If asked to share the secret recipe that has catapulted J Crew to the forefront of the American retail scene, creative director Jenna Lyons might smile and demur. But at Tuesday morning's New York fashion week presentation of the J Crew spring/summer 2014 collection, the blueprint was there for all to see: take a little high fashion and a little low, add sparkle and whimsy with accessories, and finish off with a pop of lip colour straight out of Lyons' own makeup bag.
The collection offered a teaser of what's to come when J Crew opens its first British flagship store on Regent Street in November. For spring/summer 2014, shoppers can look forward to watercolour floral-printed neoprene skirts, paint-splattered camo trousers and sweet eyelet dresses. The store already has British fans – Francesca Burns, fashion editor at British Vogue, tweeted her approval of the trousers, comparing them to a pair Kate Moss wore in a Juergen Teller shoot for the magazine. The models also wore shoes by British designer Sophia Webster. Black-and-white tasselled patent-leather pumps, Madras-print sandals and neon-pink stilettos all featured. Having a British shoe designer to work with "felt like a really nice connection because we are opening in London," said Tom Mora, head of women's design, as a scrum of guests jostled for a better Instagram shot of the models behind him.
But for the rest of spring's ready-to-wear collection, J Crew didn't have Britain in mind. "I was thinking about the duality of beach culture," said Mora. Hints of the California coast (surfers, neoprene, tropical florals) squared off with more formal elements drawn from the Venice Lido, circa 1900. Full-skirted sundresses, linen blazers, nautical stripes were the result. "The combination and contrast of all these pieces together felt really fresh," Mora added.
J Crew's USP is fashion nous mixed with accessibility – a relatively basic flowered T-shirt with high-waisted denim shorts, or a single-breasted navy blue blazer worn cape-style. It's not the way the average shopper will do it, but chances are strong that said shopper, like the most label-conscious members of the fashion crowd, will find something to love.
With its London launches looming (the brand will also open a menswear store on bespoke-tailoring heartland Lamb's Conduit Street in mid-October), Mora has spent plenty of time thinking about the differences between the UK and US customer. "The UK customer wants the sophisticated pieces from the collection," he said. "It's a good match because these are all things we're already doing on a day-to-day basis." In November, we'll find out just how compatible it really is.
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