Breaking News: Jenna Lyons is Leaving J.Crew

"Thanks!" to many of you, including Roamestudios, who shared the following article from the Business of Fashion (click here).

Jenna Lyons Exits J.Crew
By Lauren Sherman
April 3, 2017

BoF has learned that the specialty retailer's longtime creative mastermind is departing the company. Current J.Crew women's head Somsack Sikhounmuong will take over her design duties.

J.Crew’s Jenna Lyons is exiting the company after 26 years with the specialty retailer, BoF has learned.

"Jenna and I got together and we both agreed it was time for a change,” J.Crew chief executive Millard "Mickey" Drexler told BoF in an exclusive interview. "That being said, she’s got plans to do other things. It’s been a great run. There’s a lot of mutual respect between Jenna and me.”

“It has been beyond my wildest dreams to work with such an amazing team of people at such an incredible brand and alongside Mickey — one of retail’s most talented visionaries,” Lyons said in a statement. "I am excited about the next chapter for J.Crew as well as the opportunity for other creative leaders within the organisation to step up and take on new responsibilities. Having spent the better part of my life with J.Crew, I feel an immense pride and love for everyone at the company.”

Current J.Crew women’s head of design Somsack Sikhounmuong — who previously led sister label Madewell’s design and has been with the company since 2001 — will be promoted to chief design officer, overseeing the women’s, men’s and children's design teams effective immediately. All other creative departments that were reporting to Lyons — who was also president of the company — will now report to Drexler.

"Somsack and our design teams have a deep understanding of the aesthetic and style our customers rely on us to deliver, with a proven track record of driving creative vision in-line with our brand DNA,” Drexler said. "We are excited to extend Somsack’s vision across all design categories and look forward to the team’s contributions. As always, delivering the very best product, value and brand experience across channels is our top priority.”

Lyons joined J.Crew in 1990, although her role was elevated after Drexler came on board in 2003. Through their unique partnership, they managed to transform J.Crew into a cultural phenomenon, transforming the way a generation of American men and women dress with Lyons' energised, tongue-in-cheek take on classic preppy tropes. Her candy-coloured designs — from the now-classic "Bubble" necklace to the "No. 2" pencil skirt — impressed themselves on current fashion in a way rarely seen at the mass level. In 2010, Drexler promoted her to president, reflecting her influence in design and at the company.

At the same time, Lyons became something of a cultural icon in her own right, whose personal style — statement eyewear, oversize suiting, sequins for day — became copied the world over. Just this past Friday, Lyons was captured on J.Crew’s Instagram handle celebrating the retailer’s self-made holiday, National Stripes Day.

However, some say that Lyons' role had transitioned out of day-to-day design duties and more into a face for the brand. But like many specialty retailers, J.Crew has been squeezed by discount culture, the casualisation of dress and the consumer's penchant for fast fashion, which relies less on one well-defined aesthetic and more on moving trends quickly to the market. In its 2016 fiscal year, net sales at J.Crew were $2 billion, down 6 percent from the year previous. Sales at stores open at least one year were down 8 percent. Turnaround efforts — including a marked return to the preppy “basics” that performed so well in the past and diversification into athleisure with a multi-season collaboration with New Balance — have yet to move the needle.

The company’s top line has been somewhat boosted by the growth of Madewell, which saw net sales in 2016 increase 14 percent to $341.6 million, with comparable sales up 5 percent. But its debt — which totalled $1.5 billion, net of discount and deferred financing costs, at the end of last year — has proven an albatross, as it becomes current in 2018. J.Crew also has a $350 million revolving loan. The retailer has reportedly considered debt restructuring.

Lyons' post-J.Crew plans are not yet known, but the indelible mark she has made in defining American fashion for the past decade cannot go unacknowledged. As for J.Crew, this announcement is expected to be the first in a series of strategic changes that will allow it to perform in its next iteration.

Wow. I always thought she was being groomed to take over for Mickey Drexler when he decided to leave. So its interesting that is not happening. More interesting is whether or not it was her decision to leave...

Honestly, Jenna Lyons taste had evolved away from J.Crew's core style for many years now. While she was taking fashion forward risks, J.Crew's core customers were not. "Basics with a twist" is J.Crew's true mantra and not Jenna Lyons.

I am, of course, interested to see with Jenna's next move is. Whether she will be scooped up by another retailer or start her own line. Time will tell! ;)

Thoughts on the article? Disagree or agree with Ms. Lyon's leaving J.Crew?

Jenna Lyons at the Met Again

"Thanks!" to Cousy (in this post) who let us know that LuckyShops had a little post about J.Crew's Jenna Lyons attending this years Met Ball (click here to read in its entirety):

Did Jenna Lyons Just Wear Pajamas To The Met Gala?
By Alison Syrett
May 4, 2015

From the simple V-neck sweater she wore in 2011 to her button-down/pullover combo of 2013, Jenna Lyons has never been afraid to skirt the Met Gala’s dress code. But she hit the loungewear look even harder than usual at this evening’s red carpet in roomy cut menswear-style pajamas. Yes, pajamas.

Seeing as it is the year’s biggest, buzziest fashion event, Lyons naturally went for a bedazzled pair, and accessorized with gold heels and shiny clutch. And although we’re not quite sure how it ties in to the whole “China: Through the Looking Glass” theme, we’ve got to give her props for taking a risk. We think it paid off—how about you?

I have to say that although it looks good on her, I don't really care for the upscale pajama set. #sorrynotsorry On a bright side, it was probably the most comfortable outfit at the event.

What are your thoughts on Jenna's look? Do you love it or would you leave it? If you could style her, what would you have her wear?

Jenna Lyons' Look Evolution

The following article is from Refinery 29 (click here to read in its entirety):

Jenna Lyons Has Totally Changed Her Signature Look
By Liza Darwin
April 6, 2015

Ever since Jenna Lyons took the reins as the creative director of J.Crew back in 2008, she’s slowly and steadily injected the All-American brand with her signature mussed-up elegance. Lyons’ influence has rubbed off everywhere, but most notably in unexpected styling tricks like mixing prints, daytime sequins and tomboy touches (the list goes on). Lyons and the label's aesthetics have become so inseparable, even the J.Crew models have morphed into Lyons’ own oversized-glasses-sporting image. So, when the style icon decides to shake up her look, we can't help but do a double take.

