The Gap

Most designers these days moonlight for a mass retail chain at one point or another: Roberto Cavalli and Marimekko for H&M, Vera Wang for Kohl’s, Alexander Wang for Uniqlo, and seemingly everyone else for Target. But the Gap, in the interest of novelty or crowd control, employs haute designers only to rethink its basic white shirts. Today the store rolled out its second collection of white shirts by CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists.

For roughly the past 10 years, I’ve avoided the Gap. I don’t like khaki, the color or the word. Nor do I care for the classic young America look (pressed white shirts, slim jeans) the store seems to trot out each year as if it’s new.

This wasn’t always the case. At different crucial moments in my life, the Gap has been there for me. In 1989, I got a pair of black pedal pushers there (off the sale rack, for about $9), which I wore folded and rolled up above my knee, like pantaloons. Even better, I wore them over turquoise footless tights and then, on top, threw on an enormous hot pink T-shirt. This was my ninth-grade uniform. And yes, I loved the 80’s.  read more »

40-year-old designer Patrick Robinson, who is most recently famous for having been the latest high-end designer to sell a budget line of his wares at Target, has been snatched away by the Gap.

He leaves his full time gig at Paco Rabanne, where he was artistic director, to oversee design for Gap’s women’s and men’s apparel, accessories and intimates lines in North America.  The press release can be read here.