That horrible moment when you discover that Gap have decided the clothes you've been wearing for years are going to be the big thing this season

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So I'm walking past Gap on the way home from work, and in the window they're saying that this spring everyone will be wearing light blue jeans, striped t-shirts and imitation converse all stars.

Which is exactly what has made up the bulk of my wardrobe forever, with no nod to fashion, but now everyone will think I'm some terrible trend-following Gap lover.

What's to be done?

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Friday, 31 March 2006 10:53 (nineteen years ago)

Immigrate?

― Dadaismus Is A Very Magic Fellow (Dada), Friday, 31 March 2006 10:55 (nineteen years ago)

get over it, it's just clothes?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Friday, 31 March 2006 10:55 (nineteen years ago)

I wanted a pair of their grey trainers and they were sold out - and the woman in the shop said they were limited edition!

It's really hard to get grey trainers.

Anyway HS stick it out - they'll move onto to something different (but strangely alike) in a couple of months and no-one will be any the wiser.

― Ned T.Rifle (nedtrifle), Friday, 31 March 2006 10:57 (nineteen years ago)

Oh you want people to go "wow you are trendy!" don't give me that.

You are just bothered about when the Gap fashion moves on, and suddenly you look out-of-fash.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 31 March 2006 10:58 (nineteen years ago)

If I wanted to follow Gapfash I'd have a house full of decade-old khaki slacks.

― Hello Sunshine (Hello Sunshine), Friday, 31 March 2006 11:00 (nineteen years ago)

I never bought anything from Gap until about six months ago, never liked anything I saw in there (when I actually looked). You're better off with Top Shop.

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Friday, 31 March 2006 11:02 (nineteen years ago)

oh i got annoyed when everyone started wearing lacoste last year - it's the only name label i've ever worn 'properly', and i'd been doing it since 1999! luckily the 'trend' seemed to be towards striped lacoste t-shirts, and i prefer plain ones.

to make matters worse they started sponsoring andy roddick aka my least favourite tennis player ever - but at least they also sponsored the divine tatiana golovin as well.

― The Lex (The Lex), Friday, 31 March 2006 11:15 (nineteen years ago)

sometimes topshop (or topman) has loads of well good stuff and sometimes it's just shit. when it'[s good, it's v good but sadly the closest one to me is in sodding london now as all the topmans in the area have been turned into boring burtons's.

― dog latin (dog latin), Friday, 31 March 2006 11:21 (nineteen years ago)

are they so different? all these chains are really the same now surely?

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Friday, 31 March 2006 11:27 (nineteen years ago)

If Gap copies, you simply upgrade what they're copying which is in your wardrobe. I never buy anything from Gap, and rarely buy things from TopShop (except for tights). This was something I was thinking about when I was having a successful browse in Muji - the only high street shop I ever buy clothes from. Best to stick to original brands of what they're blatantly copying eg. OshKosh chinos, Carhartt, Levi's, Lacoste. The stripy Lacoste are awful unless red or navy on white, WHITE COLLAR, otherwise Lex is correct and SOLIDS ONLY. Ralph Lauren isn't even acceptable in terms of the polo shirt. Also for stripy tops you can try APC or agnes b. for men. Converse sneakers are perennial and as have not become overidentified with (say) Kurt Cobain's dead foot, are unlikelty to have their own timeless identity stripped by one summer of trendiness.

― suzy (suzy), Friday, 31 March 2006 11:36 (nineteen years ago)

I read I red in Grazia mag I think that these things were OUT cos rub slebs ruined 'em. 'ERE:

- WEDGES, Camilla Parker-Bowles
- CONVERSE, David Cameron
- UGG, er wossname, Jenifer Ellison although frankly MEH anyway

Er and there were probably other things too. I can't remember then. Anyway, I bought £15 TopShop converse knockoffs because they are plain and GAWD it depressed the flip out of me. I need a new trainer love that isn't nobbing Converse-a-like. Boooored.

― Lucretia My Reflection (Lucretia My Reflection), Friday, 31 March 2006 11:55 (nineteen years ago)

No polo shirts are acceptable.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 31 March 2006 12:19 (nineteen years ago)

unless they have a hole in the middle

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 31 March 2006 12:47 (nineteen years ago)

i seem to buy most of my clothes from gap. they make nice smart-casual shirts innit. and jumpers.

and also: them and h&m seem to be the only people who make clothes my size. topMAN sometimes. burton only make clothes for REALLY FAT PEOPLE it seems, as do all department stores.