It's been a few weeks since we spotted Lyons at J.Crew's fall 2015 presentation wearing her trademark glasses, bright lipstick, and slick middle-part bun, but she's ditched all three in favor of a barefaced make-under at a recent dinner in New York City.  She's since lopped off her long hair into a lob (a change she quietly debuted a few weeks ago at the CFDA nominees announcement ceremony), swapped out the bold lipcolor for a pale pink hue, and gone entirely sans glasses. And, surprise! She looks amazing.

Her beauty look may be more understated than usual, but the outfit itself remained a quirky Lyons original. Wearing a button-down blouse, fancy party shorts, and a menswear-inspired overcoat, all in various shades of blue (and topped off with a snakeskin bag), her eclecticism is still totally on-point. But, here's the real question: Now that we know Lyons can pull off both nerdy-cool and effortlessly pretty equally, will the J.Crew models follow suit next season? Stay tuned.

Jenna Lyons is exceptionally gorgeous. She can pull off looks the average woman (myself included) could not.

However, the article raised an interesting question: Will J.Crew and their models follow her direction? They have in the past, will they continue to do so. Back in January, it sounded like J.Crew might be pulling away from Jenna's style (refer to the "Does J.Crew Still Heart Forever Jenna Lyons? {probably}" post). However, all indications point to a strong relationship between J.Crew and their favorite employee.

What are your thoughts on Jenna's new look? Do you think J.Crew will replicate the style in their upcoming collections?

Shoppers Turning On J.Crew's Jenna Lyons

"Thanks!" to Susan (in this post), as well as Stapelia (in this post), who shared the following article from the New York Post (click here to read in its entirety):

J.Crew is floundering — and shoppers blame Jenna Lyons
By Sarah Horne
April 13, 2015

Last month, Oregon-based illustrator Tricia Louvar, 40, took to website The Hairpin with a comic titled “An Open Letter to Jenna Lyons,” aimed at the famously quirky creative director of J.Crew.

“You are pretty dope,” it began. “If only I, an ordinary mother on a modest income, could afford to wear a $400 cashmere skirt, silk barely-there blouse and belt to a one-time business-casual event.”

Louvar then tallied the cost of an “everyday” outfit at the retailer, finding that it came to $596, the equivalent of 298 school lunches.

“I was a fan of J.Crew for over 20 years,” Louvar tells The Post. “But as I look at the catalogs now, I just don’t get it. Back when I was in college, it represented a classic look that was seamless.”

Now, says Louvar, the brand embodies Lyons’ creative-cool lifestyle. “I love her style,” she explains. “But can I relate to it?”

She is not the only one wondering what the heck went askew at the brand. In 2014 sales at J.Crew declined, and the company’s CEO Mickey Drexler admitted it had been a “tough year.”

In December, Page Six reported, “after a dismal earnings report that saw the company go from a net income of $35.4 million to a reported loss of $607.8 million in just a year . . . style icon Lyons is being ordered by her bosses to focus more on the business and less on her own brand.”

Lyons, who regularly hits the red carpet in silk pajama pants or a feather-trimmed maxi skirt, was made creative director in 2008 and transformed what had been a line of unassuming basics into a fashion force, presenting the label at New York Fashion Week and launching J.Crew Collection, a capsule line with offerings like $498 pink lace trousers.

She became a darling of street-style blogs while gossip sites combed over her personal life. Last year, Lyons capped off her icon status with a cameo on HBO’s Brooklyn-set “Girls.”

Some backlash was inevitable, says New Yorker Lauren Sherman, 32, the editor-at-large for fashionista.com. “It’s easy to knock someone down when they’re at the top of their game,” she says.

Lyons, who regularly hits the red carpet in silk pajama pants or a feather-trimmed maxi skirt, was made creative director in 2008 and transformed what had been a line of unassuming basics into a fashion force, presenting the label at New York Fashion Week and launching J.Crew Collection, a capsule line with offerings like $498 pink lace trousers.

She became a darling of street-style blogs while gossip sites combed over her personal life. Last year, Lyons capped off her icon status with a cameo on HBO’s Brooklyn-set “Girls.”

Some backlash was inevitable, says New Yorker Lauren Sherman, 32, the editor-at-large for fashionista.com. “It’s easy to knock someone down when they’re at the top of their game,” she says.

Abra Belke, 32, who blogs under the pseudonym Belle at DC-based fashion blog Capitol Hill Style, feels disappointed by a label she used to be loyal to and puzzled by what she sees as Lyons’ larger-than-life imprint on the retail giant.

“When Jenna started, people were excited because it was different,” says Belke. “But in the last three or four years, it got ridiculous. I think the brand is more and more out of touch . . . it seems to be going through an identity crisis.”

The catalogs, Belke feels, are overstyled, with models pairing suits with sneakers and out-there accessories.

“I think they’re designing for a very small subset of people who work and live in very specialized industries in New York. My boss still wears flesh-toned hose with her skirt suit. I can’t show up in a sequin pencil skirt.”

It perhaps comes as no surprise that sales at Madewell, J.Crew’s more accessible sister brand, are increasing while J.Crew stumbles. On a March call to address the company’s latest earnings reports, Drexler said he had heard his customers loud and clear.

His plans to turn the troubling numbers around include opening 20 more Madewell stores this year and reworking the fashion strategy at J.Crew, focusing on the classics.

A J.Crew spokeswoman declined to comment, but according to one J.Crew insider, you can bet that the design team is listening to calls for change.

“Jenna is very, very involved at the company,” says the source. “She touches everything.”

If getting back to their roots is part of the plan, it seems to be working over at Madewell, where the design DNA is more low-key.

Belke, the DC blogger, says that if J.Crew gets back to basics, she’d be glad to return. “As long as it doesn’t have neon feathers on it, and it’s something I can wear for three or four years, I’m in.”

First and foremost, I think there is blame to be shared at J.Crew. I do feel bad that Jenna Lyons is getting the bulk of it, because I honestly believe Mickey Drexler is at fault here too.

But moving onward, I think the concerns raised by the loyal customers in the article are ones made time and time again here on the blog for quite some time. (How many of us complained about weird fit, poly material, dry clean only goods, sub-par quality, quality going downhill, discontinuing best sellers, etc.?)

I know that there are several JCAs who love what J.Crew is currently doing and love the current styling. They don't long for the preppy days and are more "on fashion point". However, I never understood why J.Crew could not offer both types of styles. Keep the classics, basics with a twist, alongside the trendier pieces. Or keep the fashion forward pieces with the high price tags to the Collection line, instead of infiltrating the regular selection. (Seeing a $200+ tee in the regular section of J.Crew is a bit odd, no?)

I still love my J.Crew and find pieces to purchase every week. But we all know the quality, style and fit have changed over the years. Most of us, myself included, have been returning a lot more because pieces are not working out.

