Zac Posen: ‘My style signifier is my smile’
The creative director of Gap Inc loves Deeda Blair, comfortable cinemas and his miniature poodles, Tsuki and Bizet
My personal style signifier is denim on denim. I wear a mix of the brands I work across: Gap jeans, Old Navy T-shirts and heavy denim shirts from Banana Republic. I always wear my Rolex Daytona, a silver bracelet I got at the iconic Hi Ho Silver in San Francisco and my silver and jet W Hammond engagement ring. I’m also loving my woven leather Timberland boots that look just like Bottega Veneta. But, really, my style signifier is my smile. The last thing I bought and loved was a packet of purple cosmos seeds, as well as other wildflower seeds for planting on our terrace in New York and at my parents’ farm in rural Pennsylvania. I have a collection of different heirloom seeds — 13 varieties of tomatoes, chervil, spinach, bok choy, lemongrass — that I repropagate every year with my mom. She even has Corsican seeds from a famous artist’s garden that she’s been growing for more than 30 years.
The places that mean a lot to me are in nature, my parents’ vegetable garden in particular. I also love William Poll, the gourmet-sandwich and prepared-foods shop on the Upper East Side. It symbolises both heritage and innovation: my go-to order is a roast beef sandwich with a watercress spread. The restaurant Omen Azen in SoHo is also very special because I’ve celebrated so many milestone moments there over the years — birthdays, post-fittings, new collections. In a city where restaurants come and go, this place has stood the test of time.
I’m too busy for podcasts. I have, however, caught up on every movie on every airline during my 48 trips from New York to San Francisco to visit the Gap headquarters this past year and a half. I’ve recently rediscovered all the Star Wars spin-offs on Disney+ — right now I’m deep into Andor and The Book of Boba Fett — but also the originals The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. I’m a child of the ’80s, and these movies and live-action series provide a comforting escape. American style is all about confidence and effortlessness. Nothing embodies this as much as a pair of jeans: they are utilitarian, elegant and made out of agriculture — really just indigo and cotton. My first memory of Gap is the store on Sixth Avenue quite near West 4th Street. I was in middle school and went shopping there for the little pocket T-shirts that I wore for my school photos.
My style icons are both understated and deeply extravagant. At one end of the spectrum is Deeda Blair, who is so elegant and timeless. At the other end I like A$AP Rocky for the way he wears both clothing and jewellery. He wore the most magnificent diamond brooch and necklace at this year’s Met Gala to celebrate the exhibition “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”. We’re living in an incredible time for men’s style because it has become a canvas for expression in terms of shape, risk and identity. Men are dressing up again — mixing tailoring with streetwear, embracing style with intention. The codes of gender and the banal, nondescript uniform have fallen away. There is a freedom and a sense of individuality now.
The best gift I’ve given recently was an entire new wardrobe for my partner, Harrison Ball. I was on a trip to Tokyo and I bought him some beautiful indigo pieces from brands including Hollywood Ranch Market, Blue Blue and Hysteric Glamour, a ’90s rock-inflected brand that is so imaginative. I also gave my mom the navy Gap shirtdress with polka dots — aka the “Anne Hathaway dress” — from my first collection for Gap, which made me very happy. And the best gift I’ve received is an enormous bouquet of yellow and orange tulips from my florist, Zeze. They were cut from his own garden and the blossoms were the size of teacups. We’re talking Victor Fleming Munchkinland size.
The last music I downloaded was Chan Marshall’s Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert, a live recreation of Bob Dylan’s 1966 concert at the Manchester Free Trade Hall — mistakenly attributed to the Royal Albert Hall — that includes such classics as “Mr Tambourine Man” and “Like a Rolling Stone”. I also download a lot of the music that Harrison listens to for his work as a choreographer, including New Ancient Strings by Malian musicians Toumani Diabaté and Ballaké Sissoko, which is almost hypnotic.
The best way to spend $20 is to go to the movies by yourself, preferably one with comfortable seats. The Film Forum in Greenwich Village is always nostalgic, as is the Angelika Film Center for indie and foreign films. The Film Forum has a great Summer Double Feature series with pairings like The Big Lebowski and The Last Picture Show, and Open City with Voyage to Italy. I’m hoping to see one of these. In my fridge you’ll find everything: apple cider vinegar, eggs, clementines, apples, yoghurt, chicken stock, leeks, thyme, bay leaves, nuts, dashi, nori and sea moss. I’m a real cook, and live on soups made in a Breville pressure cooker.
I do not believe in life after death, but I do believe in a creative spirit taking other forms. This is a bigger conversation about the definition of life in the time of AI and supercomputers. I couldn’t do without my miniature poodles, Tsuki and Bizet, who travel with me from coast to coast and have a very good life. I’m also very attached to my Gingher Left-hand Knife-edge Dressmaker Shears, as well as my dress form and mannequin.
I am a lotions-and-potions person and have a mixed skincare regime that includes SkinCeuticals’ toner and an Orveda serum and face cream. I also like the body oil from my friend’s company, Monastery Made, and the Meder Masks I get from Knockout Beauty; they are incredibly moisturising. Meder Beauty Science Hydra-Fill Mask, $115 for a pack of five, knockoutbeauty.com. Monastery Made Lapiz body oil, $59. Orveda Vital Sap, £165, and Firm Brew Botanical Cream, £350. SkinCeuticals Equalizing Toner, £46 The works that changed everything for me were the clothes of Issey Miyake, Azzedine Alaïa and Yohji Yamamoto that I saw at Charivari Workshop as a kid growing up in SoHo. I later interned at The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and saw the works of Madeleine Vionnet and Cristóbal Balenciaga — especially his gowns in taffeta — that totally changed my life.
My grooming gurus include Thom Priano, who cuts my hair on the East Coast, and Dennis Gots, who cuts it on the West. I get regular facials at Monastery in San Francisco and with Ludmila at Knockout Beauty in New York. I also take a lot of vitamins: black seed oil to reduce inflammation, CoQ10 for heart health, and NACs, which support the immune system.
In another life, I would have been a film or theatre director — anything that involves storytelling and costumes. I’ve done some of this in the past: with the costumes for Christopher Wheeldon’s Within the Golden Hour for the San Francisco Ballet, for the Broadway production Lady in the Dark and for Graham Moore’s film The Outfit. I love the research, character development and artistic collaboration. Never say never.
The best bit of advice I ever received was something that Stephen Sondheim said: “Opportunity is not a lengthy visitor.” Take advantage of things presented to you.