The Designer Gap

The 2006 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winners Doo-Ri Chung of Doo.Ri, Thakoon Panichgul of Thakoon, and Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte all have been tapped by Gap to collaborate on their new venture, Gap Design Editions. This new initiative is part of the retailer's recent partnership with the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund to support and encourage new American designers.

The first mandate of the new Design Edition collection was for each designer to create three interpretations of the classic white shirt, a great Gap classic. The collection will be available in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Japan , as well as online at gap.com. Prices range from $68 to $88.

To kick off the launch, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund honoured all three designers at the Bowery Hotel. The attendees were apparently greeted with a blow up of the May 2007 Vogue cover - the all model/all white shirt cover. All the white shirts featured on the cover were the the design trio's Gap creations.

ThakoonRodarte
Doo.Ri
With the may cover, Vogue is making a definite statement toward promoting emerging talent, both in terms of designers and models. Also, they are promoting the whole high/low concept of dressing by pairing these affordable shirts with skirts by Herrera, Oscar and Armani (amongst others).

Congrats to Vogue for pulling off yet another great collaborative effort. When Anna Wintour says, that Vogue "...sets the standard or declares the mood of the country...", this is exactly what she means.

This cover makes a clear cut statement - Gap, high/low dressing, Doo.ri, Thakoon, Rodarte, and Lily Donaldson, Caroline Trentini, Raquel Zimmermann, Chanel Iman, Doutzen Kroes, Coco Rocha, Agyness Deyn, Sasha Pivovarova, Jessica Stam and Hilary Rhoda are in, are hot, are stylish and should be on the tips of everyone's tongues. What it says for the mood of the country is that we are ready for bright happy days.

For more information and to see all styles, check out gap.com - they did a great promo web feature.

Photos: gap.com