I understand that J.Crew has finally figured it out (through their comments to the press), however the real proof will be in the upcoming collections. I sincerely hope they bring back the elements that made them so successful (classics with a twist) and not tamper with the elements they do so well (like their Tippi Cardigans).

What are your thoughts on the article? Do you think J.Crew can turn things around? If so, please share! :)

Do You Still Heart J.Crew?

"Thanks!" to JulieStyles (in this post) who shared the following article from the Washington Post (click here to read in its entirety):

Sorry, J.Crew. Female shoppers just aren’t that into you.
By Sarah Halzack
March 23, 2015

It wasn’t long ago that J.Crew was the envy of the retail industry. Its distinctive look — well-made basics bedecked with a splash of sequins or a door-knocker-sized necklace — stood out from less adventurous retailers in the same price range and helped the brand triple its revenue between 2003 and 2013.

And yet 2014 marked a turn in fortunes for the retailer. The company recently reported that sales at its stores open more than a year fell 2 percent in 2014. In the crucial holiday quarter, the brand’s financial picture was especially cloudy, with revenue decreasing slightly to $620.7 million and comparable sales sliding 5 percent.

In a rare appearance on a conference call with analysts, chief executive Mickey Drexler offered several reasons for what he called “a tough year” for his company, including a decline in mall traffic, intense competition and shoppers’ fixation on promotional prices.

And yet the biggest problem of all, Drexler said, was one of J.Crew’s own making: It filled its stores with clothes that women really just weren’t into. “We’ve made some mistakes,” Drexler said, including “missteps in our iconic classics.”

Drexler said the women’s business has been “challenging” recently and that the fits, silhouettes and color palette of the clothes simply haven’t connected with shoppers the way they had in the past.

J.Crew says it is aggressively trying to win customers back with fresh colors, classic designs and a more diverse merchandise assortment, particularly in the pants category. (As Drexler said, if you weren’t buying their skinny-cut Pixie or Minnie pants last year, you probably weren’t buying women’s pants from them at all.)

J.Crew is learning the hard way that in an era when e-commerce has presented women with ever-greater shopping choices, customer loyalty is hard to win and incredibly easy to lose. And with its middle-of-the-road price point, the typical J.Crew shopper might be just as likely to invest in a $595 shift dress at Tory Burch as she is to impulse-buy a $8.90 crop top at Forever 21.

With that kind of breadth of competition, J.Crew is betting that the way to get ahead of the pack is not with new marketing tactics or store designs, but to simply make better, more appealing clothes.

J.Crew is not the only specialty retailer that is grappling with a style problem. Gap has lately had similar struggle, with sales stumbling hard as critics say its sportswear has veered from classic and simple to just plain boring. ...

Gap’s sister brand, Banana Republic, appears to be coming out of a style rut under its new creative director, Marissa Webb, who impressed critics and analysts with fall and winter collections featuring trendy and edgy details....

The recent weakness at J.Crew comes after a long stretch in which the brand was flying high. Many attribute its recent success to its top leaders, including Drexler, the chief executive...

And then there is Jenna Lyons, the creative director who has earned the kind of cultlike adoration that is typically reserved for haute couture designers. She’s responsible for the unique, preppy-with-a-twist aesthetic of the clothes, and she is a walking billboard for how to wear them. Photos of her regularly ping-pong around fashion blogs and Instagram feeds, often featuring her in thick-rimmed, geek-chic glasses and some sort of formal-meets-casual ensemble — maybe a structured blazer atop ripped jeans or sequined harem pants paired with a striped T-shirt.

The growth and buzz that Drexler and Lyons created led to whispers about an initial public offering for the privately-held company. But amid last year’s slowdown, that talk has died down.

Reviving the women’s business isn’t J.Crew’s only hope for improvement. The company also includes Madewell, a newer, casual-cool chain which had a much stronger year than J.Crew.

Madewell — a destination for distressed denim, suede ankle booties, and vintage-looking button-downs — had a 14 percent sales increase in 2014 at stores open more than year, growth that is vastly better than what was seen at most specialty apparel retailers. It appears that Drexler sees Madewell as something of a pet project and that he is intensely focused on making it the next big thing in American casual apparel.

The company is also rapidly growing its lower-priced Factory outlet business, with plans to add 21 more of these stores in 2015. And it is cautiously expanding the presence of the J. Crew brand overseas, with a Paris store in the chic Marais district and plans to grow its footprint in Britain and Hong Kong.

But even if these other strategies help make up for slowness in J. Crew’s women’s business, the company remains determined to win back its core female shopper. “She is loyal as hell until we go wrong,” Drexler said. 

So many interesting points being made throughout this article (of which I highlighted). The most important is that *finally* J.Crew recognizes that it's important to make their customers happy.
If I sound pretty harsh, it is because for awhile it felt like J.Crew was catering to the fashion editors and fashionistas from Fashion Week more than the base of loyal aficionadas.

It is fine to mix in high-end, fashion forward pieces for the Collection line, which is what it is meant for. However, J.Crew started to make some questionable moves with their regular collection like when they retired the classic Cece Ballet Flat (which they had to bring back!) from their offerings. No matter how many back-to-back sales and promotions, items were not selling. You had to start wondering who was making the bad calls at J.Crew. More importantly, why were they not being fired.

It is clear from Mickey's comments that he recognizes they have gone too far. The question is can they fix it? I think they can. Get the right mix of product that customers, their base of customers, really want, and you will see sales rise. Just look at the Chateau Coat- that was one item they got right during the Holiday season. It never went on sale and it keeps selling out! But as for the rest of the Holiday offerings? Meh. The color palette was drab. The styles were over-sized. Bring back the rich hues! Bring back the tailored tops!

Lastly, I find it interesting that Madewell performed so well. I am a Madewell Aficionada as well and I can see that the quality and fit are in those pieces. I hope Mickey pays a bit more attention to J.Crew to make sure J.Crew sees a rise and in their quality and fit.

What are your thoughts on this article? Any points you found interesting? Anything you agreed or disagreed with?

J.Crew's Jenna Lyons Hearts Sequins

The following article and photos are from the Guardian (click here to read in its entirety): 

J.Crew's Jenna Lyons: 'Sequins are the new black'
Label’s creative director fights against ‘fashion gone quiet’ with sparkles, bright yellows and deep purples as she shows collection at New York fashion weekBy Jess Cartner-Morley
February 17, 2015

Backstage at the Lincoln Center, moments before the J Crew show at New York fashion week, the models asked Jenna Lyons, the label’s creative director: “Are we allowed to smile?”

