And just like that … Gap beauty is back.
Launching in the U.S this week with four ‘reimagined fragrances’ from its 90s heyday – Dream, Grass, Heaven, Om (IYKYK) – plus a new one, Harmony, it’s the smart way for Gap to tiptoe into the beauty market as we all know scent equals memory equals feels. As an insider told Puck, it was important to “make the transition from the past and the love of the past but embrace the market and the world as it is today.”
As such, the lightweight Gap fragrances of yore have been switched up to concentrated eau de parfum strength, with all formulas changed accordingly (although Dream* – below, my fave – is apparently the closest to the original, with notes of Italian bergamot – bergamot! – jasmine and cedarwood).
Fun fact – and bonus points for authenticity – the new fragrances were developed with the help of perfumers Honorine Blanc and Nicole Mancini, who worked on the original Gap scents. Let’s just say it, Gap is not messing about.
And it seems to be working. The buzz is buzzing.
For starters “industrial nostalgia” is a thing right now. This is an excellent podcast on the business of nostalgia, unpacking the science of how memory, emotion and security collude to make us feel good in an uncertain world. And Gap has been riding the nostalgia wave for a while. Not only does it have an authentic community of long-time ‘old Gap’ enthusiasts (think Neverworn’s Liana Satenstein, Old Gap on Instagram and Gap Playlists’ Michael Bise), but it understands the old-meets-new tightrope walk of bringing the past to the present.
Because nostalgia needs to be remixed with nowness to give it contemporary cultural relevance, especially to an increasingly marketing savvy consumer. Hence last year’s KATSEYE-meets-Kelis TikTok-viral jeans ad and this year’s Hailey Bieber 90s jeans collab (below). The baggy Gap jeans seem to have been well timed for consumer preferences (even if Prada is proposing a return to skinny jeans).
Puck reports that the Hailey Jean ranks among the three most successful collabs in Gap’s 56-year history, while overall Gap sales are up 10% in the most recent quarter.
While this is all good news for the #oldGap nostalgists and Gap’s shareholders, relying on Big Nostalgia alone may not be a viable long-term strategy. Unbelievable as it may seem, at some point we will crave genuine newness again.
And what will happen then?
WORDS: Navaz Batliwalla
This post was originally published on disneyrollergirl.net. Please head for the full credits and disclaimers.
Look forward to trying! Do they still have stores??