Zac Posen’s GapStudio Collection 01 redefines Gap brand with bold tailoring and elegant denim

NEW YORK – As his high-end GapStudio postulation makes its debut, manner decorator Zac Posen reflects connected his travel to revitalize the Gap marque and his imaginativeness for its future.

Appointed creative manager astatine Gap Inc. successful 2024, Posen has shaped the originative absorption for Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic. By taking bold risks, helium has elevated the practice brand, starting with his groundbreaking designs astatine past year’s Met Gala.

“I had this astonishing accidental with Oscar-winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph and the accidental to bring successful antithetic artisans during the process,” Posen says. “I deliberation they saw a caller facet of my creativity and what Gap could correspond culturally.”

Randolph wore a striking all-denim gown inspired by Gap’s 1969 denim, designed for the gala’s “Garden of Time” theme. The pursuing day, the orders began flooding in, and an thought was born.

Posen's Collection 01 brings a fresh, modern twist to American benignant with adept tailoring, intricate details and a interaction of elegance. Featuring elevated takes connected Gap’s signature fabrics, the postulation includes a chic trench overgarment and stylish sailor pants — some successful denim — and the now-famous poplin maxi shirtdress.

As a designer, Posen was known for his namesake label and glamorous, body-hugging gowns. The statement was unopen down successful 2019.

Posen precocious hosted The Associated Press astatine his Gap plan workplace successful New York, wherever helium discussed the collection, his passionateness for denim and the travel successful reinventing his career.

Responses person been edited for clarity and brevity.

AP: What happened astatine Met Gala that inspired this collection?

POSEN: This astonishing accidental that came astir with similar ‘do we bash a Met Gala outfit,’ right? ‘Do we bash a Met Gala outfit?’ And we said, “yes, let’s bash it.” And I had this astonishing accidental with Da’Vine Joy (Randolph) and the quality to benignant of bring successful antithetic creation artisans successful the process. And I deliberation they saw a antithetic facet ... of my creativity and what Gap could mean culturally.

AP: And that acceptable disconnected a concatenation reaction?

POSEN: The Met Gala happened. And past the adjacent day, my person Erin Walsh, stylist, and Anne Hathaway called and said, we privation you to marque a fabric dress. And from that infinitesimal we produced the dress. Sold wrong hours, sold retired online. And we benignant of started to spot this taste speech starting and this different facet that truly people evolved. It wasn’t successful a strategy oregon a playbook. I ne'er truly thought I’d beryllium rebuilding different sub-brand wrong specified an iconic marque and person this accidental to enactment successful an artisanal mode successful the aboriginal improvement of a postulation that volition beryllium disposable to a overmuch larger standard magnitude of people.”

AP: How did you extremity up moving with Gap?

POSEN: I hadn’t had my institution since earlier COVID, since 2019, erstwhile my institution closed. And it had been this absorbing clip play ... Obviously COVID happened. I had to fig retired however to enactment myself, and I was doing one-of-a-kind pieces. I did immoderate projects with Ryan Murphy connected ‘Feud: Capote Versus the Swans,’ and small projects present and there, and I was looking astatine antithetic opportunities, mostly astir wrong luxury and with luxury brands that I’d been successful conversations with for rather immoderate time. And I had this astonishing accidental here.

AP: What's the situation bringing your benignant to an already established American brand?

POSEN: GapStudio is utilizing a wholly antithetic accomplishment acceptable of mine, the quality and grant to beryllium capable to benignant of telephone the squad backmost aft ... losing a household that I had built and grown with for implicit 20 years of unthinkable artisans and craftspeople and designers that I worked with for galore years that had been breached apart, is simply a afloat travel communicative that I really ne'er saw oregon expected successful my life, and it’s truly meaningful. It’s truly beauteous to make situation successful a abstraction and to person an American organization corp and marque put successful creativity and endowment astatine this level is truly unprecedented.

AP: What gave you the assurance to bring your idiosyncratic imaginativeness to an already established brand?

POSEN: Great question. Gap is Gap. Gap volition ever beryllium evolving. The satellite has evolved. Great classics are ever large classics. They ever request those elements of elevation to them. I deliberation plan and however radical formal contiguous has changed. I deliberation that caller consumers successful the marketplace are requesting elements to premix into their classics that are much elevated, that are much stylish. That’s however we seizure a new, younger audience.

AP: Da'Vine Joy (Randolph) and Anne Hathaway, to sanction a few, loved your attack to denim, and present this postulation has overmuch of it. What is it astir denim for you?

POSEN: Denim is quintessentially American. It’s specified an unthinkable fiber. Right? It is fabric and it’s indigo. These are 2 plants. I don’t know. I’m a gardener. So I’ll conscionable adhd that. But, you know, denim is utility. Denim is artisanal. Actually, a brace of jeans that gets made has arsenic galore steps arsenic a couture gown. You don’t truly recognize that arsenic a consumer. I spell to the washhouses, and I spot these unthinkable artisans benignant of modeling, building, washing, scrubbing, sanding, dramaling, I mean, it’s caput blowing that, you know, this satellite that we’re surviving in, wearing each these jeans, person nary consciousness of those processes.

AP: What astir sustainability successful manner for you?

POSEN: For me, durability oregon prime is important successful immoderate portion 1 makes. I’m not funny successful disposable clothing. Even with my gowns, I believed successful prime and integrity of marque and construction. And so, erstwhile you instrumentality it to a larger audience, you privation pieces that tin beryllium a keepsake. I don’t judge successful gathering a postulation that is property focused. This postulation decidedly has a dependable for a caller lawsuit and decidedly has cute styles for a younger customer, but it should wholly beryllium cross-generational. It should beryllium capable to enactment connected a batch of antithetic assemblage types. That’s however I’ve ever designed my collections, and durability, for sure. I mean, you privation pieces that tin go keepsakes and beloved and passed connected and shared.

AP: Gap has an established style, what bash you anticipation to adhd to it?

POSEN: I deliberation that Gap is simply a staple. Gap represented benignant of a mode of dress, a benignant of modern wardrobe for the user that was rooted successful ... classical fabrications and ... reinventing them, representing American benignant to the consumers each astir the world. I anticipation to benignant of clasp that prime and those attributes and bring successful benignant of benignant and bring successful a consciousness of inclination and pieces that conscionable adhd a small spot of that magic.

AP: Can we expect different plan for this year's Met Gala?

POSEN: We volition see. We volition see.

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