Zac Posen’s GapStudio Collection 01 redefines Gap style with bold tailoring and elegant denim

NEW YORK (AP) — As his high-end GapStudio collection makes its debut, fashion designer Zac Posen reflects on his journey to revitalize the Gap brand and his vision for its future.

Appointed creative director at Gap Inc. in 2024, Posen has shaped the creative direction for Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic. By taking bold risks, he has elevated the heritage brand, starting with his groundbreaking designs at last year’s Met Gala.

“I had this amazing opportunity with Oscar-winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph and the chance to bring in different artisans during the process,” Posen says. “I think they saw a new facet of my creativity and what Gap could represent culturally.”

Randolph wore a striking all-denim gown inspired by Gap’s 1969 denim, designed for the gala’s “Garden of Time” theme. The following day, the orders began flooding in, and an idea was born.

Posen's Collection 01 brings a fresh, modern twist to American style with expert tailoring, intricate details and a touch of elegance. Featuring elevated takes on Gap’s signature fabrics, the collection includes a chic trench coat and stylish sailor pants — both in denim — and the now-famous poplin maxi shirtdress.

As a designer, Posen was known for his namesake label and glamorous, body-hugging gowns. The label was shut down in 2019.

Posen recently hosted The Associated Press at his Gap design studio in New York, where he discussed the collection, his passion for denim and the journey in reinventing his career.

Responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.

POSEN: This amazing opportunity that came about with like ‘do we do a Met Gala outfit,’ right? ‘Do we do a Met Gala outfit?’ And we said, “yes, let’s do it.” And I had this amazing opportunity with Da’Vine Joy (Randolph) and the ability to kind of bring in different art artisans in the process. And I think they saw a different facet ... of my creativity and what Gap could mean culturally.

POSEN: The Met Gala happened. And then the next day, my friend Erin Walsh, stylist, and Anne Hathaway called and said, we want you to make a cotton dress. And from that moment we produced the dress. Sold within hours, sold out online. And we kind of started to see this cultural conversation starting and this other facet that really naturally evolved. It wasn’t in a strategy or a playbook. I never really thought I’d be rebuilding another sub-brand within such an iconic brand and have this opportunity to work in an artisanal manner in the early development of a collection that will be available to a much larger scale amount of people.”

POSEN: I hadn’t had my company since before COVID, since 2019, when my company closed. And it had been this interesting time period ... Obviously COVID happened. I had to figure out how to support myself, and I was doing one-of-a-kind pieces. I did some projects with Ryan Murphy on ‘Feud: Capote Versus the Swans,’ and little projects here and there, and I was looking at different opportunities, mostly around within luxury and with luxury brands that I’d been in conversations with for quite some time. And I had this amazing opportunity here.

POSEN: GapStudio is using a totally different skill set of mine, the ability and honor to be able to kind of call the team back after ... losing a family that I had built and grown with for over 20 years of incredible artisans and craftspeople and designers that I worked with for many years that had been broken apart, is a full journey story that I actually never saw or expected in my life, and it’s really meaningful. It’s really beautiful to create environment in a space and to have an American institutional corporation and brand invest in creativity and talent at this level is really unprecedented.

POSEN: Great question. Gap is Gap. Gap will always be evolving. The world has evolved. Great classics are always great classics. They always need those elements of elevation to them. I think design and how people dress today has changed. I think that new consumers in the marketplace are requesting elements to mix into their classics that are more elevated, that are more stylish. That’s how we capture a new, younger audience.

POSEN: Denim is quintessentially American. It’s such an incredible fiber. Right? It is cotton and it’s indigo. These are two plants. I don’t know. I’m a gardener. So I’ll just add that. But, you know, denim is utility. Denim is artisanal. Actually, a pair of jeans that gets made has as many steps as a couture gown. You don’t really realize that as a consumer. I go to the washhouses, and I see these incredible artisans kind of modeling, building, washing, scrubbing, sanding, dramaling, I mean, it’s mind blowing that, you know, this world that we’re living in, wearing all these jeans, have no sense of those processes.

POSEN: For me, durability or quality is important in any piece one makes. I’m not interested in disposable clothing. Even with my gowns, I believed in quality and integrity of make and construction. And so, when you take it to a larger audience, you want pieces that can be a keepsake. I don’t believe in building a collection that is age focused. This collection definitely has a voice for a new customer and definitely has cute styles for a younger customer, but it should totally be cross-generational. It should be able to work on a lot of different body types. That’s how I’ve always designed my collections, and durability, for sure. I mean, you want pieces that can become keepsakes and beloved and passed on and shared.

POSEN: I think that Gap is a staple. Gap represented kind of a way of dress, a kind of modern wardrobe for the consumer that was rooted in ... classic fabrications and ... reinventing them, representing American style to the consumers all around the world. I hope to kind of hold that quality and those attributes and bring in kind of style and bring in a sense of trend and pieces that just add a little bit of that magic.

POSEN: We will see. We will see.

