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Gap’s Celebrity Nirvana & Luxury Musical Chairs

The industry’s frenzied hiring spree continued this week as brands bet on seasoned operators, Phoebe Gates avoided a nepo baby time-out, and Hailey Bieber added a denim Gap collab to her billion-dollar playbook.

Alexandre Choueiri, Hailey Bieber, Luca de Meo, Olivier Rousteing, Phoebe Gates, Kylie Jenner, Alessio Vannetti
Alexandre Choueiri, Hailey Bieber, Luca de Meo, Olivier Rousteing, Phoebe Gates, Kylie Jenner, and Alessio Vannetti. Photo-Illustration; Puck: Kelly Taub/BFA.com, Courtesy of Gap, Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images, Hippolyte Petit/BFA.com, Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Miu Miu, Courtesy of Frankie’s Bikinis x Khy, Michael Kovac/Getty Images for LACMA
Malique Morris
July 17, 2026

The notion that Bill Gates’s daughter, of all people, would find herself ensnared in a fashion-tech scandal was pretty irresistible, even if most of the media coverage missed the point. The real takeaway on the Phoebe Gates “cookie-stuffing” episode at Phia is just how flawed the whole affiliate shopping ecosystem has become, at least outside the creator economy, where people with real influence can actually drive sales. For everyone else, the best way for brands to excite shoppers is still the celebrity collaboration. (It’s played out but effective.)