From A to Zac

Zac Posen's arrival at Gap was a surprise to many, yet the former wunderkind of New York fashion is loving every minute of his new life. Irina Aleksander meets him as he goes big and gets ready to dress America.

- Irina Aleksander

Zac Posen and his design team are finishing a custom dress for an actress. He has done this countless times before under his namesake line, which was shuttered in 2019. The difference today is that he is doing it via Zoom from a corner office at Gap Inc.'s corporate mother ship in San Francisco. And there is some question about whether the gown, made of Gap's lightweight T-shirt material, will provide the actress with enough support.

"She doesn't need boning, I don't think," Posen tells his team in New York, "but she does like being controlled and smooth. She has to be able to wear a bra."

Outside, ships and helicopters glide across the turquoise expanse of San Francisco Bay. "It's like the craziest screen saver ever," Posen says. "The weather changes so dramatically. I'll be in meetings, and it's like Wagner outside. Or Chopin. It's trippy." Since starting the job as the creative director of Gap Inc. and chief creative officer of Old Navy a year ago, Posen has relocated to the city part-time. When I saw him in New York the previous week, he had flown in late on a Sunday, dressed Cynthia Erivo in a hooded black velvet gown-inspired by the Gap hoodie-for the CFDA awards Monday night, and caught a 5 a.m. flight back the next morning to get in a full day at the office. "I'm basically on the plane every other week," he says. "It's like teleporting: I close my eyes and hope for Wi-Fi."