After the departure from Gap of creative director Pina Ferlisi – responsible for originally launching the phenomenally successful Marc by Marc Jacobs line – fashionistas mourned…and sales tanked. For the second quarter, which ended July 29, sales fell 6 percent (compared with 4 percent a year ago), and internationally, 11 percent (compared to a gain of 1 percent the year before). In an effort to shore up sales and overhaul its abysmal fashion cred, Gap is taking a page from the H&M playbook. The fellow fast-fashion retailer brought on designers like Karl Lagerfeld, Stella McCartney, and Victor & Rolf to create limited edition collections, and, in the process, created a PR bonanza; Gap has recruited fashion insider Roland Mouret to work his design magic. "Fashionistas who usually just pass by the Gap may go into the store to purchase Mouret items, and while they are there, see other merchandise they like," Christine Chen, senior research analyst at Pacific Growth Equities, told WWD. "H&M got people to line up outside of their stores when they joined with Lagerfeld. The Gap needs to generate buzz and get people back into their stores. Gap needs to rejuvenate their customer, whom they have been disappointing for two years. Their problem has not been their merchandise, which I think has improved drastically, it's the stigma associated with the brand." The capsule collection – which goes on sale from November 7 through the end of December in 160 stores in France, U.K., and Ireland, and six or seven select outlets in New York and retails between 45 GBP and 80 GBP ($85-$150) – is comprised of 10 dresses, shirtdresses, Courreges’esque numbers, V necks with ruffles and bib-front tunics. Fabrics include stretch jersey, flannel, gabardine, and crepe, and hues are basic fashion neutrals: charcoal, navy, black, red and gray; the collection bears the Mouret touch: folded cap sleeves, pockets, ruffles & epaulets. "It's definitely not a diffusion of what I've been doing, but I have revisited a lot of the details I've done in the past, like the folded sleeve," says Mouret. "They came to me because they felt they weren't strong in the dress category. They wanted a new project that would take Gap dresses to a new level. I have always been a fan of Gap — I like their laid-back attitude, and it was the right mix of people to work with."

• Gap website
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