Thursday, May 10, 2012

Blast From J.Crew's Past {1988 edition}

Every once in awhile, J.Crew's 770 blog offers really interesting insight into their inner workings. Their "A Look Back" post is one of them:
we dug through our archives to bring you
some of our favorite photos from over the years
(feel free to be inspired, humored or a little bit of both…)
Dayum. Those are some serious, generous fitting, khakis for the lady in the middle. Did she roll the pants over the belt, too? And for the gentlemen... I actually remember scrunching up my socks with my sneakers. Oh the memories!

But in all seriousness, I do love the group-shot for the cover. Not only is the scenery gorgeous, but everyone is smiling.

It's too bad that J.Crew no longer includes big groups for their catalog covers (or even inside of their pages). I miss them.

What are your thoughts on J.Crew's old school catalog cover? Do you think you will rock out any of the looks above? ;) Please share!

15 comments:

  1. I feel vad for the guy, who was cut out

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  2. Was that guy's face cut off, or is there an inside flap?

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  3. The guy on the left looks like he is wearing shortie pajamas. And the guy on the right, is he even wearing pants?

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  4. I believe the guy on the left is artist (and Bjork's significant other) Matthew Barney.

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  5. I miss some of this! J.Crew was so simple and preppy...

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  6. Yeah if I was still in grade school when this catalog came out, then that means a good portion of the JCA reading audience wasn't even born. I feel old. ;)

    Those khakis are like woah. I definitely had a similar pair in 1995, so they kept producing them. In fact mine got trashed in an archaeological dig in Belize, but I put them through heck and back, so I can say that J. Crew's quality back then was superb. Stylish? Well, maybe not, but definitely sturdy.

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  7. Yeah, I totally remember khakis like that! I'm pretty sure I had both the pants and shorts version!!! I still remember to this day, going thru the J.Crew catalog in the late 80's early 90's and circling things!!!!

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  8. Alexis...thank you for the laugh this morning about the khakis!

    Love looking at J Crew of yesteryear :)

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  9. Just recently my husband and I found "Fatal Attraction" on the movie channel. I think it was made in the mid-to late 80's. Ann Archer dressed like a JCrew model- high waisted, knee length shorts, scrunched white socks, white Keds, blousey oxfords- somehow it worked on her. Remember MEg Ryan too- it was all the rage. CAn you imagine what people will be saying about our current fashions in 20 years from now?

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  10. Yep, as I was NOT in grade school by any stretch of the imagination when this came out...I was wearing pants just like these and that was the style...high waist and generous:) Heck, I was out of high school in 1988....I love the 80's and 90's clothing and while I like clothing that is current and on trend I will not lie...I have totes of my favorites from each decade in my basement. Why not? I have plenty of storage room.

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  11. The BF and I were watching "St. Elmo's Fire" last weekend and he said, "Why are all those girls dressed like old ladies?", haha. My mom wore 80's outfits exactly like the one that the model has on, including the baggy khakis, and my dad wore shorts like half-dude's on the right when he would play tennis. Pretty sure mom was still dressing me in Spring of '88, and she would make giant clip-in hair bows to match every outfit before school. Mom was a whiz with wire and grosgrain ribbon :)

    I do love that outside group shot, and I NEED that picnic basket.

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  12. Silver_Lining: I think you're right about the guy on the left being Matthew Barney. How funny! Even funnier, I've been wearing J Crew since high school (mid 80's, I'm 44) and in college I wore a size 8 or 10. I weighed 120 lbs. then. Now, I'm 20 lbs. heavier and wear a 6!! The vanity sizing is out of control! The only times I haven't liked J Crew was an all khaki phase they went through in 1999 or early 2000's (GAP khaki dancing ad days) and 2010 was dismal.

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  13. The group photo and smiling, happy J Crew models trotting off to a picnic is a classic. My son's "summer uniform" (thanks to the J Crew Clearance Center) is almost identical to the look the model on the left is wearing, but the 2012 version of the shorts are not wide. As for the guy on the right... I must have blocked that look out of my memory, especially the socks!

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  14. Whitney: had to laugh. My mom was also dressing me with enormous bows in '88.

    I wouldn't wear any of the clothing featured in this photo, but it doesn't look as terrible as some of the trendy clothing from the 80s. It's classic.

    :) Jen

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  15. J.Crew factoid: The male model is Matthew Barney. If you're not familiar with him, it's worth a Google.

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