The archives at Gap Inc's headquarters in San Francisco are a record of past glory.
Campaign shots from the 1990s, taken by star photographers like Annie Leibovitz,
show models such as Naomi Campbell and actresses like Demi Moore
in the Gap uniform of worn jeans and plain shirts.
Lately the retailer has been trying to get some of that cool back.
A campaign last year starring Katseye, a Gen Z girl group, was more music video than ad;
young teens soon began copying the moves on TikTok, a short-video app.
This marketing blitz is central to the turnaround engineered by Richard Dickson,
who took over as chief executive three years ago.
He inherited a mess.
Gap—which also owns Old Navy (cut-price), Banana Republic (premium) and Athleta (athleisure)—
is one of America's largest clothing companies.
But as fast-fashion labels such as H&M and Zara grew and e-commerce took off,
it became known for fusty stores and uninspiring designs.
Sales and profits cratered.
Shoppers wondered: why go to Gap?
Mr Dickson seems to have given them an answer.
This month Gap reported its eighth consecutive quarter of growth in same-store sales.
Its share price is up by over 125% since he took the helm.
Mr Dickson was previously the second-in-charge at Mattel, a toymaker,