马丁艺术学院，并以全班之冠的成绩毕业。
鄞昌涛说:“我从小就喜欢收藏东西，第一个梦想是在拍卖行工作。国民服役的时候，我参加了环球小姐服装设计比赛，然后我发现自己已经深深爱上服装设计，决定继续朝这方面发展。”
他出生在潮州家庭，父亲是个商人，母亲是家庭主妇。在自己眼里，他的家人都是脚踏实地的人。他打趣说：“我是家里唯一老是做梦的人。”鄞昌涛对“美”的执着，应该是天生的。而学生时代阅读《阿Q正传》、《雷雨》、《红楼梦》，则肯定给了他的想象丰富的滋养。
他说：“《红楼梦》太神奇了，它让你有梦想，在你的脑里盘桓，书中形容女孩子的心情感受，她们怎么饮食、怎么穿衣服、怎么施粉，服装颜色怎么搭配，一切都那么细腻。那都是艺术。我年纪小的时候，是这些带我神游。”
虽然在1986年到英国念书后，他曾分别在伦敦、纽约、米兰和巴黎生活和工作，他在接受《国际先驱论坛报》访问时，却道出在内心深处，自己仍是个华人。也正因为他深深觉得自己是个华人，他所设计的服装如果体现了传统文化对他的影响，那也是自然而然，而不是刻意钻营的。
“如果作为亚洲设计师等于设计传统中国服装，在衣服前面绣点龙，背后绣点凤，我想那不是创意。以我自己来说，我特别喜欢红色，而当我用红色时，一定会确保那是真正的红色，不能够让它看来卑贱。但那是自然流露的，不是为了要在衣服上绣一条龙，宣告世界而这么做。”
（本文节录自 《思索的长度》之“高定服装设计师鄞昌涛：乘着梦想的翅膀”，李慧玲著，新报业媒体子公司焦点出版。原文刊于1999年3月25日《联合早报》，原文作者为新报业媒体华文媒体集团社长）
Andrew Gn, Haute Couture Designer Soaring on Wings of Dreams
Author：Lee Huay Leng
Andrew Gn, Singapore’s renowned haute couturier who has spent years in France, has risen to the pinnacle of fashion design. In a March 1999 interview, he remarked that for Singapore to thrive in a knowledge-based economy, it must nurture more creative talent by encouraging young people to venture abroad. To him, “Being able to do what you love is, in itself, a luxury.”
Profile
Andrew Gn, born in 1966 to a Chinese-Japanese family, is an internationally renowned haute couture designer. Raised in Singapore, he later pursued fashion studies at Central Saint Martins in London and Domus Academy in Milan. In 1992, he moved to Paris to hone his craft, working as an assistant to well-known French designer Emanuel Ungaro. In 1995, he launched his own fashion label in Paris and gradually gained recognition as a respected figure in international fashion.
What sets Andrew Gn apart is that he’s not just a dreamer, but someone courageous enough to turn his ideas into reality. The fact that he can not only pursue what he loves but also make a living from it is what makes him truly extraordinary.
However, he is far from a starving artist—not one hidden away in the dark alleys of Paris, struggling to make ends meet. In reality, his annual revenue reaches approximately 7 million francs (around 2.3 million SGD), with his autumn and winter collection alone generating about 4 million francs. As he puts it, “Being able to do what you love is, in itself, a luxury.”
Chasing the Dream of “Beauty”
Andrew Gn (Chinese name: 鄞昌涛, Yin Changtao), now 59 years old, was just 33 when he was interviewed as one of the most sought-after rising stars in France’s fashion scene. He is currently based in Paris, where he runs his own fashion label, Andrew Gn. He is regarded as a leading talent whose work has contributed to shaping global fashion in the 21st century. His designs are simple, elegant, and characterized by clean lines.
As a student, he often sketched different types of costumes in his textbooks. Yet he probably never imagined that one day, in Paris—the fashion capital of the world—he would be seated in his own fashion house, giving interviews to reporters.
He attended River Valley High School and Hwa Chong Junior College, excelling academically. But during National Service, he made a bold choice: while many peers headed to Cambridge, Oxford, or the National University of Singapore, he chose Central Saint Martins in London—where he graduated top of his class.
“I’ve loved collecting things since I was a child,” he recalled. “My first dream was to work at an auction house. During National Service, I entered a costume design competition for Miss Globe, and I realized I had fallen deeply in love with fashion. So I decided to pursue it.”
He was born into a Teochew family—his father was a businessman, and his mother a housewife. From his perspective, his family members are all down-to-earth people. He once quipped, “I’m the only dreamer in the family.” His obsession with beauty seems almost innate. At the same time, reading works such as The True Story of Ah Q, Thunderstorm, and Dream of the Red Chamber during his school years undoubtedly nourished his imagination.
He described Dream of the Red Chamber as “magical,” saying it filled him with dreams that lingered in his mind. The book’s detailed depictions of female characters—their emotions, experiences, how they ate, dressed, applied makeup, and coordinated colours—were all forms of art. “When I was young, these were the things that carried me away in a trance. Time would disappear, and I would drift into another world,” he said.
Although he has lived and worked in London, New York, Milan, and Paris since going to the UK to study in 1986, he revealed in an interview with the International Herald Tribune that he has always identified strongly as Chinese. Because of this deep connection, any influences of traditional Chinese culture in his designs come through naturally rather than being deliberately emphasized.
“If being an Asian designer simply meant creating traditional Chinese garments—embroidering dragons on the front and phoenixes on the back—I wouldn’t call that creativity. Personally, I’ve always had a special love for red. And when I use it, I make sure it’s genuine red, not some-thing that appears cheap. For me, incorporating Chinese culture into my work comes instinctively—not because I want to stitch a dragon onto a garment.”
（Translated by Candy Wong Yi Xuan, Sek Vern Qi, Qi Huanchang from Nan Hua High School, winning entry of the Chinese-English Translation Competition）
