<\/p>\n
If nostalgia is the name of the game, Old Navy is playing to win. As Gen X and Millennials reminisce on the days of American flag t-shirts and low-rise cargo shorts, the brand is diving headfirst into beauty with 21 different products\u2014hair and body mists, lotions and body washes, each in seven different scents\u2014that are retailing for $14.99 apiece.<\/p>\n
If the launch seems out of left field, it\u2019s actually par for the course. CivicScience,<\/em> a consumer analytics company, reports that nostalgia influences 68 percent of U.S. adult purchases \u201cat least a little.\u201d Gap Inc., which is the parent company of quintessential mall-era brands like Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic and Athleta, has made concerted efforts to amp up its cultural relevance recently. That includes the hirings of Zac Posen, Nordstrom Inc. beauty alumna Debra Redmond as its head of the category, multihyphenate designer Reed Krakoff, and more to oversee a range of categories across the brands. Those moves come after Richard Dickson\u2014the former Mattel exec largely credited with capitalizing on the buzz behind Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” film\u2014joined as president and CEO. (He\u2019s basically who you can thank for the summer of Barbiecore.)<\/p>\n Old Navy thinks the seven different scents are for everyone, but specifically will resonate amongst Gen Z. \u201cI always find it interesting that a generation like Gen Z never lived [that era], but they\u2019re craving it,\u201d Redmond says. \u201cIt goes back to this optimism, this joy, this moment in time where as a Gen Xer, it was all about that self expression and really embracing who you were. For the generation now, while they didn\u2019t live it, they\u2019re craving it because it was a simpler time.\u201d<\/p>\n The company\u2019s first attempt at cross-generational appeal came from the Gap fragrance launch earlier this summer, which saw it revive new fragrances under the names of its classic \u201990s scents, and the addition of a new one, Harmony. (Those were met with mixed-to-positive reviews). Prior, Gap kicked off apparel collabs with the likes of Hailey Bieber and Victoria Beckham. No stranger to big-ticket collaborators, the company has also looked to a high-profile perfumer to collaborate with on the Old Navy launch. If you\u2019ve ever smelled something from Byredo or know the whiff of Sol de Janeiro\u2019s Cheirosa 62, you know his work. J\u00e9r\u00f4me Epinette developed the scents.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you start working on a collection, it\u2019s hard in the beginning. You ask yourself, \u2018Do I go completely crazy? Do I go super niche? Do I do [something] more commercial?\u2019\u201d Epinette says. \u201cAfter speaking with Deb and the Old Navy team, it was obvious that we needed some common ingredients\u2014 nothing crazy or niche\u2014but with an edge. I think that\u2019s why they asked me to work on it.\u201d That\u2019s Epinette\u2019s sweet spot. Take Bal d\u2019Afrique, the Byredo scent that brought a warm, earthy twist to floral notes and quickly became a cult classic.<\/p>\n Most of the fragrances just touch on a handful of notes, many of them particularly popular amongst Gen-Z. Case in point, Gourmand Thrill focuses on toasted pistachio, creamy coconut and salter amber; Fresh Splash touches on juicy pear, salty beachwood and white woods, and was the favorite of Allure<\/em> beauty director Sarah Kinonen. \u201cUnfortunately, I don\u2019t enjoy most of the scents in the collection (they\u2019re much too sweet for me), but Fresh Splash was a delightful surprise,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s very fruit-forward with juicy pear, but the dry-down warms things up with salty beachwood and white woods. It\u2019s nice! But if I\u2019m being honest, I don\u2019t think I\u2019d get much use of the 8 fl. oz.-bottle\u2014but my seven-year-old niece sure would!\u201d Bianca Richards, Allure<\/em>\u2019s social media manager, says Sorbet D\u2019Lish, \u201cbrings me back to those early mornings before school where my mom would wash and style my hair. These products definitely feel nostalgic to me, and though I have no qualms with the body wash and mist, I don\u2019t think I would use it in my day-to-day routine.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If nostalgia is the name of the game, Old Navy is playing to win. As Gen X and Millennials reminisce on the days of American flag t-shirts and low-rise cargo shorts, the brand is diving headfirst into beauty with 21 different products\u2014hair and body mists, lotions and body washes, each in seven different scents\u2014that are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beauty"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sasgai.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}