Joan!
So I'm back from the conference and I feel like it was the most educational experience I've had in a long time. Actually, not just educational but inspirational, too. There are so many different things to talk about...I'm going to have to split it up! But I'll start with the juicy stuff.
First, about some of the speakers which included Joan Rivers, Tory Burch, and Jenna Lyons. There were only about 200 of us in this conference room so it felt like a very intimate setting. Joan Rivers is as hilarious and irreverent as you know her to be on tv. She was having a glass of wine- even though it was barely noon. She mentioned in passing that this was due to the Go Daddy "scandal" that broke yesterday. Apparently, some woman is saying she was Joan's body double in that commercial. Joan made some under the breath joke about that being true. But I couldn't really tell if she was joking so it remains unclear to me whether or not there was a body double. Beyond that, she relentlessly plugged her new tv show on the WE station with her daughter Melissa as well as her jewelry on QVC. It was all classic Joan. She opened up, though, as she discussed what it takes to make it in any business. In case you're wondering what that is it is the idea that you should never say no to anything you haven't tried because you never know if you'll be good at it and it could be the thing that you find the most success with. She also talked about not burning bridges all while ripping Victoria Beckham apart. (Why you ask? I'm not sure but it was very funny and the whole room was in hysterics the entire time.)
Tory Burch was gorgeous and sophisticated wearing a jacket from her spring line (blue and ivory pattern) with a printed blouse underneath tucked in to wide leg jeans. She is tiny, tiny but speaks with a confidence and matter-of-factness about the hard work it takes to have a successful business. She seemed not totally at ease with the attention she was getting at the conference but not in a cold way. More just like she was humble and a bit on the quiet side. We also got a quick preview of the spring line coming out now and it is great. I can't wait to get my hands on some wide leg yellow pants and the blue and ivory print shorts (if they're not too short).
And then there was Jenna. In case you don't know, Jenna Lyons is the President and Creative Director of J Crew. She's been with the company for 20 years starting out as a men's designer. I had a lot of respect for her going in to this meeting as I think she is clearly responsible for a major rise of J Crew in the fashion world again while still managing to keep the pieces real and accessible. I was even more enamored of her after hearing her speak. She was warm, funny, mildly self-deprecating but I imagine only to soften her self-confidence. She gave credit to her entire team and stressed the importance of having the best people around you because it will only make you better. She was not tech-saavy and doesn't know the first thing about blogs (although she reads some), twitter, tumblr, foursquare or any of that kind of thing. Since I find a lot of the technical stuff challenging, too, I could relate! And, of course, you'll want to know what she was wearing. Thick, black, boyish glasses which didn't exactly enhance her beauty but yet still somehow looked very cool. Black high-waisted pleated cropped pants with chunky black sandals. White blouse with double breasted sparkly button thingys. Relaxed army green jacket thrown over the top with sleeves pushed up. There were so many people around her all the time that I never got a good pic but here's what I have anyway. And here's my recreation of it. She was awesome and I can't wait to see the rest of J Crew's spring collection.
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