Vogue reinvents the white shirt with Rodarte, Thakoon, and Doo.Ri
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
(NEW YORK) Fashion’s new guard showed up in full force at the über-hip Bowery Hotel Tuesday night for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund party honoring winners Doo-Ri Chung of Doo.Ri, Thakoon’s Thakoon Panichgul, and Rodarte sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, all of whom were tapped to designed a series of limited-edition white shirts for fashion megabrand Gap's latest venture, Gap Design Editions. Adorning the entrance was an enormous blow-up of the Vogue’s May cover, which prominently heralds “The World’s Next Top Models,” including Coco Rocha, Doutzen Kroes, Chanel Iman, Caroline Trentini, and Hilary Rhoda—all of whom were on hand, as were their friends and fellow models Lisa Cant, Irina Lazareanu, and Jacquetta Wheeler.
While Virginia Smith and Meredith Melling Burke were billed as the event’s co-hosts, Anna Wintour nevertheless graciously greeted guests, including Jenni Kayne, Richard Chai, Amanda Brooks, Fabiola Beracasa, Sari Gueron, Tory Burch, Dennis Basso, Jessica Joffe, Melissa Bent, Dr. Lisa Airan, Zani Gugelmann, Annie Churchill, and Gap president Marka Hansen, who brought along her creative force—and the man behind the company ad campaigns—Trey Laird. A handful of partygoers, including Tracey Ellis Ross, Cecilia Dean, and Jess Weisler even donned the much-coveted Gap designs straight out of the boxes unpacked earlier that morning. But the focus was on the designers and their virtually sold-out designs, available exclusively at Gap stores and on the company’s Web site (within minutes of their online debut Tuesday, many sizes and styles were completely sold out).
“I wish my company worked this way, where all I do is design and someone else takes over,” Chung enthused of her partnership with Gap. “It was fantastic.” Kate Mulleavy offered, “It was really an amazing experience designing for the Gap because the whole project was really conceptual.” Panichgul also raved about his Gap gig. “It was really cool to go into their studio and give them an idea and see it within hours,” he said. “That kind of fastness was amazing.”
Surrounded by massive black-and-white images of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund/Gap campaign, shot by Ines Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, many guests took a trip down Gap memory lane. “In 1984, my mother took me to the Gap in New Hampshire where we have a country house,” recalled Vogue’s Valerie Boster. “She bought me a pair of jeans. But my favorite Gap item is still the white T-shirt.” Designer Chris Benz, who brought and dressed his friend/muse Elettra Rossellini-Wiedemann, recounted fondly his grunge days in Seattle. “The first time I went to the Gap was my freshman year in high school,” he recounted, laughing, “We raided the polo shirts on the sales rack, and we always loved to cuff up our chinos and wear them really low. I will always love a Gap chino.”
Guests leaving at the end of the night were given a goodie bag with one of three shirts designed by three designers. “I got the Thakoon shirt dress,” raved Jackie Astier. “I’m almost tempted to run to the bathroom and change into it now.” Later in the evening, on the rooftop of the Gramercy Park Hotel, Tina Chai, attending her second party of the night, was dismayed that she hadn’t been given a goodie bag. “What? They were giving away the shirts?” she asked with disbelief. “I should run back and get one!”
PETER DAVIS
FashionWeekDaily
Were there a lot of pieces still left at your location? 
This is what it said:
). if it ends up being not so nice in person, though, i guess i'll have to pass.
