Fashion lesson:
J. Crew had a disappointing couple of months. Their sales fell 5 percent compared with the same period in 2014, their same-store sales are down 10 percent, and CEO Mickey Drexler and the retail press have blamed the brand’s recent woes on some ugly sweaters, in particular a cropped one called “The Tilly.” (“We like to think of her as the slightly shrunken cousin of our beloved Tippi sweater,” J.Crew says on its site.) The New York Times quotes a J. Crew obsessive who says, “The Tilly was a disaster. An absolute disaster. They should not have gone that way.” The company has laid off 175 people and fired their head of women’s design in the aftermath.
But … it’s just one sweater. (Which, full disclosure, I tried on once, and didn’t hate. But I have a comparatively short torso, so cropped styles flatter me.) How could one miss seemingly alter the big picture?
(Grose)
Point the first: Color me informed.
Point the second: It really is an interesting explanation.
Point the third: There is no point three.
Point the fourth: Courageous fashion reportage reminds of first world problems insofar as I never have known why anyone shops at J. Crew.
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Image note: A doll’s work never ends ― July (c.), with Kiko Kyanauma (r.) and friend, in Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor episode 9, ‘They Met One Day, unexpectedly …’.
Grose, Jessica. “J. Crew Is Floundering. Blame Tilly.” Slate. 12 June 2015.
This Is 