Vague references to American tradition are all well and good when you’re just trying to move some madras shorts—but when you’re decorating your house you should make sure that the fantasy old-timey United States you’re worshipping isn’t actually fantasy old-time Confederate States of America. Just ask J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler.
J. Crew, America’s finest purveyor of shirts that look like tablecloths, fired 175 people last week. Layoffs are a sad whirlwind, and people react differently to the swiftness of sudden unemployment. One really bad way to deal with layoffs is to post boozy photos to Instagram celebrating your continued employment at the expense of your subordinates.
Last week an ad was emailed to J. Crew customers featuring a photo of the company's president and creative director Jenna Lyons and her son in which she was painting his toenails pink. A caption below the picture read: "Lucky for me I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon." Oh, fun. Good for her. Good for him. Right? Wrong. This is an outrage!
The cast of Katie Holmes rom-com The Romantics did a J. Crew ad campaign, and the result is an aneurysm of creamy cupcakes, tasteful khaki, and fresh-faced youth. Katie even exorcises a few Tom Cruise-related demons. Let's take a look.
According to its trailer, The Romantics is about tasteful white people getting married in a scenic white people place. (Maine?) Quoth J. Crew's synergistic The Romantics advertainment: "Friendships and alliances are tested and the love triangle comes to a head the night before the wedding, when the drunken friends frolic in the nearby surf and return to shore… without the groom." That sounds… macabre. (And kind of interesting? I hate it when I accidentally like something I meant to hate.)
• Photog Todd Selby has a fab set of photos taken inside Julia Restoin Roitfeld's Noho loft. If you've ever wanted to take a look at her expansive shoe collection—or peek inside her medicine cabinet—now is your chance. [The Selby]
• Sir Philip Green is still looking to establish another Topshop outlet in NYC. Where, exactly? "Basically, anywhere H&M has a store." [NYO]
• Marc Jacobs and Lorenzo Martone won't be moving into their new $13 million townhouse for awhile. The house is a "shell" and doesn't even have walls yet and will take a year to renovate, says Jacobs. [NYM]
• J.Crew's new men's-only store opened today. [Style.com]
• At long last, Karl Lagerfeld has his very own Ken doll "complete with matching black suit, high white collar, white ponytail, silver leather gloves." The doll-like photo to your left? That's the genuine article. [Racked]
• Either Adele suddenly dropped a ton of weight before her Annie Leibovitz photo shoot or Vogue's art department has been working overtime. [Jezebel]
• French officials are considering a law that would require magazines to disclose the fact they've manipulated a photo. That sound you just heard was Pascal Dangin shudder with disgust. [BI]
• The fashion world has "slowed down and sobered up," but "the recession could turn out to make designers better designers," says Cathy Horyn. [NYT]
• The recession ain't stopping Marc Jacobs: He's opening seven new boutiques this year. [WWD]
• Alexander McQueen stunned crowds at Paris Fashion Week with a collection that "oozed with imagination," but was "plenty unsettling," too. [IHT, WWD]
• Reviews from some of the other shows in Paris the past couple of days. [NYT, WSJ, Vogue UK]
• Détente! Anti-fur crusader (and PETA honcho) Dan Mathews was spotted shaking hands with none other than Anna Wintour. [NYP]
• Apparently the economy is forcing women to rush over to consignment shops to sell their "beloved Louis Vuittons at pennies on the dollar." [NYP]
• J. Crew is thinking of opening a bridal salon. [Racked]
• You can credit Twilight for boosting sales at Hot Topic. [NYM]
• Neiman Marcus reported that sales dropped 21% last quarter. [Reuters]
• A peek at a new collection by Kimberly Ovitz, daughter of Michael. [Pipeline]
• At John Galliano's show in Paris, "toxic" fake snow had editors like Hamish Bowles, Grace Coddington, and Glenda Bailey most unhappy. [Fashionologie]
