Banana Republic’s new White Lotus collection is designed for you to look MOV (moneyed on vacation)

Banana Republic wants you to be ready for check in at whichever balmy, poolside escape you might venture to after months of clutching hot toddies and sloughing on heavy duty night creams.

[Photo: Banana Republic]

Its new White Lotus collection, made in collaboration with the hit HBO show, is a resort collection that’s about allowing its wearers to enjoy an uncomplicated spritz and shvitz in options they can pull from their suitcase while using their PTO. Banana Republic designed the mens and women’s capsule collection, available in 26 stores and online beginning March 6, with weighty high quality and ethically sourced fabrics. Prices range from $40 to $300. But more broadly, the collection also points to how the clothing company is repositioning for a new chapter of its own, as it seeks to regain relevance and elevate its brand positioning.

The rebrand of Gap Inc and its subsidiaries, including Banana Republic, has been underway for over a year now. Gap hired Zac Posen as its creative director just over a year ago, and so far, he has delivered on reviving the stalling portfolio of American classics through more contemporary design, styling, and campaigns and red carpet appearances featuring true gets in terms of talent, including Tyla, Anne Hathaway, and Timothee Chalamet. Posen recently launched GapStudio, a higher end sub brand—which doubles a soft marketing strategy of elevating overall brand perception. 

[Photo: Banana Republic]

The White Lotus collection is one prong of this repositioning strategy. A topical collaboration could also bring new customers into the store, who then shop its core collection. It aligns with the company’s approach to “fashion entertainment” concepted by Gap Inc CEO Richard Dixon, says Meena Anvary, Banana Republic’s head of marketing. “It’s just such a natural spit from a brand standpoint with our ethos and White Lotus’s: premium, the sense of discovery, adventure, exploration.”

Nicole Wiesman, Banana Republic’s vice president of men’s design who led the design of the capsule, tells me she designed the 24-piece collection to mix and match, which is necessary for collections with such a limited number of pieces. (something Uniqlo’s Clare Waight Keller has echoed) The team pulled print and color inspiration from the tropical forest, architecture, and patterns of Thailand, and sought to balance modern utility, casual elements and a sense of elegance, she says. When I met with Wiesman at the chain’s Soho location on an overcast 50 degree morning, she had winterized her pull from the collection: she wore the men’s bermuda short in black with a black sweater and a pair of black Margiela Tabis. 

[Photo: Banana Republic]

Wiesman, a fan of the show, pulled fabrics from Banana Republic’s archives in New York to design the 24-piece collection, and took inspiration from vintage military pieces due to their utility for the collection’s voluminous cargo pants and jackets, which also have reinforced patches and flat felled seams common to workwear to increase durability. (And lots of pockets, which are ideal for carrying passports, wallets, and the like when traveling—especially for men who don’t typically carry purses, she says.) 

The men’s collection also includes turquoise short sleeve silk button downs, crocheted polos, and grey striped linen pants. Many of the patterns, which were inspired by latticework that appears in the show’s sets, cross over to the women’s collection. The knitwear designers also interpreted the print for the knitted polos in juicy passionfruit yellow and cream.

[Photo: Banana Republic]

The women’s collection includes a wide leg powder pink pant, white bandeau top, silk maxi dress with a slit to “get a little leg out,” and linen mini dress, which have small fit details like back ties and elastic for ease of wear across body types. “There’s a fluidness to it,” she says of the pieces.

Both the men’s bermuda short as well as the silk tops have a weighty hand feel that points to the quality of the fabrics themselves, which are 100 percent silk, european flax standard linen, and Olympias Italian cotton, which is the same the brand uses for most of its chinos, and makes the pieces easy to dress down or up, Wiesman says. All of the linens are traceable, meaning the factory has to be approved.

Wiesman attributes the quality and more approachable price point of the collection, which began development about a year ago, to a few things: The company’s scale, and its longstanding close relationships with certain mills and factories. “In some cases, if we really want that quality, we take the hit,” she says. Long term, it establishes Banana Republic as a brand with a consistent sense of elevated quality.

[Photo: Banana Republic]

I asked Anvary and Wiesman if there was a challenge in designing a collection with appeal that’s also inspired by a show with morally complicated characters. “Our focus is really on making this collection available to everyone,” says Anvary, referring to its bridge price point, high quality fabrics and versatility. So even if some of the characters might be LBH (losers back home, cough, Gary) you can still look MOV (Moneyed on Vacation).

View the full article