So it has been always a big pride for me that Gap, the “it” American brand I have been working for now 9 years going in, leading a cool modern culture for America. And now the newest best thing that Gap is doing is Co-chairing the biggest American event of the year, Metropolitan Museum Gala with Anna Wintour and Oprah Winfrey. The Monday, the May 3rd. Today!
Not only the Gap will be rocking the night of the Gala at the Met but also Gap had created a Limited Edition Tee Capsule to celebrate the event, Costume Institute’s Spring 2010 exhibition, American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity, the first drawn from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met.
And I was the super lucky one to work on the Tee shirt capsule of total 8 pieces with Patrick Robinson, the EVP of Design and my big boss at Gap!
First the quick down load about the whole event then flipping a heavy binder of fabulous images put together by Andrew Bolton, the Curator of Costume Institute of Met. Wow, there are ton of information in this! From prominent oil paintings, posters from the turn of the century, countless images of amazing costumes, historical drawings and black and white photos of real women in the history and the list goes on. The assignment? Design a limited edition tee inspired by each era or the women in American history ( 1890-1940) who changed the women in America and made the America today to be sold at specific Gap stores.
A tee? One tee? It has to be more than one tee. We are going to do a tee per each inspiration from the Met event : Patriot (1910s), Suffragists (1910s), Flapper (1920s), Heiress (1890s), Screen Siren(1930s), Gibson Girls (1920s) and Bohemian (early 1900s). Plus we create one more, one exclusive tee for Met museum only,” the Celebration tee” inspired by Norman Rockwell’s all American Woman image.
Our( Gap’s) biggest focus on this project was to create the tees that are modern and relevant to the women in the Society today. And our process goes as below…
We pick the best couple inspiration images per the era to focus on the specific details: Below, ” The Bohemian” loving the 3 dimensional skirt detail from the image of the costume from the early 1920s and recreated for the tee. ( a page from our sketch book)
Below, “The Heiress”, We focus on the corset detail. Then give a little modern twist by switching the boning detail to simple zipper. We made it even longer so you can wear it with your newest Gap leggings!
Here take a look at the photos of Very First mock ups done in back in September, 2009! The work in progress….!
The Bohemian: Raw cut jersey pieces with stitch detail and twisted double layered tee.
The Flappers: Focus on classic diamond panel detail and flirty woven pleat and ruffle details.
The Gibson Girl: All about the small fit and woven shirt layered underneath look. But It’s only a trick! It’s still a tee!
The back of the Heiress Tee: It’s all about the modern “Corset” idea and the zipper detail adds extra cool edge.
The Suffragist: She fought for her right to Vote. The Tough one!
The Screen Siren: She got all the glam she needs but in a very down town way. Completely double layered and draped in bias cut. Quite chick Ha?
The Back view: The origami detail as bit of drama on the back.
And…!
Trying out our top pick, Norman Rockwell’s image of all American fierce and strong woman for Met exclusive tee. I really relate to this image because this is me everyday. And this is you everyday as a woman. I may not wear American flag outfit, but I do what this woman does. I mean look at her! She looks rather ” Do It All! ” than struggles. She’s strong, responsible, enduring, loving, creative and intelligent. I see my mother and grandmother. I see myself and all the women out there. What an amazing women we are!!
Coming all together.. The sample on the front and the inspiration page on the back. Get my system going…
And the final product ready to be shipped! As you can peek at from the photos, each tee has specific stamp label inside to capture where each tee’s inspiration has come from.
The Bohemian and Patriot. All tees are retailed around at $44.50.
The Flapper and Heiress.
The Gibson girl and Suffragist.
The Screen Siren.
The Last but not the least, The “Celebration Tee” for Met Museum shop Exclusive.
Now, Where to Buy these?
Remember these are limited edition. We had produced only limited numbers of tees and only the specific Gap stores are carrying these tees. So here’s the list of those locations. On May 4th the Tuesday, the window will be up and tees will be in the stores below. So, Go buy them! Also shop on line www.Gap.com
Also check out the site, “Press Room” of Met museum for more details around the actual exhibition:http://www.metmuseum.org/press_room/full_release.asp?prid=%7B32D789A2-4C41-4146-BA91-1F1A6AE0AF98%7D
And here’s the list of other related programs to this big event: Patrick is judging the high school student’s Tee shirt design competition along Anna Wintour and I’ll be also participating in a discussion program, “Conversation with Two Artists” with Andrew, the curator at Costume Institute of Met:
*Related Programs
An audio tour, narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker, provides additional insight into the exhibition and the birth of the modern American woman. It is available for rental ($7, $6 for members, and $5 for children under 12). The Audio Guide is sponsored by Bloomberg.
A two-day symposium celebrating the historic collection-sharing program between the Met and the Brooklyn Museum takes place May 21 in Brooklyn, and May 22 at the Metropolitan. The events are free with Museum admission.
Two documentary films accompany the exhibition – Charles Dana Gibson: Portrait of an Illustrator (1997) and The Flapper Story (1985) – and will be shown at 2 p.m. on certain Tuesdays and Thursdays (schedule available on www.metmuseum.org).
Programs for teens include a T-shirt design competition for high school students (deadline June 14). The winners will be celebrated at a Teen Festival of Fashion: From Suffragists to Sirens featuring related fashion activities on July 17. A Conversation with Two Artists: Fashion! featuring a discussion between Andrew Bolton and Jaehee Park, a design director at Gap, takes place on May 14 from 5 to 7 p.m.
A book, High Style: Masterworks from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection by Jan Glier Reeder, accompanies both the Met and Brooklyn exhibitions. It is published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art – $50 for hardcover and $25 for paperback – and is available at the Met (including www.metmuseum.org) and the Brooklyn Museum (including www.brooklynmuseum.org). The hardcover is distributed to additional outlets by Yale University Press.
The Metropolitan Museum’s website (metmuseum.org) features the exhibition and additional information on these programs.
A T-shirt designed by Gap on the occasion of the exhibition is available in the Museum’s on-site shops and www.metmuseum.org for $30.
And here’s a few of the press so far:
http://www.vogue.com/voguedaily/2010/04/designer-pairing-gap/
store.metmuseum.org/T-Shirts/Rosie-to-the-Rescue-Tee/invt/rockwelltee&bklist=
www.refinery29.com/first-look-at-gaps-limited-edition-met-ball-t-shirt-collection.php
fashionindie.com/preview-of-gaps-limited-edition-met-ball-tee-collection/
www.popchaser.com/fashion/gaps-patrick-robinson-honors-the-american-woman-with-limited-edition-tees/
www.apparelnews.net/blog/856_3_apparel_news_daily_reader.html
The May Vogue Issue.
Comments
1 Comment so far
this is great , I have always loved the Gap I wish I could of been a part
please keep me posted thanks so much