Lyons – dressed for the occasion in floor-length black culottes with a simple striped cotton shirt, signature black-rimmed spectacles and slicked back hair – burst out laughing. “Oh my god, yes! Please smile.”

The models’ question was not stupid. Smiling is a rare occurrence on the catwalk, where aloof unobtainability is still considered the ideal. But J Crew is different from most names on the New York fashion week schedule, being an upscale mainstream store whose price tags, while not cheap, are closer to affordable than astronomical. What’s more, the tone of approachability saturates everything about J Crew. The store models often wear glasses, and unlikely colours and fabrics are mixed with a screwball comedy wit.

Under the stewardship of Lyons and the chief executive, Mickey Drexler, J Crew has become a major player in global fashion. Michelle Obama is a fan, and ...has enabled J Crew to lay claim, in the American imagination, to the notion of dressing with a pop of colour. ...

But recently J Crew has run into trouble. A loss of $607m in 2014 led to reports that Lyons was in trouble with Drexler for the unlikely fashion crime of being too fabulous. Lyons’ personal fame – guest appearances in Girls and a turn at Solange Knowles’s wedding – was said to be shading her J Crew role. Drexler dismissed the reports as silly, publicly backing Lyons as being “as good as it gets at being a voice for J Crew”. But the recent departure of both the chief operating officer and chief financial officer have fuelled rumours that all is not well at JCrew.

The New York fashion week presentation, therefore, comes at a crunch moment for the label. Lyons came out, all guns blazing – or, given the J Crew obsession with sequins, sparkling. “I think we were missing the sparkle a little,” said Lyons, pointing out a multicoloured sequin minidress, worn over a button down skirt and under a double-breasted tweed coat. “We’d gotten a little bit quiet. It’s not just us – fashion generally has gone a bit quiet, I think. So this season I was like: ‘Damn, give me sequins!’”

As Lyons posed for photos with starstruck fashion groupies, the head of women’s design, Tom Mora, expanded on how the team found inspiration in Peter Schlesinger’s photographic portraits of a flamboyant 1970s London set which included David Hockney, Tina Chow, Paloma Picasso and Cecil Beaton. “What I loved was how much elegance and energy and freedom there was in the way they dressed, not just for evening but day-to-day.” The 70s silhouettes – which are already making a strong showing among New York fashion week goers wearing flared trousers, long A-line skirts and polo necks – were abundant in the new collection.

J Crew has recently opened stores in London, and the British influence was evident in the menswear, where designer Frank Muytjens had hit upon his colours of the season at a specialist fair selling vintage army and navy clothing in Folkestone, Kent. While the womenswear was a magpie’s feast of sunshine yellow, rose pink and rich purple, menswear blended in muted tones of olive, grey, camel and tobacco.

Muytjens, wearing a tobacco silk scarf with ivory polka dots tucked neatly beneath the lapel of his knitted navy blazer, shrugged. “That’s the difference between a guy and a girl. Our man doesn’t want to be visible from 10 blocks away because of the colour of his shirt.”

The J Crew woman, by contrast, is a peacock, albeit a practically dressed one. Editors and stylists arrived, shivering and shaking snow from their hair, to stand sighing in front of a tan parka fully lined with yolk-yellow fake fur, and sumptuous roll-neck sweaters layered under gold-buttoned blazers. Sequins sparkled under parkas, and sprouted in tufts from cosy sweaters. “Sequins are the new black,” proclaimed Lyons. She was smiling.

Oh to have Frank Muytjens design a capsule collection for the Women's line...

I will say I love the sequins in the upcoming Fall/Winter collection. They are completely unpractical for my lifestyle, but oh so pretty! I am also thrilled to see a nice combination of neutrals (with the grey tones) mixed in with the colors (rich purples and yellows). Color me impressed!

What are your thoughts on the article? Any point that you agreed or disagreed with? If so, please share! :)

Behind the Scenes at New York Fashion Week & J.Crew

"Thanks!" to  many of you, including Unknown (in this post), who let us know that J.Crew is posting some behind the scenes photos throughout their social media sites:

• J.Crew {facebook}
• J.Crew {770 blog}
• J.Crew {instagram}
• J.Crew {pinterest}

Here are just a few of the images that they posted so far:

Is it weird that I am looking forward to this year's Fall/Winter already? Can't wait to see more photos of their event.

J.Crew's Fall/Winter 2015 presentation is scheduled for this Tuesday during New York Fashion Week. You can also search #jcrewnyfw for of-the-moment updates on the show.

What are your thoughts on the upcoming collection? Are you excited about any piece in particular?

Does J.Crew Still Heart Forever Jenna Lyons? {probably}

"Thanks!" to many of you, including st (in this post), who let us know about the following article from Page Six (click here to read in its entirety):

J.Crew’s Jenna Lyons told to ‘cut back on self-promotion’
By Emily Smith
December 21, 2014

J.Crew’s fabulous creative director Jenna Lyons is facing internal calls to cut back on her own self-promotion after the brand suffered a massive slowdown in its women’s business.

Sources tell Page Six that — after a dismal earnings report that saw the company go from a net income of $35.4 million to a reported loss of $607.8 million in just a year — style icon Lyons is being ordered by her bosses to focus more on the business and less on her own brand.

One source told us, “J.Crew CEO Mickey Drexler is tired of Jenna Lyons being out on the circuit and not paying attention to business.”

While J.Crew’s sales slumped, company president and executive creative director Lyons had a guest role on “Girls” as Lena Dunham’s boss, graced a White House fashion summit, hired a ­4-year-old blogger who appeared with Lyons in publicity stills, attended Solange Knowles’ wedding in a runway-ready outfit, and appeared in spreads for Harper’s Bazaar, O Magazine, the New York Times, Vogue and Yahoo.

On top of that, she most recently schmoozed with the Duchess of Cambridge during the British royal’s visit to New York. And we also noticed that all the models at J.Crew’s recent Fashion Week presentations seemed to bear an uncanny resemblance to the much-admired, bespectacled Lyons.

The more low-key Drexler, who did not comment for this story, recently admitted to WWD that women’s apparel and accessory sales have been hit hard. On Dec. 5, Moody’s downgraded J.Crew for its weak sales figures. “We’ve had a very tough year and I, along with the team, own this,” Drexler told WWD. “We saw a significant slowdown in our women’s business. We own that even more. In that regard, we need to improve.”

He added that — even though we can’t imagine Lyons in jogging bottoms — the company would branch into leisure and athletic wear.

