Fast fashion and high design have been commingling with limited success lately, but that could improve today as Gap Design Editions — a series of nine white shirts ($68-$88) designed by top up-and-comers — arrive in stores.

The project is the result of Gap’s partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Vogue Fashion Fund, an initiative created to support emerging design talent. The designers tapped by Gap — Doo-Ri Chung of Doo. Ri, Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte, and Thakoon Panichgul of Thakoon — have each participated in a high-profile competition sponsored by the CFDA/Vogue. By giving these young talents the reach of a mass retailer, the industry introduces new names to a broad audience.

Each of the designers created three new takes on the classic white shirt — made entirely of Gap’s white shirting fabric. Ms. Chung, who in 2006 won the prestigious CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund award, made three pieces that reinterpreted the traditional shape. “It’s so difficult to narrow down the Gap customer. I approached it from a very American, modern point of view,” she said.

Her offerings include a pretty shirtdress that suggests the casual elegance of Audrey Hepburn, and two shirts — one sexy with an attached tie and one precise with short-sleeves and crisp layers.

For the Mulleavy sisters of Rodarte, a shirt with buttons is a rarity in their design vocabulary. “We’ve had white shirts, but we have yet to use a button. Usually we use covered snaps. We used buttons more as decoration,” Laura Mulleavy said.

Runners-up for the 2006 CFDA/Vogue award and winners of the Ecco Domani award, the Rodarte team used the white fabric to create wide, swingy pieces. Their tank top is adorned with bows, and their wide, sleeveless trapeze shirt is gathered at the neck. Little bows decorate the front of their low waisted dress. And it is all intended to reflect their spirit: “Kate and I wanted to do something that was part of our personalities and that was carefree,” Ms. Mulleavy said.

Mr. Panichgul took the form into some witty territory. One dress looks like a simple white shirt at the top with another shirt tied around the waist. The other two designs from this 2006 CFDA/Vogue award runner-up feature extreme attention to detail. “I’ve incorporated some feminine finishings, like pin ticking and ruffling,” the designer said. “All of the sleeve shapes are lantern style and short.”

Though he has used buttondown shirts in the past, he has also had some fun with them, too. “It was a play on the corset,” he said, adding that the one-piece garment was made to look like a shirt with a corset over it.

The Design Editions will be available starting today at 12 Manhattan Gap stores including: 60 W. 34th St. at Broadway, 212-760-1268; 680 Fifth Ave. at 54th Street, 212-977-7023; 1466 Broadway at 42nd Street, 212-382-4500.