By Kim Velsey 3/05 2:02pm

Hipster vs. Hipster

They were all shopping there anyway. (Urbanoutfitters.com)

Hipsters Can’t Be Bothered to Feign Outrage About Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters Moving To Williamsburg

Williamsburg hipsters are very busy these days! Whether it’s butchering some kind of heirloom pig or smelting the umpteenth variation on a  V-shaped necklace to sell at Brooklyn Flea, what burgeoning tradesman or woman has time to dig through thrift stores for the perfect pair of high-waisted Jordache jeans or frumpy chic granny sweaters? Not to mention that the neighborhoods’ thrift stores have been hopelessly picked over since at least 2005.

Thank goodness Urban Outfitters—and maybe even Anthropologie!—will soon be coming to the neighborhood. The college campus staple and her older, wealthier sister (who’s always going off on trips to foreign lands, writing dreamy not-quite-coherent thoughts in her leather-bound diary) are both looking to move into Williamsburg, Crain’s reports. Read More

By Kim Velsey 6/04/12 1:49pm

Red Carpet Real Estate

7 Photos

J. Crew C.E.O.'s New Pad

J. Crew Chief Mickey Drexler Adds a Tribeca Condo to His Collection of Pricey Property Holdings

J. Crew CEO Millard “Mickey” Drexler will soon be getting even more closet space. And thank goodness, with the summer season here and a fresh new crop of seersucker suits and artfully-wrinkled linen shirts!

Mr. Drexler has won the bidding war for 140 Franklin Street, beating out the other buyers to sign a contract that exceeds the $13.5 million ask, according to the New York Post.

The five-bedroom, full-floor “mansion in the sky” will join the rest of the J.Crew chief’s collection, which includes a both a 5.6-acre oceanfront estate on Long Island and the country’s oldest working cattle farm in Montauk, according to the Post. The Bronx-born Drexler does not, at least under his own name, own any other properties in the city, according to city records. Read More

By Kim Velsey 3/27/12 1:12pm

Red Carpet Real Estate

15 Photos

A $4 million parlour?

J.Crew Style Maven’s House Sells For $4 Million

J.Crew is known for its upscale but largely affordable clothes, but when it comes to some items—like president and creative director Jenna Lyons’ Park Slope townhouse—people are apparently willing to pay above retail.

The fashion guru’s 7 bed, 3.5 bath, 4,400 square foot townhouse sold for $4 million to Vincent and Tracy Martin, according to Curbed — 7 percent more than the $3.75 million that Ms. Lyons listed the property for last November. Read More

By Alexandria Symonds 9/13/11 9:16pm

Not-So-Custom Tailored

The Ludlow Suit. (Jackie Snow)

Ludlow Calling! J.Crew Déjà Vu

Late into a wedding reception last fall, four male friends gathered around the bar. Like the bride and groom, all four were Dartmouth graduates, guys in their mid-twenties who’d moved to New York after finishing college. Having already been through the most pressing catch-up conversation, their talk turned to matters of fashion: one of them, eyeing another’s slim-fitting suit, asked, “Hey, man—is that a Ludlow?”

He was asking whether his friend’s suit was the most popular cut sold by J.Crew, the Ludlow. Of course, it was. So was his own. Another of the group piped up that he, too, was wearing a Ludlow. Only the fourth said he didn’t own one, unintentionally throwing off the group’s sartorial superfecta. Though, judging from the suit’s ubiquity of late, it was only a matter of time. Read More

By Emily Orley 8/11/09 7:10pm

Ruffles Are Rigid

The other day, Stephanie Kimssy, 24, who does marketing for Kenneth Cole, was shopping at the Topshop in Soho, wearing a sleeveless, ruffled tan shirt. “I really like how flirty it is,” Ms. Kimssy said. Nygia Hearn, a 25-year-old from New Jersey who did not care to reveal her occupation, was also there, wearing a Read More

By Meredith Bryan 2/10/09 5:30pm

Style Queen of The Age of Obama

Jenna Lyons, the creative director of J. Crew, was on the phone, discussing her Fashion Week plans. “I would love to go,” she said, her voice streaming buoyantly through the receiver. “Omigod, it would be so much fun.” She was hoping to squeeze the shows of Derek Lam (a friend from Parsons) and Chris Benz Read More