A J.Crew spokeswoman said, “This is completely inaccurate and couldn’t be farther from reality.”

Well, it is not surprising that J.Crew would deny this story. However, doesn't it feel like this story could totally be true??? It does seem like Jenna Lyons is everywhere as of late while the women's side of J.Crew has totally lost its focus.

We have mentioned before all the issues of where J.Crew needs to focus on. Refer to last month's "J.Crew's Women's Collection Is Costing Millions" post for a refresher. Frankly, I have noticed that customers are not as excited about J.Crew as they use to be. Don't get me wrong, there are still items that are selling out like crazy (Chateau Parka anyone?). However, there are way more items just lingering in the sale section (untouched and unwanted).

Do I think Jenna Lyons is at fault? No, not entirely. But she does bare some responsibility. She is at the helm of the ship and so she owns a part of J.Crew's current problems.

Personally, I think it is because her tastes have grown away from J.Crew. What do I mean? For awhile, Jenna was dressing like a fashion forward J.Crew customer. Now she is dressing fashion forward for the fashion forward world. Two different worlds as shown in the image above (both inset pictures are Jenna "before" and the main picture is Jenna "after".).

Listen, I don't dress the exact same way I did 10 years ago. The stores I shop at are different too. I understand that people grow and so do their tastes (including wardrobe). But let's not pretend that Jenna  is still a J.Crew customer. I fear she is not.

What are your thoughts on the article? Do you think it is true or not? Do you think Jenna Lyons should take a step back? Please share! :)

J.Crew's Jenna Lyons Meets Duchess Kate

A big "thanks!" to traderscoobies, Gina, as well as WellFedFred (in this post) who shared the exciting news about J.Crew's Jenna Lyons meeting Duchess Kate. The following is from Vanity Fair (click here to read in its entirety):

Jenna Lyons Is Psyched That Duchess Kate Wore J. Crew Jeans to Meet Beyoncé
By Josh Duboff
December 9, 2014

After a busy morning, which included a visit to the 9/11 Memorial and the new 1 World Trade Center building, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge made their way to Gramercy shortly after one P.M. for the Creativity is GREAT reception at private workspace NeueHouse. The couple mingled for about 30 minutes with around 80 different members of the British creative and art industries, including Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman, Sir Patrick Stewart, and Jenna Lyons, while munching on fare including scotch egg bites, pea-soup shooters, and salmon gravlax on cucumber.

...Lyons, the J. Crew creative director, who chatted with Kate briefly during the reception, told us she was elated to have met the Duchess. “My father’s British so I grew up going to England every summer and sometimes for Christmas,” she said. “I will say, it feels very powerful [meeting Kate]. I can imagine for her, she’s just a normal person—but it doesn’t feel like that to me. She’s, in essence, a true version of a princess. She’s lovely, gracious. It was incredibly exciting.”

Lyons said that the two of them talked “for two seconds” about Kate meeting Beyoncé and Jay Z at the Barclays Center last night. When asked if Kate had ever worn J. Crew before, Lyons looked like she might explode with glee. “Believe it or not, I was told she wore J. Crew jeans last night to the game,” she said. “I was so excited. You couldn’t tell, but that’s okay. At least I know that fact.”

Very cool to hear that the Duchess, who has impeccable style, wore J.Crew jeans. How exciting, indeed!

On a different note, what is Jenna wearing?!? The image above (from here) shows her entire outfit. Personally, I think it looks like a hot mess. More importantly though, I want to know what Captain Jean-Luc Picard (aka Patrick Stewart) thinks about her outfit. ;)

What are your thoughts on the article? Agree or disagree with Jenna's choice of outfit? If so, please share! :)

J.Crew's Jenna Lyons on Creating J.Crew's Look

"Thanks!" to many of you, including Molly K., as well as Suzy and GigisGoneShopping (in this post), who let us know that J.Crew's Jenna Lyons was featured on CBS's This Morning last week.

To read the transcript in its entirety, as well as videos, click here.

J.Crew creative director's secret to fashion
CBS News
November 19, 2014

Jenna Lyons is one of the most influential women in fashion. As creative director at J.Crew, she is credited with giving the brand its unique style, catering to everyone from celebrities to students. But as the company struggles with falling profits and tries to expand abroad, Lyons has her work cut out for her.

She's more than game for a challenge, reports "CBS This Morning" co-host Norah O'Donnell. Walking around with Lyons at the J.Crew office, you might notice one thing about her: she wears five-inch heels.

"I feel like I can see everything better," she said. "I can see over all the aisles, I feel a little bit more glamorous, especially on those days when, you know, I have a lot going on." But at six feet tall, she doesn't have a height complex.

And if Lyons has no aversion to heights, it's because she's scaled a lot of them. As president and creative director at J.Crew, Lyons helped transform a once-homespun mail-order brand into a multi-billion dollar retail powerhouse.

"I always liked being surrounded by pretty things, and sometimes those pretty things looked beautiful next to each other, and sometimes they actually created a strange magic. Those things happen when you come home after a night and you throw off your blazer and all of a sudden it's landing on top of your necklace and it's landing on top of a blouse that you wore the day before. Clearly, I'm very neat," Lyons said, laughing. "And all of a sudden they form something different that you might not have thought about."

Lyons has no problem admitting to the inspiration for her genius; she gets her ideas from the pile of clothes on the floor.

"I'm not gonna lie, I do," she said. "There you go, that's the secret."

Lyons grew up in California, sewing her own clothes and dog-earing catalogs from her future employer. She moved to New York to attend Parsons School of Design and, after interning at Donna Karan, joined J.Crew in 1990.

She described her role there as an assistant to an assistant to somebody else's assistant.

"Yeah, it was like that," she said. "I think I sat in a hallway with my computer sort of with an extension cord plugged in."

But she felt much more at home at J.Crew than she did at Donna Karan.

"Having not been sort of like the cool kid in school, and being a little bit of the outcast when I was younger, I remember one of the first couple of times when I felt attractive or beautiful," she recalled. "And I realized that that was important to me, to be able to do that for everyone, not just people who had the ability to write a $2,000 check for a jacket."

She insisted she wasn't the popular kid growing up. "Oh God, not by a long shot," she said. "No, I was unfortunately incredibly tall, oddly skinny."

She also dealt with a personal issue that had other students making fun of her. "I have a genetic disorder called incontinentia pigmenti," she said, "and the result of that means that I had bald spots on my head, which I didn't even know I had until the girls were talking about me behind my back in school."

