A crash course in coding, technical jargon, blog-building et. al has its perks (i.e. the glorious redesign you see before you). It also means I haven’t penned anything remotely interesting in approximately three weeks (i.e. my writing hath turned to shit). A rant tends to un-block my creative flow, so let’s give it a go with the ludicrousness that is the Gap + CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund capsule collection.
Good news first (that’s me getting the boring shit out of the way) – there’s sustainable jewelry. Fine. The animal-friendly harvesting of watersnake skin beads and naturally shed buffalo horns suggests a bit of a creature fetish, the term ‘skin beads’ needs serious work, but that’s neither here nor there. What’s important is what’s always important in Cheap JAP land: COST. A $38 wooden bracelet is irritatingly reminiscent of Urban Outfitters’ accessories. A $248 necklace means GAP is living in an alternate universe and calling itself SCOOP. Newsflash: ‘Sustainable’ means using what’s already out there to make new material goodies. If you’re not paying for the raw materials, shouldn’t the cost go DOWN? And don’t give me that oh-but-the-craftsmanship-raises-the-cost crap; Novica has a ton of sustainable jewelry options under $100. It can be done. Moving on.
The price points on the clothes boggle the mind, obvs, and reinforce the offense inflicted on shoppers by most fast fashion collabs: Designer X for Chain Store Y items are a big EFF YOU to the average customer’s expectations. You go into GAP to pick up a new dress; you’re probs planning on spending less than $75. You’re thrilled to find a stunner in habotai silk, and – because you’ve shopped at the GAP before – you think you know what to expect, so you don’t look at the price tag until you’re en route to the dressing room. The number $300 catches your eye, and you have to hold the tag up to your face to believe it. A $300 dress? At the fucking GAP?! Bubble burst accomplished. Meh.
The fact that the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund capsule collections are exclusive to GAP’s 5th Avenue ‘Concept Store’ (pretension alert) is no accident. It’s good business. GAP looked at the numbers for last year’s heavily promoted capsule collections – Vena Cava‘s ode to khaki; Alexander Wang‘s study in diaper shorts – realized shoppers nationwide didn’t take the bait, and decided not to waste their dollars advertising unknown designers to people who can’t afford $300 dresses. Limiting the collections to NYC does two things:
(1) Targets a market fashion-obsessed enough to get ripped off at the GAP.
(2) Makes it seem special, because *exclusive* implies dwindling supply and excess demand (neither of which actually exist).
Just a hunch.
Bravo, GAP. Also shame on you. 
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