J.Crew's Florals Are Not Liberty (Yeah, Right)

J.Crew catalog cover - April 2010If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know how entertaining I find the J.Crew catalogs. When it arrived last week, I knew the spring catalog would be a lark of styling and trite cuteness, and it did not disappoint in this regard. But I found what J.Crew wasn't saying in the styling and products to be the most interesting thing. There seems to be a pink floral elephant in the room and her name is Liberty of London, and while J.Crew is quite liberally borrowing from said elephant, they never get down to giving her a peanut of acknowledgment.

This is puzzling to me. Why would you go to the trouble of designing a collection that is clearly so influenced by Liberty prints, only to not mention it? It occurs to me that J.Crew wants to distance itself from the Liberty of London for Target collections as much as possible. Still, the similarities are obvious, so not stating the influence makes the brand seem foolishly out-of-touch especially given their style-savvy customer base.

J.Crew definitely takes its nods from many other designers and trends in the market. While their take is always fresh and wearable, they are frequently late to the party.

Looks from Louis Vuitton Spring 2007 collection. Images from Style.com

Most notable in this "lateness" is the cover. A lovely image of a lovely girl, true, but notice how very similar the look is to the Louis Vuitton Spring 2007 runway looks, full of flowered headbands and Liberty prints. Or, would it be best to just leave that out? I thought so.

Then there are the gigantic spreads of wispy floral separates, and even a model sitting amongst a makeshift flower stand that try to bring home the point. Yes, it's spring, yes, florals are on-trend. Thank you, J.Crew for making that abundantly clear.

Images from jcrew.com.

To my eyes this styling looks a bit stale, especially after the lush and playful ad campaign Target sent out for the Liberty of London collection. It's easy to see that everyone has a fascination with the English garden party-reduxed-Alice In Wonderland-for the Brooklyn girl thing, so J.Crew's version looks like a mere footnote. Not coming out and owning the reference to Liberty prints makes this even more embarrassing.

Last spring's J.Crew catalog was also full of stylistic afterthoughts, which were so obvious to me that it was laughable. (Read all about it here.) To repeat the same level of performance again this year is truly disappointing. The brand is solid, so why not push it a little bit? I'm certain J.Crew has a lot of talent and creativity on-hand, so why do their catalogs tend to bore or send the eyes rolling with ridiculousness? Why does J.Crew's catalog team tend to play it safe and re-work old ideas and old styling?

Because of their popularity and brand power I think they are in the prime position to do more creative things with their marketing and product communication, and yet they always fall well below expectations in this area. It's especially hard to swallow when you enjoy and appreciate the brand's products like so many of us do.

What do you think?

Comments

[Elea Carey]

I think you're right on! Too bad J Crew can't stay above it all and design from their heart -- that's the way to lead....

[JHz]

Actually I've seen a lot of the Liberty of London at Target because it's all over the stores and one can't avoid it. It seems to appeal to some people but there is a lot left still. It's way more vibrant and overwhelming that the J.Crew items and heck, florals have been used in fashion for a very long time. So I think you are assuming a bit when thinking J.Crew is ripping off Liberty of London. Given that the Mori Girl look is really big in Japan and is being picked-up everywhere, it would be more likely that J.Crew may have taken notes from this general fashion trend.

Really, unless the prints are the same, they aren't ripping off Liberty of London.

[Ms. P&C]

JHz - And I think the similarities are way too close for this to be a mere trend coincidence. I'm not sure what you're trying to say about my assumptions because I think I showed the evidence well. Marc Jacobs used the Mori Girl influence as a starting point for his 2007 collection for Vuitton, which I cited. I also cited that florals are as ubiquitous a trend for spring as dyed eggs. So, I think we're agreeing. Unless we're not? I'm not sure.

To be clear on my end, I don't claim they're "ripping off" Liberty, but I do think that J.Crew needs to get more creative to distinguish themselves *from* Liberty/Target so they don't get called out for "ripping them off". At least, if they aren't meant to be associated with that look.

[That's Not My Age]

The prints do seem 'Liberty-inspired' but worse still, the catalogue styling is dreadful. The images you've posted feel very busy and cluttered and not at all sophisticated - forget Liberty, it looks like there's been a riot in an Anthropologie store!