Lyons faced bullying. "I got beaten up quite a bit... on the way home from school, yes," she admitted. "It's traumatic, but it also, I think, is an opportunity to decide what you wanna do with that. Like, you have two ways to go. You can crawl under a rock, or you can actually decide to do something with it."

Lyons didn't seek out a rock, though she did endure some hard places. Her early career survived a decade of turmoil as J.Crew shuffled its looks and its leadership. It took Mickey Drexler, the so-called "king of retail," named CEO in 2003, to finally define J.Crew's aesthetic and five years later, to charge Lyons with curating it.

People have said that she and Mickey have a very special relationship, drawing comparisons to the relationship between Steve Jobs and Jonathan Ive at Apple.

"I was going with Sonny and Cher, but okay," she said. "There is no question I think he is an inspiration. He gets excited to the same level of excitement he did the first day he walked in here."

In a few seasons, J.Crew clothing went from cloistered and collegiate, to laid-back, grown-up, big-city cool. Its stock surged when first lady Michelle Obama and her daughters wore J.Crew outfits at the 2009 inauguration.

"I do a hula dance when I'm in the airport and someone walks by in a coat, you know?" she said. "When Michelle Obama came out in our outfit, I think the hula dance turned up a notch. And to have the First Lady feel accessible for America? That's really never happened before."

For some, it still hasn't. J.Crew prices do start in the single digits, but can reach well into the hundreds of dollars. There are some sweaters that sell for $98, but others are priced at $800 -- not necessarily the most accessible price.

"We had some of the more expensive pieces in the catalog, that was something that we got feedback on and we have changed," she said. We still have that product, but it's certainly not for everyone."

They've also received feedback on a recent addition to their clothing line. In July, J.Crew suffered criticism for introducing a 000 size. "Interestingly enough, part of that was driven by the fact that we launched a store in Asia, so we opened our first store in Hong Kong, and some of the people that were living there had tried on our double zero and said, 'it's actually not small enough,'" she explained.

They were shocked, and knew they had to change to fit their new customer base. "I think there was some idea that maybe we were doing it for, you know, vanity sizing, which, I mean, absolutely was not the case," Lyon said. "We got a lot of negative feedback; we also got a lot of positive feedback from people who are like, 'No, no, no. It's for me, it's for me. Don't take it away.'"

Beyond Hong Kong, J.Crew also opened in London and, come Spring, will be in Paris. The expansion comes despite a bruising year, in which second-quarter profits fell almost 40 percent.

"I've been incredibly fortunate, I have to say, oddly enough, to have been through this before -- we've had tough quarters before," she said. "We've had tough moments. As much as it's hard to go through, I'm not worried," said Lyon, adding, "We have not peaked."

There is another video about the behind the "behind the scenes" interview:

This is a great segment showcasing Jenna Lyons and her passion for J.Crew.

What are your thoughts on the article and video? Any points that you found very interesting? Please share! :)

How J.Crew Names the Colors {delicious!}

J.Crew is known for their delightfully rich hues. The following article is from the Huffington Post (click here to read in its entirety) shares some light on the process:

How J.Crew Colors Get Their Wild Names
By Katy Hall
November 13, 2014

Looking through the J.Crew website this season may give you ideas for a holiday party menu. There's a cashmere sweater in harvest grape, moccasins in dark nutmeg and chinos in melted caramel and fresh sage.

"People really respond to food," said Tom Mora, head of women's design at the company. "I've never heard a person not feel happy about eating. It's that emotion or smile on your face. These colors all have distinct smells or tastes to them."

Food is just one of many things that inspire the names of the more than 100 colors J.Crew invents every season. Seasonal smells, flowers and destinations can all work to shift a red to dark poppy, or a neutral beige to sandy shore. The continual supply of bold new colors, painstakingly curated and named, is one reason the catalog resembles a lifestyle magazine and the brand has earned cult status.

But before the colors are named, the colors themselves have to be selected. Mora and other color creators, including color librarian Cherie Zavitz (who has "the coolest job EVER," she said), start with a "mood board" in the company's color library in downtown Manhattan. They post items that set the collection's mood: vintage clothing, leather wallets, scraps of paper or silk. This season's neon electric flame, seen here in the stadium-cloth cocoon coat, started off as a "really intense shoelace," Mora said.

Once the seasonal palette is set, each color is dyed onto a fabric swatch and given a name that reflects the feel of the collection. "Whether we're going on a trip to Spain or the 1920s in Berlin or the California coast, you start thinking of what that does in your head," said Mora. "That's where you start getting the words you can kind of associate with the colors as well."

Summer collections may have a tropical or warm feel: neon flamingo, reef blue and even pebble can evoke a sunny day at the beach. Fall takes on a more weathered, outdoorsy tone with rich colors that are burnished or icy or crisp or rusty. Color names can go in a lot of directions -- and they have, considering J.Crew has coined thousands of them -- but there are a couple of things the company tries to avoid. One is being creative to the point of obscurity.

"We don't want to start naming names in terms of a town or get too specific," Mora said. "That confuses people. They need to get it immediately from the sound of the name. Sometimes when you have a name that doesn't include the color, like dusty cobblestone, it kind of does feel like a cobblestone. They still know what that is."

He added that sometimes colors just sound like they would smell bad: "Sometimes the two words together, like burnt something or ripe something, are like, ew!"

Simplicity can work just as well as the most imaginative names. Bright colors pair well with J.Crew's signature neutrals. Jenna Lyons, the company's creative director, lists adding a pop of color as one of her 10 style rules. "Color isn't easy for anyone," she told The Guardian. "It's not easy for me! It's a challenge. It feels good to embrace a challenge."

Standby colors like black, white and khaki aren't going anywhere. Those swatches are labeled and pinned on the wall in the color library -- along with the thousands of past colors that might make a comeback, if the designers and customers love them enough.

"There are always the favorites," Mora said. "You know it's a great color when the customer comes in asking for it by name." Two old favorites that have resurfaced this season are golden sun and brilliant flame.

There is also a video about J.Crew selecting their colors that is totally worth a viewing:


I found it really interesting how J.Crew gets inspired to create the shades and names. It got me thinking what my favorite color from J.Crew is... It might just be their Poppy Red.

I also did not realize they have over 100 different colors each season! And who knew Luigi was an important part of the process!?! ;)

What are your thoughts on the article and video? Any points that you found very interesting? What is your favorite shade at J.Crew? Please share! :)

A Conversation with J.Crew's Jenna Lyons!

