Crew's Control
With guidance from a newly out creative director, J. Crew works to update its staid image.
BY Ari Karpel
September 11 2012 4:00 AM ET
http://www.advocate.com/print-issue/current-issue/2012/09/11/crews-controlIt all started with a blog post, as so many things do these days.
[...]
The nail polish nontroversy, referred to in some media circles as "Toemageddon," marked the first time many people ever heard of Jenna Lyons. Alas, it has not been the last. Six months later, in October of last year, word got out that Lyons had been going through a divorce from her husband and was in a relationship with a woman.
Ablow's response: "What it says is that my worry that Ms. Lyons might be expressing her own discomfort with masculinity and projecting it onto her son — and mine, and yours — seems to have been justified."
As if that weren't fearmongering enough: "It says that she was, indeed, apparently using J. Crew — a brand so many or our kids gravitate toward — as her launching pad for a mini-campaign to change the way our kids think about their bodies and their gender identities."
But enough about Ablow. What impact has all his bloviating had on J. Crew?
Evidently, not much.
