A new J.Crew holiday collection offers ultimate proof that the brand is cool again. After a few years of laying low, it’s back on the fashion radar with offerings that go beyond the always-dependable selection of colorful sweaters and one-piece bathing suits. Now, a collection created in collaboration with the Ukrainian designer Anna October, who is known for infusing her super-feminine party dresses with a heavy dose of hip, is sealing the deal.
“I’ve been following Anna on Instagram for years, since she started her collection,” says Olympia Gayot, creative director and executive VP of women’s design at J.Crew. “I think it’s very hard to cut a good dress, and she does it in such a perfect way—very flattering to the woman’s body. Her dresses are showstoppers but they’re also very simple.”
The connection between October and the American retailer lies in their shared love for simplicity. “I’m such a big fan of the J.Crew heritage and the image they built up in the ’80s and ’90s,” says October. “The campaigns were all about the woman I want to be, the women I think all girls want to be—elegant, but natural; always very chic.” In fact, her love of the brand may have gotten the best of her initially. “When I first started to design the collection; I think I went too deep into the archives; I was too obsessed,” October says, laughing conspiratorially. “And then I realized that this was about Anna October for J.Crew not Anna October making a collection as a designer for J.Crew.” But that obsession informed the collection’s best pieces: a chunky off-white sweater “collaged” from different cable knit patterns and the slip skirt made from different shades of cream and white satin that it’s paired with.
“I grew up on American movies, and I was thinking about Michelle Pfeiffer in the ’90s, and I imagined making something for her. Something cozy, but sexy,” October explains. “I went into the archives and started picking different cable knit textures and putting them together, so it’s like an homage to the classic J.Crew sweater, but in a very Anna October way.” Although the slip skirt fits quite nicely alongside J.Crew’s own offerings of late (its version is called, quite appropriately, the “Gwyneth,” and it’s inescapable), October’s take on it is her own. “The idea came to me when I was thinking about a woman getting undressed, and maybe her lingerie and her stockings are different shades, so it’s sort of a vision of a woman being naked.”
That same naked-but-dressed vision permeated one of the most opulent—and one of Gayot’s favorite—offerings from the collection: a slinky, off-the-shoulder cashmere dress. “We are a brand known for cashmere, so to see a special-occasion, sexy bodycon dress in cashmere is really cool,” she says. “I tried it on and it’s extremely flattering; it has the right amount of stretch in it so that it actually hugs your body. It s kind of unexpected, but it feels like a really nice hybrid between her sensibility and our brand, which I love.”
October is excited to see her vision of femininity expressed for a wider range of bodies. “In my collection I only produce three or four sizes, and J.Crew makes 10 to 12. I didn’t know what my designs would look like on a size 24, and now I’m seeing it and I love it; it’s so nice to be able to be more size inclusive.” As warrants a J.Crew holiday collection, there are feather details, sequins galore, and the requisite red dress, though it’s more a rich shade of Bordeaux than Ho Ho Ho–red. “I always want something red before New Year,” October says. “It’s not a color I usually wear but it just feels so energetic, and this collection is made for living.”
Shop the full collection, below.
