The renowned fashion icon who served as J. Crew’s former CEO has joined the revival of “Real Housewives of New York City.” Why?
The renowned fashion icon who served as J. Crew‘s former CEO has joined the revival of “Real Housewives of New York City.” Why?
Here is what transpired: In December 2021, Jenna Lyons was at the Wing in SoHo, giving an interview to the podcast “Dyking Out,” after receiving criticism for not doing enough to represent her community of homosexual women.
Over avocado toast at Sant Ambroeus a year later, she admitted, “I felt really bad.” That was never truly a thought that crossed my mind.
As a result, she recorded the podcast, and an hour into the discussion, the interviewers floated the possibility of Ms. Lyons appearing on “The Real Housewives of New York City.”
She replied, “I’m down,” and those two words may have changed everything for her.
Ms. Lyons, the former president and creative director of J. Crew, was a style pioneer in the early 2010s. She was a high-low priestess who promoted wearing sequins during the day. She updated formal wear by wearing Michelle Obama as first lady and consequently, America.
Ms. Lyons was a walking billboard for a business at the height of its popularity, dressed in crew neck sweaters and vivid lipstick. Fashion lovers didn’t typically recognise the head designers of mall companies, but Ms. Lyons was well known to them. Additionally, a lot of window shoppers frequently browsed “Jenna’s Picks” on the J. Crew website.
But Ms. Lyons likewise disappeared from the public eye when she left the company in 2017. She didn’t truly make a comeback until late 2020, when she made a foray into reality TV by hosting a design competition show on Max for a season. Even so, when it was revealed in October of last year that she will appear in the forthcoming season of “The Real Housewives of New York City,” there was a lot of buzz.
The 55-year-old Ms. Lyons was renowned for her taste and aspiration. She had attended seven Met Galas. The Housewives redefined what a “housewife” means culturally by being a combative spectacle of guilty pleasure. (In actuality, several of them were divorced.) They were flashy and disorderly. A pair of them were sent to jail.
Ms. Lyons nevertheless accepted the concept.
When a gay podcaster added Ms. Lyons’ face to a promotional photo of the “RHONY” cast in February 2022, Ms. Lyons posted it on her Instagram account with the caption: “Who do I need to call?? I am accessible. She described it as “one of those moments where somebody posits something that seems completely unlikely, and out of humour, I said yes.”
Nevertheless, she sent Andy Cohen, the host of Bravo and executive producer of the Housewives series, whose Christmas parties she had attended, her message.
Through a direct message, Mr. Cohen responded, “You know what, this is a good idea.” Ms. Lyons sent an emoji of a laughing head tilt. The next emoji was a dual red exclamation point. Next came a heart emoji.
A month later, Mr. Cohen declared that Bravo was reviving “RHONY,” which had seen a decline in ratings in prior seasons, with a completely new ensemble. For its 14th season, he told Variety, he wanted a new “multicultural group of friends” with “diverse backgrounds, races, and religions.” A call requesting Ms. Lyons to take a screen test came many months later.She obviously passed the test because Ms. Lyons has always had a captivating appearance. She is tall and thin, wears oversized spectacles, and frequently wears her blouse unbuttoned to her navel.
According to Mr. Cohen in an interview, being a Housewife means being “funny, dramatic, outspoken, and surprising.” (Affluent is omitted.) You couldn’t look away from Ms. Lyons, and that’s what drew him to her. You want to see more of her when she appears on the screen, he remarked. And even better for his renovation ambitions, “she’s a real player in New York.”
Ms. Lyons, for her part, thought that being on television would help her ventures, such as the 2020-founded fake eyelash company LoveSeen, develop. Even one appearance on “Today” caused a rise in sales.
We require the publicity, she remarked. She also thought it was a good idea to inject some queerness into a mostly straight series.
But one day, Ms. Lyons claimed, as she was explaining this to a close friend, the friend interrupted her: “‘You want the attention,'” the friend reportedly stated. “You don’t want to disappear into obscurity,”
And Ms. Lyons understood that it was real. The fashion industry, which had once been smitten with her, appeared to move on once she left J. Crew. Her newfound solitude was made worse by the lack of alluring employment offers and elegant invitations.
I really disappeared,” she admitted. “It was such a big job, and I was well respected, and I had a big life in that way, and then it all just kind of went away.”
