Jenna Lyons Biography
Jenna Lyons is a fashion designer and businesswoman who served as J.Crew’s creative director and president from 2008 to 2010. After two years of declining sales, her departure from J.Crew was announced in April 2017. Lyons was dubbed the “Woman Who Dresses America” in 2013. According to The New York Times, “the face of the brand became the symbol of its fall” in 2017.
Jenna Lyons Age
Lyons is 54 years old as of 2022. She was born on 8 June 1968 in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. She celebrates her birthday on 8 June.
READ: An Unstoppable Force: Amy Wood’s Incredible Journey
Jenna Lyons Family
Lyons’ perspectives and interests are heavily influenced by her childhood experiences. Her genetic condition “made me introverted, but it was also the reason I loved fashion, because it can change who you are and how you feel, and that can be magical,” she says of her childhood. Her mother was a piano teacher who encouraged her to be creative, which sparked her interest in fashion.
Jenna Lyons Husband | Children
Lyons was married to artist Vincent Mazeau for nine years and had a son, Beckett, with him. The couple divorced in 2011 and sold their townhouse. She publicly acknowledged her relationship with Courtney Crangi in 2012, and she was living in Tribeca with her son in 2013. Lyons and Crangi divorced in December of 2017.
Jenna Lyons Education
She enjoyed defying her school uniform, and she learned to sew in seventh grade, giving her more confidence. One of her personal motivations for success stems from witnessing her parents’ divorce and never having to rely on a man for financial support. Lyons attended Parsons and graduated in 1990 as a result of her interest and talent in fashion.
Jenna Lyons Net Worth
Lyons has an estimated net worth of $1.1 million.
Jenna Lyons Eyelashes | Teeth
Lyons lacks eyelashes. Lyons has incontinent pigment, a genetic condition that affects lash growth among other things. Due to her shyness and health issues, she was heavily bullied as a child. She wears dentures because she had incontinent pigment, a genetic disorder that caused her teeth to be misaligned, her hair to fall out in patches, and her skin to be scarred.
Jenna Lyons Apartment
A vintage Milo Baughman sofa in Pierre Frey velvet, a Paul McCobb coffee table with a custom marble top, a Dimore Studio folding screen in Herme fabric, and a Cy Twombly paperwork are among the items in Lyons’ SoHo loft. In the six years since Lyons sold the Brooklyn townhouse that made her famous, there has been a lot has changed in her life, not just professionally. In plain view all through is Lyons’ unmistakable energy, from the monster, gold-foil numeral 10 remaining over from her child Beckett’s birthday, to the outlined mathematical prints by Fred Sandback inclining nonchalantly against the chimney.
However, interior design enthusiasts who pay close attention to every detail in her Park Slope home will notice a deeper richness—as if Lyons has allowed herself to unfurl into the tactile luxury. The West Hollywood apartment that Laurie Lyons designed revolved around a few essential pieces that had to be incorporated into each of the numerous renderings she had in mind for the space.
The set of bronze table legs that support the vanity in the adjoining bathroom is one of the details she is most proud of. They are cast from life-size, hand-drawn renderings by Philip Crangi and are as intricately detailed as the hilt of a medieval sword.
Jenna Lyons J.Crew
When Lyons was 21 years old, she got her first job at J.Crew. She started out working as an assistant designer for men’s wear, and her first job was to redesign rugby shirts for men for the company. By 2003, she was J.Crew’s Vice President of Women’s Design, having begun her upward trajectory.
Millard Drexler and Lyons began a close relationship when he was hired as CEO and chairman in 2003. From just under $690 million in 2003 to just shy of $2 billion in 2011, J.Crew’s revenue tripled thanks to the two. Drexler made Lyons the executive creative director in 2008, and in 2010 he also made her president. According to Lyons, “no financial decision weighs heavier than a creative decision” when she plays both of these roles. They are the same.” In this job, Lyons supervised the more than 100 fashioners of J.Crew and coordinated the designs, plans, and searches for the J.Crew list, or as the organization calls it, its Style Guide.
J.Crew was founded by Lyons on the foundation of her signature style. Even though Lyons does not like to be referred to as a tastemaker, she made J.Crew an industry tastemaker.
Their Style Guide was a big part of this shift in branding. As a result of Lyons’ desire for it to resemble a fashion magazine, the volume of editorial content significantly increased. This contained a section titled “Jenna’s Picks” that examined her opinions and provided additional information about her day-to-day life. The New York Times described Lyons’ personal fashion as “geek-chic quirkiness, which mixed camouflage and sequins for day, and denim and taffeta for evening, all of it layered with big costume jewelry.”
This made her famous, but it also caused controversy when she was shown painting the toenails of her then-three-year-old son hot pink. Despite Beckett’s request, this act was criticized as “an attack on masculinity” by some. However, others saw it as a departure from gender norms. Both J.Crew and Lyons declined to comment, despite the fact that it received national attention, such as being featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, where it was dubbed “Toemaggedon.”
In 2017, declining sales and financial issues at J.Crew were linked to Lyons’ departure from the company. The new chief design officer, Somsack Sikhounmuong, focused more narrowly on women’s, men’s, and children’s clothing, with her overarching responsibility for overseeing all aesthetic aspects of the brand (including store design and marketing).
Stylish with Jenna Lyons, an unscripted reality show starring Lyons and her staff that premiered on HBO Max on December 3, 2020, was announced by Lyons in October 2018. Additionally, Lyons founded LoveSeen, a beauty company specializing in false lashes, in September 2020. She is currently co-founder of the company.
Lyons was named one of the seven stars for the rebooted 14th season of The Real Housewives of New York City, which was set to premiere in 2023. The announcement came in October 2022.