Referencing {FAQ}

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

J.Crew In The News

There is a mini-interview with J.Crew's Creative Director Jenna Lyons over at FabSugar (click here).
Fab Exclusive! Fab Meets J.Crew's Jenna — Jenna's Faves!
By FabSugar
February 23, 2010

One of my New York Fashion Week highlights was meeting J.Crew's Creative Director Jenna Lyons. As you know, I am officially J.Crazy — Fab's been a wearer since high school. But for the past several years and thanks to fellow wearer First Lady Michelle Obama, J.Crew has gained serious momentum. This is largely due to the company's Cali-born 6-foot-tall Jenna (pictured here, with a fan).

Two tall California girls chatting away in the corner in the AMEX Skybox; what did they talk about? Let's start with the fun stuff: Jenna's faves. Read on to hear about Jenna's favorite designers, bands, food, and inspiring hobbies.

Favorite designers? Marni, Phillip Lim, Derek Lam (I went to school with him), vintage, what Pheobe Philo is doing with Celine is a new favorite. I'm all about old school preppy – socks, navy blazer, jeans.

Favorite bands? Oooh, that’s a good one. I have an insane girl crush on Alison Mosshart right now from The Kills, I’m like obsessed with her. I have like pictures of her . . . Do you know Nouvelle Vague? I’m a total Depeche Mode junkie and old Killing Joke and The Smiths. It’s funny because I have a little boy, and when he was young we used to play rock n' roll a lot — like hard rock, everything from Nirvana to Killing Joke, and now if I put on anything too soft he goes, "No, Mommy. I like rock and roll." I was like, awesome. Thank God.

Favorite foods? My husband has a smoker . . . we literally have a smoker the size of a refrigerator, and he smokes meat like it’s nobody’s business. He makes a pulled pork that could make you cry.

What are some of your other hobbies — where you get inspiration from or where you like to escape to? I had a child three years ago and things have changed dramatically. Interiors, we’re constantly changing our house, it’s sort of an obsession of mine. I also do stuff for friends a lot, that’s something I get a huge kick out of. I spend a lot of time at home, with my husband, making, you know, crazy stuff — a tomato tart and sharing it with our kid. I’m like the straighten up girl or the do the dishes girl. But when you have a kid it’s fun to be able to share the whole process with him, and he loves to pretend he’s cooking with daddy, and we all do it together, and that’s so fun. I love that part. There’s something amazing about making something beautiful that also tastes incredible.

You mentioned interiors, and I know you are deeply involved in store design, too. Totally. We are working on a wedding atelier uptown; we've been designing the store for the past few years. I'm going to Paris in a few weeks hoping to score some vintage picture frames. Whatever I can't do in our house, we do in the J.Crew stores (she laughs). Fashion and interiors are so connected — textiles, mixing the old and the new.
Jenna Lyons is absolutely gorgeous. She really is. But, wow! I mean that outfit of hers. She's got the layering thing down, that is for sure. But the vest ...dayum girl! How about a nice fitted black jacket instead? Just a friendly suggestion. :)

Also, "thanks!" to Crewstyle who let us know the following news from Marketwire (click here to read the article in its entirety). There is also another article over at NBC New York's The Thread (click here).
Polyvore Gets New Chief Exec from Google, J. Crew
By Kelly O'Reilly
February 23, 2010

Polyvore, the somewhat ambiguously defined fashion collage site has appointed as their new CEO Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, J.Crew board member and former Google exec.

Polyvore has seemed to grow exclusively by word of mouth, turning home bloggers and cubicle-dwellers into little fashion editors. The site has earned enough chops to host design contests with houses as prestigious as Yves Saint Laurent and Burberry, and now boasts 6 million unique visitors per day.

Cassidy succeeds the site's founder, Pasha Sadri, who will remain with the company in a development capacity, and has anticipated possible vehicles of improvement that include expansion into additional genres such as interior design, mobile capabilities and improved user experience. It's pretty remarkable the breadth and depth of images and information available through Polyvore, and we're constantly wondering, frankly, how they wrangle their inventory on a legal basis.

Anyhow, we feel justified in our somewhat adolescent tendecies toward creating collages now that they're beefing up the board with some big-time honchos -- should be interesting to see what comes of the new appointment.
Polyvore is the best! It is so addictive. Of course, I have to mention that there is a kick *ss group of JCAs over at Polyvore... the {amazing} J.Crew Aficionadas Group. These JCAs come up with *the best* J.Crew outfits. I mean, I look to them for outfit inspiration more than I do J.Crew's catalogs & mannequins (with their usual over the top styling). :)

What are your thoughts on either article? Are you a fan of Polyvore? (Honestly, who isn't? It's such a fun site.) Any tidbit you found interesting in the mini-interview with Ms. Lyons? (What about that outfit of hers... amiright?) :)

21 comments:

  1. The outfit: you are so right. I need to dig out my old glasses from the late 80's/90's too. Wow. Those are some big frames. I knew they were making a come back but everyone I know still wears very small frames.