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 31 March 2006 12:55 (nineteen years ago)

i guess if i shop at topSHOP i'd get more clothes my size (but sans boobs)

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 31 March 2006 12:55 (nineteen years ago)

there was an episode of 'doug' about this

― ++++, Friday, 31 March 2006 13:15 (nineteen years ago)

i bought a nice windcheater from gap yesterday. this thread is silly because striped blue tshirts, jeans and converse are what everyone seems to have been wearing for the last 4 summers but it's hardly big in a fashiony way it's just big in a general ubiquity kinda way. it seems like hello sunshine has not noticed 'til now.

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 31 March 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

striped ~~blue~~ tshirts

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 31 March 2006 14:41 (nineteen years ago)

i'll always remember my dad complaining in the 80s that someone had some up to him and gone - "aha, suspenders, going for the whole yuppie thing, huh?" - or something - and he got flustered because he'd been wearing suspenders since the 1930s ... i remember it so clearly because i think it's the only time my dad ever mentioned fashion in any way.

― Tracey Hand (tracerhand), Friday, 31 March 2006 14:57 (nineteen years ago)

oh the jokes

― Konal Doddz (blueski), Friday, 31 March 2006 14:58 (nineteen years ago)

I kind of got the impression that Gap alternates between imitation hipster clothing and the same plain clothing it's been selling for the last 15 years.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 31 March 2006 15:01 (nineteen years ago)

If it makes you feel any better, the Gap's sales are in the toilet, they're closing stores across the country, and even they themselves seemed to lose interest in their own redesign and store revitalization plan, which suggests that the parent company might have come to terms with the Gap taking a dive so long as they're still shifting people to Old Navy and Banana Republic. So I'd question the Gap's ability to successfully make anything "the big thing."

Also omigod DOUG -- I used to really, really like his sister.

― nabiscothingy, Friday, 31 March 2006 15:39 (nineteen years ago)

YOu could get really stroppy and write a Guardian article about it.

― STOP! Time Thief! (kate), Friday, 31 March 2006 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

I like Gap just fine in the sense that its a good place to find a plain t-shirt or maybe a $15 pair of purple cords. I think if you wear jeans and striped t-shirts religiously, chances are you're going to see your outfit in the windows of gap and old navy every other week. You just have to get over hating Gap because its Gap.

― sunny successor (katharine), Friday, 31 March 2006 15:49 (nineteen years ago)

it's hard if you live in london because you're constantly reminded to mind the gap.

― ken c (ken c), Friday, 31 March 2006 15:51 (nineteen years ago)

I've had sideburns for years (not big muttonchop ones, but reasonable sized ones) for years and then Beverly Hills 90210 came on the air and suddenly I stood accused of attempting to be trendy by imittating Dylan and Brandon. I had to trim them back for a year or two until the hype died down. Bastards.

As for the Gap, for some reason I found it hilarious that they have a store on the corner of Haight and Ashbury in San Francisco. I was on Haight street last year during my one and only visit to San Francisco and it was a beautiful spring afternoon, and every bar, book store, record store, etc. was full of people - except for the Gap, which was totally, completely empty. They must have been losing tons of money on the rent just to say that they had a store at such an iconic intersection.

― joygoat (joygoat), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:13 (nineteen years ago)

Gap started in San Francisco in 1969, so maybe it's a bit of corporate nostalgia.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

the first gap store i ever went ot was in san francisco 1986. i bought a yellow sweater, a red polo top and light blue jeans. see? nothing changes.

― sunny successor (katharine), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:35 (nineteen years ago)

Sometimes the efforts to keep ahead are more pathetic than just letting go and dressing Gap.

Here, for instance, is a rather amusing film in which Casey Spooner takes us on a quest for sneakers so exclusive that the store (Alife) stocking them has a secret location on the Lower East Side. There's no sign on the door, it's a "speakeasy" only for people in the know. But the ever-present danger, of course, is that the next rap star who walks in might blab to the press, or to someone from the Gap, and the game will be up.

― Momus (Momus), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:45 (nineteen years ago)

Gap started in San Francisco in 1969, so maybe it's a bit of corporate nostalgia.
-- o. nate (syne_wav...), Today 9:19 AM. (onate)

Haha, that is one of the Gap's oldest locations in the world!*

*A small lie, it used to be across the street where the Ben & Jerry's is. At any rate, I think it was either their 3rd or 4th location, opened over 25 years ago. I'm sure it does better business during the week when locals temporarily reclaim Haight Street (just an observation after living near there for over 5 years).

