J.Crew does a good job mixing pieces that normally should not go together. But I find it so difficult to translate that look to real life. If I wore a denim shirt with a sequin skirt, I would get stares (and not in the good way). Yet, that outfit looks really put together when it is in the pages of one of J.Crew's catalog.J.Crew debuts at NY Fashion Week with its signature look and hitting seasonal themes
By Associated Press
September 13, 2011
The clothes J.Crew presented at New York Fashion Week aren’t necessarily for next season. They’re supposed to last longer than that.
The brand’s mantra is timeless looks that still fit with the trends, head of women’s design Marissa Webb and her menswear counterpart, Frank Muytjens, said backstage Tuesday before their first-ever appearance at the seasonal previews.
“We don’t want to be disposable fashion,” Webb added.
Even if they weren’t trying, however, the outfits on the models fit right in with everything else that been seen at the Lincoln Center tents.
Color has emerged as a big theme here — and that’s one of J.Crew’s specialties. Muytjens favored blue-on-blue combinations (down to blue boat shoes in a partnership with Quoddy), while Webb put together a hot pink blouse with lipstick-red, wide-leg trousers, and a yellow sequin tank top with a lavender suede skirt.
Mixing casual classics with unexpected dressier touches is another tradition for the label, leading a denim Western-style shirt to be paired with a sequin skirt, and a men’s windbreaker to top a blazer with gold buttons.
That goes with the effortless-chic vibe that has dominated the last six days of the catwalk. “I didn’t style anything differently than I normally would. I still want it to be J.Crew,” Webb said. Still, she said she woke up before her alarm clock in anticipation of the show.
And Muytjens acknowledged that he sweat this collection a little more, too. “I felt a little more pressure.”
What are your thoughts on the article? Do you like the way J.Crew styles certain pieces together? What is your favorite look from them?
"We don't want to be disposable fashion," Webb said.
ReplyDeleteCoulda fooled me.
Although in fairness not sure what Marissa might have been able to accomplish had she stayed.
"They're supposed to last longer than that." - yeah if Dear Leader wasn't so cheap and was cutting ways to lower cost by sacrificing quality, this wouldn't happen.
ReplyDeleteToo bad Miss Webb is now gone and there is one less person to push for quality control.
ITA with you on how it's difficult to translate these looks into real life. I guess it depends on what part of the country you live in. I still feel uncomfortable wearing anything with sequins in the daytime even though I may try to tone the outfit down. I guess it also depends on what type of industry you work in.
I live in a city where sequinned skirts and denim skirts and 4 inch heels are par for the course but drive an hour to another big city here and fashion is much less showy and more refined, so yes it all depends on how NYC/London/Manchester the blood in your veins is!
ReplyDeletei don't think jcrew is necessarily asking anyone to "translate" a look. i don't know why people think when they see something on a runway or in a catalog that they are being dictated something. sometimes things are a suggestion, but other times they may be done for dramatic effect. i know what i like and i typically ignore those things i don't and look at individual pieces.
ReplyDeletei also tend to believe that mixing a denim top and sequin skirt is not difficult, at all. it's a matter of attitude, style, and, as some say, swag.
if someone feels uncomfortable wearing something, they shouldn't wear it. i don't think a company like jcrew (nyc-based) should completely aim to satisfy the rather conservative and boring styling taste of less urbane, less risk-taking middle america.
nyc, paris, london, tokyo, etc. are fashion capitals, not omaha and kansas city. the former are a bit more open-minded and progressive, thank goodness.
i find the statement pervades many of the posts here. if you're a grown woman and can buy things from jcrew, i would hope you know yourself and what floats YOUR boat. i don't think it's jcrew's job to give me, or anyone else, style guidelines and mandates.
Agreed on the quality (or lack thereof) as usual.
ReplyDeleteUnknown:
ReplyDeleteIt's not J. Crew's "job" to dictate fashion taste but they do it because they want to sell clothes. All retailers dictate tastes when the only offerings one can find are of certain looks. No matter how much "swag" one has and no matter how much we know what we like, we all live in the real world, thus translation comes in when we have to wear the looks we like tempered by the ones that are being offered into our everyday lives. So again, a sequin skirt and denim shirt might be fine to wear to class but that look doesn't translate into a professional environment. All clothing buying is a process in translation. I like five inch heels but I take public transportation and walk a lot so I have to ask myself how can I translate the look of a "sky-high" heel into a look that's wearable. It becomes my job to translate what's being offered into what works for me and although I control my taste, I don't control what's being offered.
Unknown, if J.Crew wants to sell clothes outside of NYC then yes, they need to satisfy the tastes of those customers. Not everyone aspires to be something, someone or somewhere else.
ReplyDelete