Zac Posen on guiding GapStudio, rejoicing in denim

This month saw the launch of the latest collection of GapStudio, the Gap behemoth’s most fashion-forward line designed by Zac Posen.
 
It’s the latest smart and subtle collection by the New Yorker for the San Francisco-based brand, where he was appointed executive vice president and creative director of Gap Inc. in February, 2024.

A clever blend of ’90s minimalism, retro futurism and very little-pain-at-the-cash-register-cool clobber.
 
Highlights include some great body-con sculpted and seamed denim midi cocktails, while a vegan patent leather downtown dolly girl mini dress would have brought tears to the eyes of André Courrèges. Paired with matching crop jacket, on the right gal they will also be sure to break a lot of boys’ hearts. All priced very competitively: $198 for the denim dress; $148 for the vegan patent leather dress; and $228 for the crop jacket.

Cleverly judged poplin belted maxi dresses, and spruce shirt-dresses will flatter thousands of women, and retail for $178. Frayed and zippered bouclé denim jackets; sculpted maxi denim coat-dresses and perfectly draped 10-button camel hair great coats all looked excellent.
 
While men’s looks included some great gents’ shirts, two-button denim blazers and midnight blue cord trousers.

One could also easily see the whole wardrobe on the icons on Zac’s wide-ranging mood-board: Jacqueline Onassis, Françoise Hardy, Yoko One, or Robert Pattinson, Zendaya or Timothée Chalamet.
 
The collection mark the latest fashion statement by Posen, who exploded onto the New York scene with a debut collection in New York in 2001, aged just 21. His blend of lower Manhattan artist-meets-theatrical costumes giving him a truly unique aesthetic. Going on to dress a slew of fashion stars: Naomi Campbell, Paz de la Huerta, Uma Thurman, Rihanna, Cameron Diaz, Amanda Seyfried and Beyoncé Knowles.
 
Even from his early days, Zac has tag-teamed with massive labels : creating Zac Posen for Target in 2008; dressing Delta Air Lines; and creatively directing Brooks Brothers in the last decade.

His own brand was shuttered just as Covid hit, and never re-emerged despite the global recovery from the pandemic. However, Posen has bounced back at Gap, where his purview also includes another group division, Old Navy. A busy man, who these days commutes regularly coast to coast from the Bay Area to the Upper East Side.
 
The largest specialty retailer in the United States – whose group also encompasses Banana Republic and Athleta – Gap posted annual revenues of $15.1 billion in 2024.
 
So, FashionNetwork.com caught up with Zac to check out his New York atelier, and enjoy a preview of his latest ideas in GapStudio’s HQ in Tribeca.

Fashion Network: When I look back on your career doing solo shows in Bryant Park at the beginning of the century denim was not so important. But I see a lot here.  What have you learned about denim at Gap? 

Zac Posen: Denim was not my main thing but if you go back there was actually a lot of denim on my runways. If I go back to like 2004 to 2006 and even my early pieces were this kind of play. It wasn’t gowns. It was definitely this kind of play, with fracks, and definitely a punk element often in canvas.
 

But besides that, talking about denim, well, what an amazing thing to be able to  work with cotton and indigo, right? The science of it, the myriads of techniques and abilities. I spent a lot of time in wash houses, which is really where denim happens. What I’ve learnt with denim? A lot, obviously. Blue is an incredible color that has depth and hues. Wash houses themselves and what the public should know about jeans is actually how deeply artisanal a pair of jeans are. And what goes into making them is an incredible thing to see. Sometimes in California, in wash houses where we do some of our development  across our brands, the amount of the handwork that goes into it is wild!
 
FN: How important is craftwork to this project?  I notice you have beautiful lining in coats…
ZP: I love and deeply appreciate craft and luxury and quality. But this should be about me taking the skills set that I built over a very long time. And there are many more to go, as every day that I learn. But to be open to that, but to be able to apply that with our capabilities here is a real is a privilege. And to be able to provide that to a larger customer base or even introduce them to that, or a French cuff, is really cool!  I don’t know, that’s once in a lifetime.

Price point is important. Style should be accessible. And to be able to have that range. I mean down the hallway there is a pretty artisanal studio of craftspeople that I’ve learned from, or worked with together, for some of them I’ve worked with since I was 21. And I am 44, with a little bit of a break there. 
 

FN: A team you assembled and brought in? 
ZP: Absolutely and some people from Gap came into that as well, so that we can create a studio that not only can design and build this collection but also work on one of the kind pieces that we can bring quickly to production. And also, on one-of-a-kind pieces that become brand culture moments. 
 
FN: Providing quality seems a key element to you?
ZP: Absolutely. Like this men’s shirt, which has a beautiful placket, French cuffs and its retail price is $88. I feel really great about being able to provide that to customers and people who want something that is a really high quality. 
 
FN: Are you wearing in Gap Studio yourself today?   
ZP: Actually, I’m wearing a canceled style today! But I do a lot. But building lines and brands at this level takes a great deal of collaboration. What I think is a good thing, for me in this learning experience of Gap, is that Gap was built and really part of what we think of as our large existing merchandising model.

So, in my role, when I am working here, I believe that part of us getting to the future is having our creative team and designers at the table. So, it’s not in service to building a line and merchandising. It’s really about having that dialogue, right? So that’s the dialogue I choose. An example right at this moment, I don’t know if it is interesting, but to choose a raglan tee-shirt, instead of a short sleeve, that’s a choice. You have to understand because to get the price point you have this investment and that takes holding hands.