At the helm. Have Londoners fallen out of love with American super-brands, asks
high-street brands doing it cheaper, with no less attention to fabric or detail?” says Frankie Graddon, fashion and beauty editor of The Pool. “Where once it felt like you could get something a bit different in J Crew, it’s faded into the background. Newer, exciting brands have overtaken it.”
That many of those brands happen to be Scandinavian is of particular note. It’s easy to take the mick out of hygge, but here in the politically uncertain maelstrom that is 2017, “cosy” trumps “preppy” every time. Priorities have changed. Against a sea of genderless, anonymous garb of the sort that Cos and & Other Stories sell, the colour-pop peppiness of J Crew feels out of kilter. In light of this, perhaps it’s little surprise that sister company Madewell has performed better than J Crew, with sales increasing 14 per cent to $341.6 million in 2016. In many ways, Madewell is its laid-back sibling: its website describes the brand as touting “effortless and tomboy st yles”. S i g n i f i c a n t l y, Sikhounmuong was previously head of Madewell’s design team.
It seems wrong that Lyons should be sunk by a predilection for items as “meh” as affordable jeans and boxy-cut sweatshirts but that’s fashion. It also reflects changes in the workplace that perhaps J Crew didn’t see coming. According to a recent survey conducted by British workwear provider Simon Jersey, only one in four workers would label their employer’s dress code as “smart”, with 36 per cent saying they had introduced a “smart casual” policy. When the CEO of Facebook goes to work in a hoodie, the idea of dazzling the boardroom in a brocade pencil skirt and a diamante necklace seems overblown.
Still, there’s no way this is the last we’ve heard of Lyons. She’ll be back — minus the d ay t i m e sequins, maybe — but with another retail masterplan up her sleeves.
@Lauracraik