• Two people very happy this evening: Jason Wu, who designed Michelle Obama's one-shoulder white chiffon gown; and Isabel Toledo, of course, who was responsible for the lemongrass-yellow coat and matching dress that Michelle wore to the inauguration. [NYT, AP, WWD]
• As for Malia and Sasha's outfits—and Michelle's olive gloves—don't go searching for them at J. Crew just yet. The pieces won't be available to the general public until fall. [Reuters]
• Trousergate, fashion's latest catfight: Giorgio Armani has accused Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of copying his quited trousers; bitchy comments on both sides have followed. [Guardian]
• A first look at Alexander McQueen's new line for Target. [Nylon]
• News flash: There aren't that many blacks on the catwalks these days. [NYT]
• Profits are up at Burberry, but the company is still cutting staff. [WSJ]
• Aretha Franklin's inaugural hat can be yours for $179. [WWD]
♦ Christian Siriano plans to make it work with Payless: The Project Runway winner is teaming up with the company on a line of footwear and handbags that will launch next fall. [NYP]
♦ Today was Cyber Monday, the day when online retailers kick off the holiday season with super-steep discounts. It didn't turn out to be a great day for Bloomingdale's and J. Crew: both watched their websites crash this morning. [Crain's, USA Today]
♦ In case you forgot to issue your congratulations, Anna Wintour headed off to Buckingham Palace last week to pick up whatever is it you are given when you're named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. [Vogue UK]
♦ A first look at Charlotte Ronson's line for JCPenney, I Heart Ronson, and her new $30 dresses. [Nylon]
♦ Details on the cuts at Men's Vogue: The mag will be published just two times next year and publisher Marc Berger is leaving. The fate of other staffers is unclear. [Mediaweek]
♦ Damien Hirst's latest collaboration with Levi's includes pairs of jeans for $230 and $83 t-shirts. [WWD]
♦ Plastic surgeons report interest in cosmetic procedures is dropping fast. [NYT]
♦ J. Crew is absolutely delighted Michelle Obama mentioned the brand on The Tonight Show last night. It's already the basis of an online ad campaign. [Jezebel, Politico]
♦ The Olsens celebrated the launch of their book at Barneys last night, after which MK celebrated into the night at Bungalow 8 and Lit. Today the duo signed books at Barnes & Noble, where they were greeted by PETA protesters in masks. [style file, OK!]
♦ Rachel Roy is just like you and me: She relishes going to vintage stores in small towns because "they aren't picked over by designers like New York is." As for whose style she most admires? Lauren Santo Domingo's. [FabSugar]
♦ You may have balked at Tom Ford's $9,240 otter fur boots, but you'll feel silly on the beach at St. Barts this winter without his $475 tanning goggles! [style file]
Luxer-than-thou retailer J. Crew has mostly avoided the economic pinch, since its customers barely notice that they're paying $4 a gallon for gas. Instead, the retailer has been laid low by buggy software, reports the Business Technology blog. One outraged customer, shown here, was billed $9,208.50 and shipped baby-size shirts, not the mediums he'd ordered. J. Crew's net income in its most recent quarter fell 12 percent from the same period last year to $18.1 million, and the company said it spent $3 million to fix the problem. Do the math: Had J. Crew not had the software problem, its income would have been up 2.5 percent. It's a shameful comeuppance for J. Crew CEO Mickey Drexler."Retail is detail; Mickey lives that," a Wall Street analyst told the New York Times in March for a profile which tracked Drexler's obsessive visits to stores, where he talked to customers at length about style and fit. Alas, no such attention to detail was on display when it came to J. Crew's website — which increasingly is how customers interact with the company. Drexler reads and answers a lot of email, according to the Times. But it sounds like he should spend less time in stores, and more time camped out in the datacenter.
Defying all the commercialism and profit the holidays have come to mean, retailer J.Crew boldly smacks the season with a subversive reality check. And so many a sporty WASP-wannabe is left in a harrowing pit of confusion — and, worse, a stalled state of spending.
