When it comes to the collaborations of the high street and the high end, some announcements have caused a huge furore among fashionistas and have had shoppers queueing for hours to try to get their hands on the latest affordable garments by a (usually not-so-affordable) well-known designer.
High street chain H&M for example have been immensely successful with their collaborations (Matthew Williamson being a personal favourite of mine) and soon after the announcement of their latest endeavour (a collaboration with Lanvin) comes the news of a collaboration that I for one, never saw coming - GAP and Valentino.
Designed by Valentino's creative directors, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Pacolo Piccioli (pictured below) GAP will launch a range of womenswear to celebrate the opening of their first Italian flagship store in Milan. Released in November of this year, the collection will also be available in Paris and London but strangely not in GAP's native United States.
GAP, famed for its All-American college aesthetic and ability to create basic, beautifully cut wardrobe essentials is intent on making a bigger impact on the fashion industry and are clearly making more of an effort to appear "fashion forward".
Chiuri and Piccioli claim that their collection for GAP "Brings together the iconic world of Valentino and GAP's fashion essentials. In this way, Valentino and GAP synthesize the current trend of combining luxury with basics." - i.e. like the other high end collaborators before them, they're bringing high-end to the masses (or at least to Milan, Paris and London).
As a fan of both these brands, I am both excited and intrigued to see what they come up with. A combination of GAP, known for its casual daywear and Valentino, known for its red carpet glamour, will certainly prove to be an interesting and fresh concept.
Having said that, I'm still waiting on an incredible menswear collaboration to really get excited about...
Hedi Slimane for Topman maybe?
Christopher Bailey for Zara?
Rick Owens for Uniqlo?!
But that's just my wishful thinking.
What do you think about GAP and Valentino joining forces?
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