Designer Zac Posen poses for a portrait at the Gap corporate office on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Designer Zac Posen talks about his new clothing line at the Gap corporate office on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Designs by Zac Posen are displayed at the Gap corporate office on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Designs by Zac Posen are displayed at the Gap corporate office on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Designs by Zac Posen are displayed at the Gap corporate office on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Designer Zac Posen appears with his new clothing line at the Gap corporate office on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Designer Zac Posen poses for a portrait at the Gap corporate office on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

Designer Zac Posen poses for a portrait at the Gap corporate office on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

FILE - Da'Vine Joy Randolph, left, and Zac Posen attend The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala on May 6, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Designer Zac Posen poses for a portrait at the Gap corporate office on Tuesday, March 25, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)

For a state that’s home to Hollywood, there isn’t much star power in California’s gubernatorial race. It’s a somewhat different story in Los Angeles, where a reality television personality is running for mayor as the city prepares to host the Olympics.

More primaries are being held on Tuesday as well. Democrats are banking on a rare chance to regain ground in Iowa, a rural state that has repeatedly eluded them in recent years. Republicans, meanwhile, are grappling with a New Jersey congressman whose unexplained absence could put their already slim majority at risk.

— California: Voters are weighing in on who should lead the nation’s most populous state, where there is no clear leader among candidates vying to advance in the race to succeed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Plus, U.S. House races are on the ballot, along with the Los Angeles mayor’s race.

— New Mexico: Contests in the state include primaries for congressional seats, a U.S. Senate seat and a long list of statewide offices, but the governor’s race is the main attraction. Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is running for the Democratic nomination, which could put her on a historic path for Native American leaders.

— New Jersey: One of this year’s most closely watched House midterms will take place in the battleground district represented by Rep. Tom Kean Jr., who has drawn public scrutiny and concern after missing more than 100 House votes due to an undisclosed medical issue. Voters are deciding which Democrat will run against him in November.

— Read more about races in Iowa, Montana and South Dakota.

Here's the latest:

Republican Spencer Pratt is dismissing Nithya Raman’s campaign as “weak” and effectively over. The only real race, he says, is between him and Democratic incumbent Karen Bass.

Raman, a former Bass ally and progressive city council member, is challenging the mayor from the left.

In a social media video posted Monday, Pratt says Raman hasn’t gotten anything done during her six years in city leadership. He calls a vote for Raman a waste.

“At this point, it’s me and Karen,” Pratt says.

President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged his followers to vote for Hilton, a former Fox News TV host and British political adviser.

“He will work with me and the Federal Government, the money will flow because I have confidence in him (but not any of the others!), and we will MAKE CALIFORNIA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Meanwhile, Vice President J.D. Vance called Hilton a “good guy” and encouraged Californians to vote for him.

“California is such a beautiful state--it just needs better political leadership!” Vance wrote on X.

Nithya Raman was once an ally to Bass, but she filed to challenge her as mayor just hours before the filing deadline. Raman described the city as “at a breaking point.”

She has promised to speed up housing construction, bring back entertainment industry jobs and improve services in a city known for dirty streets and buckled pavement.

Raman hasn’t drawn as much national chatter as Pratt, a former reality television star whose supporters have tried to boost his candidacy with AI-generated videos.

Last week, Raman took a shot at that tactic with her own video showing her flanked by supporters. “No AI was used in the making of this video,” it said.

The nation’s most populous state is dominated by Democrats, but some are unsure of who to vote for.

“I’m kind of pinching my nose and voting this go-around rather than being excited,” said Colin Culver, a 21-year-old San Diego resident who ultimately voted for Tom Steyer.

It’s been a chaotic campaign, particularly when former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race after being accused of sexual assault.

Paul Mitchell, a Democratic strategist tracking ballot returns, said some voters “are holding onto the ballot because they have seen this kind of topsy-turvy governor’s race,” and “they’re waiting to make sure they’re making the right choice.”

Two Democrats are seeking their party’s nomination to replace Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, a term-limited Democrat who will leave office at the end of 2026. Sam Bregman, an Albuquerque-based district attorney, is campaigning on his law enforcement record and promises to stand up to the Trump administration.

Former congresswoman and U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland has emphasized her ancestral roots in the state and experience working in the nation’s capital.

Haaland leads Bregman in fundraising by a wide margin, but the primary has become increasingly combative. Bregman’s campaign has seized on the fact that Haaland has declined multiple opportunities to debate him. Meanwhile Haaland’s campaign has cast Bregman as out of touch with everyday New Mexicans, highlighting his personal wealth.

By any measure, Bass’ first term has been challenging. The worst wildfire in city history began while she was traveling with a presidential delegation in Ghana. Homelessness continues to be a challenge.

“I haven’ always got it right,” Bass says.

But now she wants a second term, which would allow her to keep leading the city of 4 million people as it hosts the Olympics in 2028.

Bass is facing challenges from the left and the right. Progressive city council member Nithya Raman and Republican reality television personality Spencer Pratt are among the 14 names on the ballot.

