There is a particular kind of nostalgia that involves remembering not just a time, but remembering how good you were at that time. Gap, the San Francisco retailer that once defined casual American dressing, is indulging in precisely this sort of reverie with a new denim collection developed with Hailey Bieber.
The capsule, called the Hailey Jean, is modeled on Ms. Bieber's favorite vintage Gap jeans and will be offered in two fits — the Extra Baggy and the Low Rise Loose — across six washes. The jeans feature personalized details including Ms. Bieber's signature printed inside the pocket lining and branding that reads "1996," a number that refers both to the year Ms. Bieber was born and to what the company evidently regards as a defining period for its denim business.
(The implication, for those keeping score, is that Gap peaked the same year its new collaborator entered the world.)
The accompanying campaign leans heavily into the aesthetic of that era. A film, directed by Charlie Di Placido and produced by Bolded, OBB's branded content studio, is set inside a 1990s bedroom and soundtracked by the Cranberries' 1993 song "Linger." Still photography was shot by Mario Sorrenti and styled by Alastair McKimm, the fashion and image consultant.
"Gap has been a part of my wardrobe since I was a kid, so this came together very organically," Ms. Bieber said in a statement, adding that she draws style inspiration from the 1990s "because there was something so effortless about that era."
The collection will go on sale July 16 online and in select Gap stores in the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Japan and other international markets.
Gap, which has been executing a turnaround strategy aimed at returning its namesake brand to growth, has spent much of the past several years trying to recapture something it lost — relevance, perhaps, or the cultural centrality it once enjoyed when its khaki commercials were genuine events.
Whether a pair of jeans named after a 28-year-old influencer can accomplish what a decade of repositioning efforts have not remains, as always, to be seen.
Original story published in adweek.com: "Gap Turns to Hailey Bieber to Relive Its ’90s Denim Heyday"