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Jean Therapy Gap designer Patrick Robinson is singing the blues—and reinventing affordable
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ART & COMMERCE
MIND THE GAP Patrick Robinson, left, and his denim
Jean Therapy PATRICK ROBINSON, the Gap’s executive vice president of design, has classic casual down pat. “I’m an authentic, straight guy,” he says. He’s referring to his straight-leg pants, of course—a salient point given that he recently unveiled his brainchild, With a whole new demin line, 1969 Premium Jeans, a line of denim a year and a half in the making that execs hope will breathe new life into the brand.Gap fashion bigwig Patrick Robinson is The designer, who earned his fashion stripes at Giorgio slinging the blues. // BY SARAH HORNE Armani and Perry Ellis, has brought new cred to what had become an increasingly out-of-touch label. “People know Gap the way they know Coca-Cola,” he says, sitting in his Chelsea offi ce, clad in a fl annel shirt and dark jeans with a strategically placed hole above the knee. “My job has been to make the brand relevant again, to channel that aff ection people have and to get them in the stores.”
To that end, Robinson has gotten back to basics. “I don’t say, ‘This season it’s about robots,’ or fairy wings or Morocco.” Instead, he fi nds his inspiration closer to home. “There are these little neighborhoods all over America, in San Francisco or Minneapolis. Young people starting little businesses and building communities—doing things with purpose. This is not the one percent of the one percent who are buying couture.” Making Gap meaningful to these people, says Robinson, is all about keeping his eyes open. “How does America want to dress now?” The answer, it seems, is for $69 or less. As with most things Gap, the new look is basic, the denim soft, the rivets copper (and one blue one on each pair of pants, but that’s about as wild as it gets).
Reviving a storied public company comes with a lot of pressure, and Robinson, who has overseen Gap’s design since 2007, concedes that “starting from scratch with the denim is complicated.” Picking his own wardrobe? Not so much. “I’ve worn Gap every day since I’ve started this job,” he laughs. “Even weekends! Everything on my body, even the socks and the underwear, are Gap. If there’s one person who thinks the brand is cool,” says Robinson, “it should be me.”
SARAH HORNE has vivid memories of trying to master the perfect peg-legged cuff on her fi rst pair of Gap jeans (circa 1989).