A big "thanks!" to Cheri who shared the following article from Wardrobe ICONS magazine (click here to read in its entirety) with us. Click on the images below to view larger (& make reading a bit easier):

I totally agree with Jenna's wardrobe staples. They were all good picks, especially about the need for a good chambray shirt. I find they work well dressed up or down, practically any scenario.

Although I am surprised that Jenna thinks neon pink is equal to heather grey. I am so tired of neon pink...

What are your thoughts on the article? Agree or disagree with any of Jenna Lyon's opinions? If so, please share! :)

Jenna Lyons on Tomboy Style

J.Crew's Jenna Lyons shared her tips to achieve the perfect "Tomboy Style" in the latest issue of Lucky magazine (click here to read in its entirety).

The Official Jenna Lyons Guide To Mastering Tomboy Style
By Lucky Staff
October 14, 2014

It's a known fact that when it comes to guy-meets-girl cool, no one nails it quite like J.Crew president and executive creative director Jenna Lyons. Click through above for her tips for pulling off the menswear-inspired look, from head to brogues.

1. Choose a well-cut blazer. "Go for clean styles that aren't nipped in at the waist and that have a defined line between the shoulder and the front of the lapel."

2. When it comes to boyfriend jeans, be picky. "I love pairs with a sense of authenticity—a truly straight cut and a natural-looking wash are key."

3. Add a personal touch. "My initials are embroidered on all of my button-downs," says Lyons. "Some have a single J, others have all three letters and some incorporate design elements like dots or a crown."

4. Visit the men's section. "I'll wear a menswear suit with heels to the office or with sneakers for evening," says Lyons. "And I love the look of a chunky oversize sweater with a little short skirt."

Bonus Tip! Try one of Lyons' signatures: thick oversize frames.

I love the idea of getting a button down personalized with initials. I think that is such a preppy move!

I am not going to lie, I still have a hard time incorporating sneakers into my casual wardrobe. I own J.Crew's Women's Nike Vintage Collection Air Pegasus '83 sneakers and I don't wear them often. J.Crew did a great job styling them in the catalogs, but I just don't think I can pull them off.

What are your thoughts on Jenna Lyon's tips to master the Tomboy Style? Are there any that you agree or disagree with? Please share! :)

J.Crew's Brooklyn Debut {looks amazeballs!}

"Thanks!" to Chetna who shared the following (along with the two images above) with us:

J. Crew's Brooklyn debut is official! The doors of the 6,000 sq. ft. Williamsburg location opened to the public today at 11am, with women's, men's and kids offerings for Brooklynites at 234 Wythe Avenue.

The first-ever Brooklyn store is teeming with special features and showcases the local artists (Naomi Reis, AMMA Studios, Johannes Giradoni and more) J.Crew collaborated with to create innovative designs for the space.

To help celebrate the arrival, J.Crew will be welcoming the Williamsburg community all weekend long with food carts and special neighborhood offerings, including a limited edition Greg LaMarche for J.Crew tote bag.

The following is an article from Refinery 29 (click here to read in its entirety) about the store opening (all photos from here on come from there as well):

Get An Exclusive Sneak Peek At J.Crew's First Brooklyn Store
By Erin Cunningham
September 26, 2014

J.Crew's first Brooklyn store isn't your typical preppy paradise. No, it was designed with the Williamsburg customer in mind, which means we won't be seeing hipsters swapping their wide-rimmed glasses for crew necks. We might find, however, men and women alike incorporating more traditional pieces into their wardrobes in surprising and delightful ways, à la Jenna Lyons.

Lyons, a former Brooklyn resident, was extremely hands-on with the store's design process, putting an emphasis on collaborations with local artists like Johannes Girardoni and Naomi Reis for the post's interior. And, while some of the 'hood's residents may not be too happy with yet another retail-chain invasion, Lyons and her team attempted to deliver the store with as much mom-and-pop aesthetic as possible; the building has maintained its original façade, and the artisanal work adds a community aspect to the mass retailer.

"So much is going on there," Lyons explained in an interview earlier this month. "Every time I read about something new these days, it’s happening in Williamsburg. Half the office lives in Williamsburg, and it felt like an easy, natural place for us to be." ...

This newest store looks amazing!!! From the outside facade to the indoor decor, I could shop there all day. With 6000 square feet of just J.Crew merchandise, it does indeed sound like a preppy paradise.

I really love looking through all the photos. Not only do they showcase a lot of eye candy, I like seeing how the clothes are styled on the mannequins.

What are your thoughts on J.Crew's latest store opening? Do you think the new location is a good fit for J.Crew? Have you stopped in already? Are you planning to? If so, please share! :)

J.Crew's Jenna Lyons on Beauty

 "Thanks!" to maryeb, as well as traderscoobies (in this post) and Roxana Hadadi (in this post), who shared the following from Yahoo (click here for the article in its entirety):

Jenna Lyons Talks Beauty, Life, and Aging
Into the Gloss
August 21, 2014

"There’s sexiness in not trying to be sexy. Sexy for J.Crew is something more natural, not when everything is firing on all cylinders. There has to be something that’s a bit undone. You can’t have perfect hair, and clothes, and makeup—you need an element of imperfection to make you feel like there’s a person behind it all.

I was talking to Anna Wintour about this when we were discussing the red carpets last year, both of us wanted to go and just mess people up a bit. Everyone was so perfect! Everyone’s tan and primped and coifed and there’s no ease. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to be in that level of spotlight and to be photographed from every single angle while you’re talking and laughing and all these things. You’re so vulnerable! So I get it, but I still just want to go in and mess up people’s hair. ...Even if the hair is pulled up perfectly, there has to be that one little piece that comes off.

SKINCARE
I’m very loyal to beauty products. I’m fortunate because I get to work with a lot of makeup artists and I come across some amazing discoveries along the way. These Estée Lauder Stress Relief Eye Masks are magic. Someone used them on me when I had gotten off a plane in London and had to go straight to work. I was like, ‘Oh yeah, those things don’t work,’ and then she took them off and I was like, ‘OK, they work.’ I just looked better. These are for all of us old people.

I also use the Shu Uemura Intense Vitalizing Concentrate. I don’t know why it happens, but I have this problem where makeup doesn’t stay on my eyes. I put it on and then look at it a few hours later and I’m like, ‘Well, I had makeup on, but I don’t anymore.’ This stuff makes me feel a little younger, it hides the lines, and it makes my makeup stay on. I just dab it on the lid and underneath my eyes and it totally stops under-eye makeup from looking cake-y. It’smagic. Plus it comes in an eyedropper—I think that anything that comes in an eyedropper has to be good.