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Friday, 31 March 2006 16:53 (nineteen years ago)

lotsa playa hatin' on the gap here -- nothing wrong with the gap guys, at least it isn't abercrombie and fitch!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 31 March 2006 17:20 (nineteen years ago)

Pay attention to me, people: the Gap is not a player anymore! It's withering away! The end is near!

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 31 March 2006 17:25 (nineteen years ago)

I don't think I've ever noticed whether something is "in" or not, with the possible exception of capri pants a few years ago. But otherwise, whenever people are like, "OMG everyone is wearing that kind of open-toed sandal this year," I just sort of shrug in ignorance.

― jaymc (jaymc), Friday, 31 March 2006 17:28 (nineteen years ago)

the face of the gap's destroyer:

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2006/01/24/jeffries/story.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 31 March 2006 17:30 (nineteen years ago)

seriously, dude is like the sta-puft marshamallow man of the retail clothing world.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 31 March 2006 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

For some reason I always assumed that the Gap started in NY or something rather than SF. But I live in a small town without a Gap and had never seen one until the early 90's or something.

The Gap at Haight Ashbury just seemed so empty and out-of-place that I assumed it was some sort of attempt at hipness at any cost by the company rathern than something of some historical relevance.

― joygoat (joygoat), Friday, 31 March 2006 17:51 (nineteen years ago)

who's the guy with the face?

― jed_ (jed), Friday, 31 March 2006 18:15 (nineteen years ago)

He's the head of Abercrombie & Fitch. And a strange, creepy man he is.

― joygoat (joygoat), Friday, 31 March 2006 18:23 (nineteen years ago)

Mike Jeffries, the 61-year-old CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, says "dude" a lot.

― joygoat (joygoat), Friday, 31 March 2006 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

He looks terrible!

― sgs (sgs), Friday, 31 March 2006 18:26 (nineteen years ago)

they're saying that this spring everyone will be wearing light blue jeans, striped t-shirts and imitation converse all stars.

hasn't that been the gap look for all time?

― lauren (laurenp), Friday, 31 March 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

There's an episode of Doug that addressed this issue. Yeah, eventually people stopped copying Doug and started wearing Skeeter's clothers...so...hang in there!

And that blond guy looks like me in Bizarro world.

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 31 March 2006 18:43 (nineteen years ago)

Lauren OTM

― mitya's new york minute (mitya), Friday, 31 March 2006 19:28 (nineteen years ago)

just wear suits and jaunty hats year-round. no one will fuck with you and you'll get lots of rockabilly tail.

― gear (gear), Friday, 31 March 2006 19:31 (nineteen years ago)

wtf does the A&C have acromegaly or something?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 31 March 2006 19:33 (nineteen years ago)

My wife's football-scholarship Republican banker uncle looks just like Abercrombie guy. I think it's like some kind of white guy archetype

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Friday, 31 March 2006 21:31 (nineteen years ago)

It's really hard to get grey trainers

I know..! I've been looking for a new pair. I used to have some v nice grey Pumas, I got them in London, but they're worn out and now I can't find any I like. ideally looking for a pair from Le Coq Sportif..

anyone know, are there any Muji stores in the US where you can buy clothes? I have a black button down shirt from there & it's the best but also totally worn out & now I don't know how to get another one.

― dar1a g (daria g), Saturday, 1 April 2006 03:52 (nineteen years ago)

[i]there was an episode of 'doug' about this[/i]

Life imitates art (imitates life?), I just saw this EXACT outfit in a Gap advert:

http://www.caderno1.com.br/fama/costel/skeeter.gif

― Abbott (Abbott), Sunday, 2 April 2006 06:29 (nineteen years ago)

In addition to rocking the broken image link look, Gap models ALSO sported this outfit:

http://www.nick.com/all_nick/tv_supersites/images/img_dou_ske.gif

― Abbott (Abbott), Sunday, 2 April 2006 06:31 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.caderno1.com.br/fama/costel/skeeter.gif

This is why as a kid I decided the only way I could get a job as a magician would be as the joke magician who can't do anything right. Sadly, not even that gig has worked out.

― Abbott (Abbott), Sunday, 2 April 2006 06:34 (nineteen years ago)

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