Lipstick on the Rim

Jenna Lyons on Style, Confidence, and Knowing Who You Are

Is good taste something you’re born with, or something you can learn? Real Housewives of New York City’s Jenna Lyons is the former president and executive creative director of J.Crew. She was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People, and The New York Times called her “the woman who dresses America.” She says she wasn’t born with it. Not even close. She grew up surrounded by California strip malls and the Baywatch look, thinking style meant looking like everyone else. Moving to New York at 18 taught her that taste is personal. Now she’s a partner and executive creative director at Fundamentalco, helping some of the biggest companies in the world figure out who they really are.

Most companies treat brand as the wrapper: the logo, the ad campaign. Jenna puts it at the center. What’s your reason for being, and what makes you different? She explains why “you can’t tell a story that doesn’t exist” and why chasing a viral spike can leave a brand overexposed instead of built to last. The same rules apply to personal style, including the year after J.Crew when she had a closet full of beautiful clothes and couldn’t get dressed. Whether it’s a company or a closet, knowing who you are is the whole point.

Plus: what happened when a new CEO told the executive team they were all interviewing for their jobs, her honest take on CO2 lasers, Botox and facelift treatments, the comfortable heels worth hunting down and two household hacks that might change your life.

A Sony Music Entertainment production. 

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