I go to Aida Bicaj for facials. I’m obsessed with her; she’s how I found the Biologique Recherche Lotion P50, which I’m also obsessed with. I have the other creams and stuff, but this is the one that I always use; if I travel I don’t leave without it. Sometimes you wash your face after having makeup on and it doesn’t feel totally clean, and this is the only thing that does that for me. It’s a little like an adult-level Stridex pad, except it doesn’t strip all the grease off your face—I want to preserve the grease. I need the grease; I just want to get the clean.

I want my face to look shiny, young, and dewy. It doesn’t do any of those things, but I do the best I can. I remember when I went to my son’s birthday party—it was early in the morning and I had been out kind of late the night before because we had an event, so I woke up feeling not so great—and I used the Arcona Brightening Gommage before my face cream and one of the moms said, ‘You look great! What did you do to your skin?’ and I was like, ‘…Arcona Brightening Gommage’, and she was like, ‘What?!’ and I was like, ‘I know.’ I think it expires though, which just means it’s got good stuff in it…I just made that up… Also this Dr. Jart Firming Sleep Mask is an awesome moisturizer. I put it on at night, but I use it in the morning, too, because half of the time I forget to do it at night. [Laughs]

The most important beauty product of all is my Blistex Medicated Lip Balm. It’s the only lip balm that doesn’t burn my lips—I know I’m not the only one with that problem.

MAKEUP
Our makeup artist brings this amazing stuff, Canmake Cream Cheek, back for me from Japan. It’s a treasure. I like it because it doesn’t make me look powdery like regular blush, but it’s also good for lips when you want to take your red lipstick off but it just won’t come off all the way. If you put it on after you remove all the lipstick that you can, it gives this really nice stained berry look.

I don’t have one general makeup look, but it’s always either a red lip or a dark eye. Those are my only two choices, and I do them pretty regularly. I don’t have a lot of eyelashes, but the Chatecaille Longest Lash mascara is the only one that doesn’t get gloopy, and I use this Tom Ford Eye Defining Pen in Black. It’s got two sides—one’s very skinny and one’s a little thicker, and the genius thing is that when you put the cap on it pumps the liquid into the tip so it’s fresh for the next time you use it. Also, Nars just made the caps for their lipsticks magnetized, which I have to say is the best thing. That was my one beef with them—that the caps fell off. And then they totally rectified it! I usually wear Heatwave. My son, Beckett likes my Bite Matte Crème Lip Crayon in Clementine, and he’ll notice the difference; if I change it up he’s always like, ‘Mommy, what’s that?’ Also I use this MAC Prowear Lip Pencil that’s kind of a perfect no-color color called Staunchly Stylish.

I feel like looking powdery or matte looks old. There’s no reflection on your skin; you just look super made-up. I don’t love it. I use theLaura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer, which I feel like slides around too much, but I like the consistency of it and I like that it has sunscreen. I also like the Shu Uemura Sweet Beige Brown Palette if I’m not doing a dark eye, which I get online. In fact, I order everything online.

HAIR
I use this Sachajuan Intensive Hair Oil after showering. I have super frizzy hair and I’ve tried everything—this is the only thing that will allow me to let my hair dry naturally. We carry them at J. Crew. I also use the Sachajuan Ocean Mist in my son’s hair. He hates when I do it, but it looks so cute. It totally works! I’m not lying. If I haven’t used something or I don’t like it I won’t talk about it—and we only sell beauty stuff at J. Crew that we’ve tried and really like. I truly think their products great. Also the packaging is nice and simple.

FRAGRANCE
When we first really got started with the fragrances people were like, ‘Oh, you can call it Jenna and use your face in the ads’ and I was like, ‘Uh, no we can’t.’ It didn’t seem like us. And can you imagine if I put my face on it? It wouldn’t sell. [Laughs] So we started thinking that we should do it with someone whose whole existence revolves around perfume and is really steeped in that industry. We’ve been approached to do a fragrance so many times, but what became clear to us after doing so many other J. Crew collaborations is that the people you are working with have an expertise and a sensibility, and often a collaboration yields a much better result than if we were going to go out and do our ownsneaker or whatnot. Which is why we don’t make sneakers—they’re an entirely different animal from, say, a deck shoe. The experts we collaborate with are people who spend their whole lives perfecting this one thing, people who understand that specific creative process.

So we approached this perfumer, Carlos Huber, to finally do it with us. I’d been keeping him in the back of my mind since we shot him a while ago for the catalog—I just remember thinking he was so handsome, I had fallen in love. He referenced Peggy Guggenheim for inspiration, who years ago had done a women’s art opening on 57th Street. She had her own gallery made completely out of wood, which was unusual because now if you think about a gallery you think about a white box. Instead, it was this warm, womb-like structure—absolutely stunning. So the fragrances’ inspiration focused on that night at the gallery opening. That’s where the numbers for the fragrances come from—it was 31 artists on 57thStreet.

The wood and the oak notes stem from the fact that Peggy didn’t serve wine and spritzers, she served whiskey and vermouth. He pulled from some of the iconic perfumes like Schiaparelli, which was a very popular perfume at the time. Also Frida Kahlo was one of the artists at the opening, so he thought about something that she would’ve worn at the time, and used those scents as the under-notes.

It’s funny, I love the smell of 57 quite a bit and I’ve been trying to wear it, but my son is completely not tolerant because I’ve been wearing the same perfume since he was born. He’s like, ‘You don’t smell like my mom! Where’s your perfume?’ But I still get to smell the new fragrances in the office, of course. I’ll pass by and think, ‘Mmm, that smells nice! It’s ours? OK, cool, I still like it.’ Everyone’s wearing them—they work for both men and women. Everything we do roots back to menswear in the end, so the idea that our perfume or a cologne might be suitable for one or the other makes complete sense. I mean, I wear men’s clothes half the time anyways. I get them from everywhere, but J. Crew’s easiest because I can get everything tailored—I know some people. [Laughs]

AGING
I was reading something today that said that if you’re too skinny people think you don’t eat, and if you’re too fat you’re a slob. But it wasn’t a magazine…Oh, it was on Naomi Campbell’s Instagram. [Laughs] Society is so tough and expectations are so unrealistic. Could I take better care of myself? Absolutely. I joke all the time that I’m old and I’m getting older and I feel it, so I guess I would rather talk about it with a smile and say, ‘Oh God, I’m old!’ than spend all my time at the dermatologist. I approach aging with ice cream and a martini.”

What are your thoughts on Jenna's take? Any points you really agree with? If so, please share! :)