188 HOUSE DRESSING

Jenna Lyons gave a fashion makeover to American clothing retailer J.Crew’s classic garb during her run as creative director. The 49-year-old splashed on the colours, sequins and frills for a chic-geek look much like her own. Now she’s moved on and her new destination is still unknown. Some women get a new ‘do to mark a big life change. Others, like Lyons, renovate their home. Her Soho apartment is dressed to impress, mixing Parisian-style grandeur and funky furnishings. The kitchen’s brass blacksplash and workspace, a 1950s Venini chandelier and a Candida Höfer photograph in her bedroom. A real wow effect

Jenna Lyons is decked out in pink coveralls that effortlessly match with the dusty grey walls in the living room of her newly renovated apartment in New York’s SoHo neighbourhood. J.Crew’s former president and creative director, who made sequins and jeans work-approved, leaves nothing to chance. Barefoot and with just a touch of makeup, she looks straight into the camera during a video accompanying an article in The New York Times’ “T Magazine”. Lyons knows that a picture of her and her home is worth far more than 1000 words. For years, Lyons and her then-husband, artist Vincent Mazeau, lived in a Brooklyn townhouse, sold in 2012 to Vince Clarke, Depeche Mode’s keyboardist. The same year she bought this apartment in trendy Soho, short for South of Houston Street. The fashionista brings her well-honed sense of style to interior design, fabulously dressing up these recently redesigned digs. After all, when talking about Lyons, you really can’t exaggerate. A few years ago, in the title of a New York Times profile, she was crowned ‘TheWoman who Dresses America’. Born in Boston but raised in California, the 49-year-old landed her first job out of college at J.Crew, rising the ranks to become creative director and then president of the classic clothing label. When former CEO Millard Drexler first arrived at J.Crew from Apple in 2003, he noticed this timid woman wearing clunky, nerdy glasses and knew she was the one to put his money on. In fact, over the next two decades, the brand took off. The combo of traditional garb with splashy colours and trim appealed to normal folks and celebrities alike. Former First Lady Michelle Obama wore J.Crew during many official appearances. In 2014, J.Crew started experiencing budget woes. In December 2017 as all sorts of rumours swirled, Lyons decided to leave the company, retreating to her amazing abode on the fourth floor of a 19th-century building. Meyer Davis, the New York-based, self-described ‘design boutique’, handled the interior design. For more than 20 years, principals Will Meyer and Gray Davis have designed Oscar de La Renta’s stores and some of the world’s most beautiful five-star hotels, from Ritz Carlton to Four Seasons. Not to mention a good number of Manhattan’s most fashionable restaurants. In Lyons’ living room, huge gold-foil numbers are propped up, leftover decorations from her son’s tenth birthday party. The room’s decor effectively mixes Parisianstyle grandeur, offbeat touches and hidden high-tech devices. From a slot above the marble fireplace, a remote-controlled, 60-inch television slides out. You can then plop down on one of the leopard-print poufs, proof that in Lyons’ house the surprises just keep coming. The posh powder-pink sectional sofa and the Hermès jungle-print dividing panels add an eclectic elegance, which is also seen in her famous wardrobe. This is the woman who wowed the red carpet at the 2012 Metropolitan Museum of Art gala wearing an haute couture fuchsia taffeta skirt with a jeans shirt. Her living room’s milky grey walls are left mostly bare except for metal bookcases and an original Cy Twombly poster, a gift from the American