white shirts that aren't quite right

I have not set foot in a Gap in years, at least, not since Sarah Jessica Parker appeared in one of their campaigns, so that makes it, oh, about 4 years. Suffice it to say, I don't know if their new Design Editions collection will make me run in with arms wide open now, but I'm sure many fashion mavens will be clamoring for this new line.


Gap did a similar line last year with up-and-coming designers, and this year's collection includes designs by Phillip Lim, Michael Bastion, ThreeASFOUR, Band of Outsiders, and Philip Crangi (for the jewelry line), all finalists of the 2007 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. I don't know about you, but wouldn't I want to buy fashions from the winners of the Fund, rather than the finalists?

That being said, none of these classic white shirts say wow to me. I mean, a white shirt is a white shirt is a white shirt, but if you're going to charge $78 a shirt, and from the Gap no less, shouldn't it be more exciting, more stylish, more "I was designed by a designer ?"

This shirt by Phillip Lim is by far the most unusual of the bunch. With graduated layers across the top and a bow at the neck, it's different but still lacking something somehow.


The cut-out dress by ThreeASFOUR is cute, and I like that the back is not what you'd expect from looking at the front, but I don't know how rigid cotton would be more flattering than if a more fluid fabric was used.


I'm all about unique designs, and I normally get very excited about designers who make their pieces affordable, but this line is just too bland. It might be another year before I make my way into Gap again. :P

See more blah designs here.