Jenna Lyons

Jenna Lyons (born June 8, 1968) is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and television personality.

Lyons began working for J.Crew in 1990 and held various positions throughout her twenty-seven years at the company.

Due to her interest and talent for fashion, Lyons attended Parsons and graduated in 1990.

Lyons landed her first job at J.Crew when she was 21.

She began as an assistant designer in men's wear, and her first assignment was redesigning men's rugby shirts for the company.

By 2003, she was J.Crew's Vice President of Women's Design.

When former CEO and chairman Millard Drexler was hired in 2003, he and Lyons began to form a close relationship.

The two were key players in helping J.Crew triple its revenue from just short of $690 million in 2003 to just shy of $2 billion in 2011.

Lyons was the executive creative director and president of retailer J.Crew from 2010 until April 2017, when she announced her departure from the company.

In April 2010, Lyons was appointed executive creative director of J.Crew.

In July of that same year she was also appointed president of the company.

Lyons has said of her holding both of these roles, "no financial decision weighs heavier than a creative decision. They are equal."

In this role, Lyons oversaw the over one hundred designers of J.Crew and directed the layouts, designs, and looks for the J.Crew catalog, or as the company calls it, its Style Guide.

One of the biggest changes Lyons made at the company was reinventing their Style Guide.

Lyons wanted it to have the feel of a fashion magazine, and the amount of editorial content increased drastically.

This included a section entitled "Jenna's Picks" that looked at her opinions and revealed more about her everyday life.

It also highlighted Lyons' personal clothing style, described by The New York Times 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".

Lyons crafted the brand and style of J.Crew around her trademark style.

She made J.Crew a tastemaker in the industry, though Lyons herself does not like to refer to herself as a tastemaker.

While Lyons' work at J. Crew contributed to her fame, she also faced controversy in 2011 when she was featured painting her then 4-year-old son's toenails hot pink.

Some called this act "an attack on masculinity."

Others, however, viewed it as a breaking from gender norms.

Despite it gaining national attention, such as being featured on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart where it was labeled "Toemaggedon", both Lyons and J.Crew initially declined to comment.

Lyons later stated that her son was watching her paint her nails and simply requested that she paint his as well.

In 2013, Lyons was referred to as the "Woman Who Dresses America".

She is the CEO and co-founder of LoveSeen, a false eyelash beauty brand.

She is also known for starring in the reality television series Stylish with Jenna Lyons and The Real Housewives of New York City, which she joined in the show's fourteenth season.

Lyons was born Judith Agar Lyons in Boston, Massachusetts.

She moved to Palos Verdes, California when she was four.

Here, she grew up being subjected to heavy bullying, due to her gawkiness and health problems.

She suffered from incontinentia pigmenti, a genetic disorder which scarred her skin, caused her hair to fall out in patches, and caused her teeth to be malformed, which is the reason she wears dentures.

Much of Lyons' outlooks and interests stem from her childhood experiences.

About her childhood, she states that 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."

Her mother was a piano teacher who encouraged her to get involved creatively, leading to her interest in fashion.

She loved to rebel against her school uniform, and she learned to sew in seventh grade, which granted her more confidence.

One of her personal motivations for success stems from witnessing her parents' divorce and having to never rely on a man to get by.

In early 2014, Lyons made her acting debut in the third season of the HBO series Girls, where she played the role of a GQ editor that series creator Lena Dunham said was inspired by Lyons.

Lyons exited J.Crew in April 2017.

Her departure was connected to declining sales and financial problems at the company.

Her overarching role overseeing all aesthetic aspects of the brand (including store design and marketing) was not maintained, with the new chief design officer, Somsack Sikhounmuong, focusing more narrowly on women's, men's and children's clothing.