Retail Binge

Maggie Bullock’s The Kingdom of Prep: the inside story of the rise and (near) fall of J.Crew is such a brilliant read on the individuals who made J.Crew and J.Crew’s style evolution. Bullock’s journalism and writing style is sharp-witted and on point. She provides a behind the scenes dive into the individuals who created J.Crew and acute attention detail on everything you’d want to know and more. This may have been my favorite book I’ve read all last year. I want to read everything by Maggie Bullock, and this is her first solo book!

Stephanie McNeal’s Swipe Up For More!: inside the unfiltered lives of influencers follows three mainstream influencers and shares each of their stories on how they developed their individual brand and the success they are today. The writing style was not as polished and developed as Bullock’s, but still an interesting read for the content.

What do these two books have in common? The strive for authenticity. J. Crew wanted their brand to feel real. Instagram followers crave authenticity from the influencers they follow to reveal all the nitty gritty and their true self. Whether you are a company or an individual, there is the need to make your brand relatable to your audience. We are becoming more vulnerable in our personal and professional lives and brands are aware of this. Both of these books cover the journey individuals took to achieve a real and authentic brand that felt real, reflective of their vision and of themselves.

From Bullock’s The Kingdom of Prep, J.Crew had several turns of brand authenticity. Arthur Cinader and his daughter Emily Scott founded J.Crew in 1983. It would be Emily’s style that turns J.Crew into the recognizable J.Crew of the 1990s and early aughts. Emily’s J.Crew minimalism to future Jenna Lyon’s maximalism. Both Emily and Jenna were fundamental influencers of the brand they worked and lived for.

Emily photographed at home in 1999. FERNANDO BENGOECHEA/GETTY IMAGES. Bullock, Maggie, Inside the Early Days of J.Crew: Before Jenna Lyons or Olympia Gayot, There Was Emily Cinader. March 6, 2023, Vanity Fair.

Emily’s personal style is what became the “cool” J.Crew style of the 1990s and into the early 2000s. At the office, Emily wore no makeup, chunky loafers, tennis bracelet with blazer and slacks, Emily was very much 90s minimalism which also seems very much on trend in 2024. And J.Crew’s design team embraced Emily’s aesthetic and vision for J.Crew, “upscale, career-minded, polished,” (Bullock, 92). J.Crew was already producing classic pieces, but Emily had a craving for something a bit more luxe, what would be called the J.Crew Collection.

“Old-school J.Crew employees still get a little misty talking about Collection. The clothes were just that good, they say. When I spoke to the writer Holly Brubach, she walked to her closet, phone in hand, and plucked out a leather-trimmed black wool peacoat from the ’90s, still perfectly in step today, and checked the label. Yep, J.Crew Collection.” (Bullock, 115).

I got a little obsessed with finding these luxe, authentic pieces of Emily’s J.Crew Collection. I wanted to feel what these well-tailored Italian wool pants felt like! And I did!

ThredUp https://www.thredup.com/product/151634513

They were authentic J.Crew Collection Italian wool pants. Very nicely made. Wool made in Italy. A fancy Italian label on the inside. The cut of pants reminded me of old Christmas photos from the 90s of what my Mom would be wearing with a sweater. It felt amazing to feel and wear what Emily and the J.Crew design team had created from the pages of Bullock’s The Kingdom of Prep.

As much as Emily was J.Crew’s classic minimalism, Jenna Lyons would be J.Crew’s new take on classic maximalism. Jenna brought bright mixing and matching style choices and obvious makeup to the scene. I loved reading the moment when Jenna and Gayle Spannaus, J.Crew Fashion Director, were ecstatic seeing the shade of L’Oreal #43 from Gayle’s makeup bag on a J.Crew model. Huge turning point from Emily’s no makeup J.Crew.

Photo of Jenna Lyons from Jenna Lyons x Beauty Pie, https://www.beautypie.com/us/blog/jenna-lyons-collab

When I think back to my graduate school days around 2011, I can see how so much of the style I saw was influenced by Jenna Lyons. Her style is effortless, full of mixing and matching prints and textures, pairing that leopard flat with neon and leather. Masculine meets feminine. It is amazing how her personal style has set trends across the last two decades. Jenna Lyons has become an iconic fashion and lifestyle influencer. And she is 100% her genuine self, her true authentic self. And it was her personal style that we saw when you stepped into a J.Crew store.

Both Emily and Jenna lived their style and made their personal style a success in the J.Crew brand. To read more about each of their journeys with J.Crew, I highly recommended reading Maggie Bullock’s The Kingdom of Prep: the inside story of the rise and (near) fall of J.Crew . You will also become obsessed with thrifting the J.Crew Collection.