Gap's back! But will its first premium range win over fans who once flocked to its High Street stores, asks SHANE WATSON
- The American clothing brand is coming out with its first premium range
- READ MORE: Iconic all-American clothing retailer sees huge increase in profits after reinventing its preppy classics
One-off designer collaborations with high street labels are something we're used to – Victoria Beckham and Mango, or M&S and Bella Freud, for example. Now the big news in fashion is top designers taking the helm at high street brands.
This week all eyes are on Zac Posen, the designer now overseeing arguably the most famous American clothing brand: Gap.
Posen, who built a reputation for gorgeous, figure-flattering, red carpet dresses when his own label was riding high in the Noughties – it closed in 2019 – was appointed creative director of Gap Inc in February last year, overseeing all Gap's brands including Banana Republic. In the intervening months, examples of his new designs for Gap (which will include special one-off creations for the red carpet) have been seen on numerous A-list celebrities: on actress Anne Hathaway at a Bulgari event in Rome (a white shirt dress); on Wicked star Cynthia Erivo at the CFDA Fashion Awards in New York (a black tulip-bottom dress); on Demi Moore at the San Francisco Film Awards (a black knit maxi dress with biker jacket) and on Timothee Chalamet, a satin two-piece he wore for his Oscar nominee dinner in Los Angeles earlier this year.
So Posen has already succeeded in rebranding the preppy clothing giant as a label that holds its own at awards ceremonies alongside the Chanels and Diors.
Now, inspired by these hits, he's channeling some of the red carpet energy into a new premium line: GapStudio.
Today marks the launch of the first full GapStudio collection (available online and in-store at 120 Oxford Street, London).
These 24 styles – including a trench coat, a flame orange long slip dress and that Hathaway white shirt dress – are meant to feel more fashion-forward than Gap's basic range; and, with prices ranging from £50 for a tank top to £225 for that trench, they're a step up in price, too.
The idea is to offer elevated (big buzzword in fashion these days) higher-quality pieces to compete with the likes of Massimo Dutti (elevated sister of Zara) and Cos (H&M's more expensive range).
Black slip dress, £120. All clothes from gap.co.uk
White jersey dress, £95, black sweatshirt, £60
White shirt dress, £120
It's also a place to showcase the superior cutting and draping skills that made Posen's feminine, fitted, made-to-measure gowns catnip for stars including singer Rihanna and actresses Natalie Portman and Kate Winslet.
'Looking at the classic Gap elements and seeing what I felt was missing created a little dream wardrobe,' he said in a recent interview, and who doesn't like the sound of that?
Posen's challenge with Gap is to raise its game and provide those classic American basics tweaked for the times – denim and sweatshirts and khaki jackets and peacoats – all the things we used to buy in the 1990s and early Noughties before the competition raised the bar and the brand sank into a kind of bargain-basement blandness.
But if Posen can provide leading fashion too – clothes with just the right amount of edge and flair – that would raise the brand's profile and put it on the backs of fashion-conscious women of all ages.
Well. I've seen the new collection, felt the fabrics, even slipped some of it on, and there's good news and bad news.
The good news is that Posen's seams and drape are very much on show. He has brought with him the team he worked with on his own label, sewers and pattern-maker included.
Black sweatshirt, £60, and orange slip dress, £120
Pleated mac, £225
White shirt, £70 and high-waisted trousers, £120
There's a slinky white tank dress in a mousse-soft jersey, and the slip dresses in black and orange are multi-seamed and draped to fit and flare just right.
But you may already have spotted the catch. These are body-skimming, form-conscious, no-bra-required clothes, and moving on through the collection it only gets more youth-focused: a fluted denim mini skirt; a striped boxy shirt cropped high on the waist; a tiny ribbed vest.
The Hathaway shirt dress in various colours, including a blue and white polka dot, is long, but the buttons stop well above the knee and it's designed to be worn falling off one or both shoulders. Again, no bra intended, unless you want to wear one of the mini corsets underneath.
When he talked about the 'little dream wardrobe' in that interview, Posen went on to say: 'The fit, the cuts and the lengths are younger and shorter,' – and there's no escaping the fact that many of these clothes are not going to appeal to anyone who shopped in Gap in its heyday. The trouble is, for the price point (£140 for that denim ra ra skirt, £120 for the slip dresses) the new nubile target audience might be able to find two pieces they like as much in Zara or H&M.
The good news? There are some things that will work across generations, and the quality of cut and fabric stands out.
The GapStudio trench coat is Posen's Audrey Hepburn-esque take on the coat that's everywhere this spring – pleated and waisted, with slightly balloon sleeves. If you want a pretty, feminised version of a trench that gives you shape and looks more expensive than its £225 price tag, then look no further.
Another classic that's been given the Posen glow-up is a pair of beige sailor-style cotton trousers (£120) – extra-wide leg and high-waisted with horn button trims on the pockets – that would look 1970s chic paired with a white shirt, wedges and big sunglasses.
The sweat tops (£60) are super-soft and luxurious – if you don't mind having the word 'Studio' emblazoned on the front, which you probably do.
The collection feels spare and I'm still not sure who it's for. But the quality and the fit are indisputable (Posen's extra seams make those slip dresses fit like stockings), so the signs of what GapStudio is capable of are there. A mini pleat-skirted dress in an extraordinary weighty draped jersey looks a lot like early Azzedine Alaia.
Next season Posen may well deliver the clothes (dresses with arms, draped trousers, a white shirt) that we can buy into. Here's hoping.
GapStudio is available from today at gap.co.uk
