Welcome to the Gap

The Retail Chain Recruits Some of Fashion's Finest for a Project and a Party

Fashion designers, their model muses, and a sprinkling of celebrities packed into the Rockefeller Plaza gallery space on Monday night to celebrate the launch of Gap Design Editions. Now in its second year, the project is a showcase of sorts for 2007 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists Band of Outsiders, Michael Bastian, Philip Crangi Jewelry, Threeasfour, and 3.1 Phillip Lim —all of whom, with the exception of Crangi, who made jewelry, created limited-edition white shirts for the retailer's stores.

"It's impossible to improve on the classic white shirt," said Lim. "So I went into this with the goal of feminizing it slightly—you know, adding little flourishes and whatnot." Modeling one of the designer's creations was his date, Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann, a recent Gap convert. "I grew up wearing my mom's designer hand-me-downs," she said. "But I always wanted to shop there because walking around in vintage Dolce & Gabbana in high school wasn't considered very cool. I was dying to be more all-American." Other guests, however, were long-standing devotees. "It's just a great place to buy basics," said Virginia Madsen. "I totally get why Sharon Stone wore a Gap shirt to the Oscars." Philip Crangi even worked at the retail giant one summer. "It was a brief but memorable stint in the late eighties in Boca Raton, Florida," explained the jewelry designer. "I don't think I lasted because I never really learned how to fold the shirts. To this day I just hang 'em on a hook."

— Evelyn Crowley

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