I remember being confused, standing on the sidewalk of the Gateway Mall. Why did he want to go into J.Crew? I was certain that I had been there before, and it wasn’t a place that I wanted to shop. Was he looking for something for his mom? A million questions such as these were running through my mind and I had no explanation.
I guess it’s the result of growing up in a town that only has one mall with, shall I say, limited choices. As a high school aged kid, my fashion sense didn’t go far beyond Forever 21 and American Eagle. There wasn’t much to choose from. Certain stores like what I thought to be J.Crew, were places where no teenage kid would wonder into. It seemed like a ghost town to any teenager–a store where mom’s shopped, not young adults. You may be thinking, J.Crew is fabulous, why wouldn’t she want to go in? J.Crew is not a mom store. The truth is, I had naively believed that J.Crew and J.Jill were the same thing (that’s embarrassing).
So, as a freshman in college, when my friend expressed his adoration for J.Crew, I was understandably baffled and confused. Why would my twenty-something year old friend have a fondness for a clothing store that sells expensive attire to middle aged women? Standing on the Gateway Mall sidewalk with a befuddled look on my face, I stepped foot into the store and immediately recognized that I had been wrong. This wasn’t J.Jill and there’s a huge difference between the two stores that I was confusing. Nothing against J.Jill, but it’s just not comparable to J.Crew.
My love for J.Crew has since turned into a flourishing addiction and it has become one of my very favorite places to shop, especially the J.Crew Factory store. I’ve basically erased from my mind that a regular J.Crew store actually exists and rely solely on the J.Crew factory store to appease my cravings (mostly online). Lately, I’m loving their drawstring pants–you look fancy, but you feel like you are wearing your PJ’s. Is there anything better than that?
Shop my look:
J.Crew Drawstring Pants, J.Crew Navy Top (similar), J.Crew Triangle Necklace, Franco Sarto Heels, Michael Kors Watch (similar)
Photography by Natalie Searle