fall into the gap: pt. 2

courtesy of the sartorialist

for all of you out there who have become disappointed and dismayed with the declining relevancy of the gap, i come bearing good news. gap, to many, has lost its luster since the infamous 2001 debacle of leather pants and other trends that fell to the wayside soon after their introduction. it's even more difficult to keep with the american apparel's that have stolen their cotton t-shirt thunder or the h&m's and zara's that bring affordable renditions of the high fashion trends within months of their runway debut. gap is like britney spears or whitney houston right now. they were fun for a bit but since they've been distracted with other things (diane sawyer interviews, drugs, bad husbands, train wreck in the making children), the musical landscape has changed significantly and people want to hear that new fergie or nelly furtado jam instead whatever they could possibly be conjuring up. but americans love a good comeback after a significant fall from grace.

it was announced last week that patrick robinson, former chief designer for perry ellis and paco rabanne, has taken over as chief designer for gap's women's and men's apparel, accessories and intimates lines in north america. this is a fantastic shift in the dying direction gap has taken in the past few years. for those you who are not familiar with mr. robinson, he is the current designer of the target go line, which i will admit i have looked at and think is exactly what women who shop at target would like and buy in bulk. he's married to virginia smith, an editor at vogue. and oh yeah, his afro is amazing. i don't think i would ever have the patience to grow one myself, but if i did i would want it to look like his. black straight male designers are rare in high fashion, making him that much more of an interesting commodity. his sporty but sexy cuts should appeal to new and old gap consumers, establishing him as fashion's newest messiah.

his spring/summer 2006 collection for paco rabanne:

it was a favorite of mine at the time and i think we can see trends of jumpers with pockets, the skinny pant, and voluminous minidresses that he was executing so effortlessly and naughtily almost two years ago before they trickled down to the current affordable worlds of malls and department stores.

i'm most excited to see what he has in store for menswear because if we can infer anything from the photo above, i might be spending more time (and money) at the gap than usual.