Jenna Lyons: Step Into My Office (PHOTOS)

Step Into My Office: Jenna Lyons
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Jenna Lyons is known to surprise. How else would the J.Crew president and creative director explain her penchant for the unexpected - menswear tailoring with feminine details, stripes with polka dots, florals with animal prints or neutrals and neons? But when visiting her Astor Place office, which just happens to be right upstairs from Stylelist, the mix-master said something truly bewildering: “T-shirts and I don’t really get along.” How could the purveyor of casual cool not look good in a t-shirt? She continued, while demonstratively gesturing with her hands, “I mean, we just don’t agree. Every time someone takes a picture of me in a t-shirt I’m like, ‘Why did I do that?' I love t-shirts; they just don’t love me. It’s very sad. I don’t have a great body for t-shirts.”

And this is the sort of Lyon-ess honesty we've come to know and love. Keep reading for other amazing anecdotes, beneath the pictures below, about Bill Cunningham, her high school style, and the origin of her office knickknacks.

All photos by Myra Iqbal.

(01 of12)
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"Summer's been great! My little guy is learning to swim. That's been the highlight of my summer - my little guy diving into the deep end."
(02 of12)
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"I'm a major Bill Cunningham freak. I actually have a photograph behind my desk. I'm so in love with him and at every party I say hi to him just because I can't help myself; I'm totally obsessed with him. So after I saw his movie I went up to him and I have to introduce myself every time, but he sort of recognizes me now like 'You're the girl that stalks me and holds on to my hand'-- you know that uncomfortable hold when someone shakes your hand too long? I'm that girl with Bill. He took my picture for the New York Times at the Prospect Park event-- the worst picture I have ever seen in my entire life. It looks like someone made my lips out of silly putty. Even my mother said it's not a cute picture. I feel like I need to call Bill and say I need a re-do. That can't be my only experience with Bill. It just can't be!"
(03 of12)
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"Honestly, my style when I was younger was pretty bad. My biggest problem was that I'm really tall and I can't really buy things off the rack. Interestingly J. Crew is one of the few places that sells Tall. I couldn't really go to a vintage store because nothing fit me. People just weren't my height in the seventies. I wore a lot of Gap back in college. I went to school with Derek Lam who had the best style of anyone I've known--he made me crazy! And I was a huge fan of J. Crew before I started here. If I could tell a younger me something I would have told myself, 'Wash your hair more often, and don't play with hair dye.' I had really unbelievably colored hair back then. Those phases, we all went through it."
(04 of12)
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"I have this tape that I got from Merci in Paris, so if you get a note from me it's special."
(05 of12)
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"This is my body image: big shoulders, saggy arms, love handles, cellulite thighs, legs like tree trunks."
(06 of12)
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"Right now I'm listening to an artist called Sia a lot. The song is called 'Breathe Me' on iTunes."
(07 of12)
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"Most of [my paintings] are from...school project fairs. I got this at this beautiful little school on 8th street. There's always students that are coming out of these schools that are really talented."
(08 of12)
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"That picture with the two flowers on it is actually a painting that Ruben Toledo sent to me after the inauguration, just saying that it was nice being a part of the inauguration with you. So sweet. It made me realize that I don't do anything that nice to anyone ever, I thought it was the nicest possible thing that anyone could do."
(09 of12)
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(10 of12)
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A crown of J's given to Jenna by her staff.
(11 of12)
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"For Women's Fall we looked at 'The Great Gatsby'-- that really classic tailoring, but a little more feminine, sort of a secretary feel. That softness from 'The Great Gatsby' and the really structured tailoring came from 'Bonnie and Clyde.'"
(12 of12)
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"I have this necklace that I named The Martha Stewart because she had a breakdown over it she loved it so much. Also there's a note from Glenda Bailey congratulating me, which I thought was really sweet as I hardly knew her. And a picture of the Eiffel Tower, which is my favorite place in the world. Some drawings by [my son] Beckett which I love, notes from the artist Tom Sachs. He and I are friends--we're working on something and he writes me these funny notes that totally crack me up. Oh and there's a picture of an Afghan, because everyone says that I look like an Afghan...I used to get teased about it."

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