With so many candidates, no one is likely to get a majority of the vote on Tuesday, meaning the election would be settled by a November runoff between the top two.

One of the most closely watched House races in this year’s midterms is unfolding in the New Jersey district represented by Rep. Tom Kean Jr., who’s been absent from votes for nearly three months.

Kean is running unopposed in the Republican primary, where he’s has Trump’s support. But his absence because of an undisclosed personal medical issue has generated outsized interest in the contest.

Kean is seeking a third term.

Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr. is running unopposed in the primary for New Jersey’s 7th congressional district on Tuesday. But he’s facing growing scrutiny for an unexplained medical absence that has stretched for more than three months, causing him to miss more than 100 votes in Congress.

Trump weighed in on social media late Monday, saying Kean was “working tirelessly” to support the MAGA agenda.

Though Kean isn’t facing any GOP competition today, he’s seeking reelection this fall in one of the few genuinely competitive congressional districts left on the map. Several Democrats vying to take him on in the general election have made his absence — and the lack of clarity surrounding it — a central part of their message.

Every two years, the attention of the nation’s political class is riveted on a Democratic-leaning congressional district in California’s Central Valley. Republican Rep. David Valadao has been able to fend off repeated Democratic challengers, except in 2018, when he barely lost. But he ran again two years later and reclaimed the seat.

Democrats redrew the district to make it even tougher for Valadao. They recruited a moderate who represents the area in the state capital, Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, to run against him. But she’s had to battle a more liberal rival, political science professor and school board member Randy Villegas. The primary will determine Valadao’s next opponent.

That means all candidates are on the same ballot, regardless of their party affiliation. California has used that system for more than a decade.

It’s occasionally resulted in two candidates from the same party competing against each other in a general election. That happened most notably in U.S. Senate races in 2016 and 2018, when two Democrats faced off.

In the governor’s race, though, one Republican and one Democrat have always advanced to November. Democrats had feared a lockout this year given their large field of candidates. But those worries have diminished in the race’s closing weeks.

A Democrat has held the governor’s office since 2011, when Jerry Brown took over from Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Democrats have also had a firm grip on the state Legislature.

Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco say that means Democrats are to blame for the state’s expensive gas and housing, its homelessness crisis and a slew of other problems. Both have pledged to reduce regulations and taxes.

Hilton has President Donald Trump’s backing. That could help him in the primary but hurt him in the general election in the heavily Democratic state.

Holding on to Iowa is a big part of the GOP’s plan to keep its U.S. Senate majority.

A super PAC affiliated with Senate Republicans has pledged $29 million to help ensure the seat stays in GOP hands.

That means all candidates are on the same ballot, regardless of their party affiliation. California has used that system for more than a decade.

It has occasionally resulted in two candidates from the same party competing against each other in a general election. That happened most notably in U.S. Senate races in 2016 and 2018, when two Democrats faced off.

In the governor’s race, though, one Republican and one Democrat have always advanced to November. Democrats had feared a lockout this year, given their large field of candidates. But those worries have diminished in the race’s closing weeks.

The candidates are U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, state Rep. Eddie Andrews, businessman and former conservative political director Zach Lahn, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and former director of the state Department of Administrative Services Adam Steen.

If no candidate earns at least 35% of Republican primary voters, the nominee would be selected at a contested state party convention.

Trump endorsed Feenstra on Friday, saying on social media that “Randy is MAGA all the way!”

The generational fighting that has been ripping through the Democratic Party continues in California’s primaries.

In the Los Angeles-area’s 32nd District, 42-year-old lawyer Jake Levine is challenging Brad Sherman, 71, a 15-term member of the House of Representatives.

And in the 7th District near Sacramento, 40-year-old city councilwoman Mai Vang is challenging Doris Matsui, 81, who has held the seat since her husband, a congressman himself for decades, died in 2005.

Tom Steyer, the former hedge fund manager turned climate activist, spent nearly $200 million of his money on advertising alone.

The billionaire’s ad campaign was the most expensive in the country by far this election cycle. The data comes from advertising tracker AdImpact.

Steyer’s rivals in the governor’s race and his critics have accused him of trying to buy the election.

But he’s defended his spending, saying he is fighting against powerful corporate interests that are driving up the price of living in the state. Pacific Gas & Electric, a major California utility, is among the corporations and business interests funding anti-Steyer ads.

“I’m only working for the people of California,” Steyer said last week.

They are former mayor of fast-growing Rio Rancho Gregg Hull, cannabis business owner Duke Rodriguez and public relations professional Doug Turner.

While Hull and Turner have not aligned their campaigns with the MAGA movement, Rodriguez was recently served a cease-and-desist letter from a law firm representing Trump for “deceptive use” of the president’s image in campaign materials. That contest's winner faces an uphill battle to win in a state where a Republican has not been elected to statewide office in 10 years.

A sign directs voters to a polling place for the New Jersey primary election in Cherry Hill township, N.J., Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

A person walks from a polling place for the New Jersey primary election in Oaklyn, N.J., Tuesday, June 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)