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  2. Clearly, based on how much time I can spend over at Polyvore, I am a HUGE fan. :)

    And all I can say about the interview (and this is probably because I am hungry) is that I want to eat some of that pulled pork. That sounded delish!

    In general, Jenna bugs...that said, she did come off very sweet in this interview. Maybe there is hope! Jenna, if you read this, I would LOVE to have dinner at your place (our kids could play together) and I am sure pulled pork would be a fantastic entree. ;)

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  3. This image is either stretched or those sartorial proportions are working against JL, because her torso looks freakishly long, and the area between her belt and crotch just... doesn't seem right. Yeah, she's tall, but something's off.

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  4. oh, and her comment about her kiddo and music reminded me of this article: are you raising a douchebag kid? hee. ;)

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  5. I actually liked the interview and I was all set not to. At first all of Jenna's "like"s annoyed me, but overall I thought, Ok, she's a real person and talks like me and my girlfriends do. As for the vest...she can pull it off. I would never in a million years even consider it, but it looks kinda rockin on her.

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  6. I think Jenna is channeling Rachel Zoe with that vest:)

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  7. The first thing that springs to mind is HOLY CRAP JENNA IS A STICK! This explains the prevalance of Matchstick / Toothpick / Minnie pants. We're not all sticks and we can't all rock that look! *shakes fist*

    I will have to lurk at the JCA group on Polyvore to see what's out there. Y'all know I have so many lovely things but most days I can barely dress myself ... I know I don't do justice to all my J Crew treasures. Maybe that will help me. LOL.

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  8. Not to be cynical but it helps to be 6 feet tall when layering the J Crew way. If I dressed like that I'd look like a bag lady out to feed the pigeons for an afternoon!

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  10. tastymoog I thought the same thing about the photo! Based on where her knees appear to be it looks like her torso is incredibly long and her legs short, which doesn't jive with other photos of her. I think maybe the fur adds a couple of inches on top of her shoulders too, which doesn't help.

    The article is a bit too much of a love-in for me. And I know nothing of polyvore other than hitting links on the Weekly Exchange so maybe I'll have to check that out.

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  11. I like Jenna's outfit, though I couldn't pull it off. The fur vest would look as if I were nursing two baby racoons. But hey, it's her personal style.

    I also love polyvore. I haven't started making collages yet, but I like to see what possibilities other JCAs dream up for my recent purchases.

    Speaking of which, I returned the black forest meron dress to the B & M today because it was a little snug in the bust. But I called customer service to see if I could rock a crinkled dupioni dress in the same color and size.

    Has anyone bought either of these dresses? If so, what did you think?

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  12. As for Polyvore, LOVE. If I depended upon the JCrew catalogs, I would never buy anything because it is so often ridiculously styled. But thanks to Polyvore and the JCA group, JCrew gets a good amount of my money, haha

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  13. I agree with you all who commented on Jenna's figure - I had no idea she was so tall and clearly she's also very thin. That t-shirt + shirt + blazer + feather vest would have most women looking like squat little pigeons.

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  14. I think Jenna looks great. I've noticed that the majority of ladies on JCA aren't exactly the most risk-taking in regards to fashion. This is likely why J.Crew has sold so many jackies. I tend to like the higher fashion they're peddling to us, if only for the aesthetic.

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  15. Amanda,
    I think most of us ladies remember the good ole JCrew not the new high fashion one...give us some time to get used to it...

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  16. That photo is definitely stretched out. Also, Alexis, I DO think there is a blazer somewhere over the brown print blouse (?) and under the fur vest! That said, it's NY Fashion Week and Jenna is totally working it - she has JCrew (jeans, striped T) mixed with couture pieces, she's a walking billboard for hi-lo chic. And I love those glasses - I'm wearing them now!

    tastymoog, great article! And yeah, that pulled pork comment just made me side-eye my granola.

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  17. love jenna, love j.crew (also am j.crazy!) also I love her fur vest. i have a teensy, insider feeling that jcrew will be doing fur vests perhaps in maribou next fall. hmm

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  18. I like the fact that she eats meat...but I hope her fur is fake!

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  19. Netdeva: "the fur vest would look as if I was nursing two baby raccoons" is hilarious!!!

    Jenna has many of the same favorite designers as me. That explains why I like J.Crew's clothes so much!

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  20. Many JCAs take risks in ways that are appropriate to them. That's the hallmark of great personal style.

    I like the high fashion offerings that incorporate the J Crew stamp like the grommet bag in pink/blush.

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And now back to J.Crew! :)