ALEXANDER WANG/VENA CAVA FOR GAP

So I'm not much interested in the ins and outs of why or how these collaborations come about. In England, there's a collaboration every 17 seconds, and everyone in retail is desperately hoping that Matthew Williamson will save our souls, which... no. But it's a good thing in general - accessible, affordable design, bringing a whole range of aesthetics to the fore; diversity, choice, availability, all good things.

The second part of the story of the collaboration between Gap and award-nominated designers is what they choose to work with, and currently the plan is to re-imagine icons. Last year, they chose the white shirt to revamp, and the icon they are re-inventing this year is khaki. Whether these things are American icons, fashion icons, or just Gap icons is unclear, but neat going to claim such style icons as your own, Gap.

I feel like Khaki falls under my remit, as it's made by many of the same mills as denim, and it's trousers, and all the cool kids are doing it these days - Acne is so preppy I'm surprised they haven't re-invented the letterman sweater, and Band of Outsiders is like the Rotary Club come to life. So I've winkled out the pictures of the Khaki collection that's getting everyone so excited and I have edited above for your delectation. (The hat and the dress are for me - not relevant to denim & street inspiration!)

Pleats & biker jackets. Good. Exciting. I've said before how much I love a pleat. The shorts look super cute. The black details on the straight leg chinos scare me. However, perhaps if you bought them baggy, cut them off at the knee and roughly cuffed them they'd look pretty cool. Hi Gap. Call me. We'd be great together. I'd move to San Francisco (I know your design offices are in New York but come on, I think you need to be designing your denims on the West Coast, and truthfully, I'd prefer to live in SF). Your jeans would fit great. We'd make them even cooler. Add a button here, an eyelet there, possibly a small cuff, perhaps a rip - I don't want to go to far, I too have classic taste, but a little edge maybe wouldn't hurt?

Source: Racked