[J. Crew under the Tents at Lincoln Center ]

This past Monday was my birthday.  Lots of happy birthdays on facebook (so fun!) phone calls, dinner  and some very imaginative gifts this year.  The most surprising was a car and driver for  3 hours so, instead of schlepping my kids to and fro' after school I was able to pick them up, dash to the library, pediatrician, and pinkberry (have you tried the new salted caramel ? ) and more. 

And the icing on the cake was this invite:

It was  Fashion Week in New York   As a former J. Crew merchandiser many moons ago I still have friends there and was able to snag an invite to their first ever presentation during Fashion Week !!!   I am forever a romantic about the  Fashion World and dopey as it may sound I love the excitement  and anticipation of a Fashion Show.

Walking in, the models were on a platform wearing their J. Crew best!   First group was persimmon reds (wink-wink, at least I tried with the naming)/ blues and whites.

As I walked in this is what I saw.

As I walked in this is what I saw. A beautiful combination of fabrics, prints, stripes, and dots (heart -shaped that is) mixed with the J. Crew chinos, denim shirts and other icon pieces from the brand. Each model wore their clothes with the Crew attitude and as always the styling was aspirational, inspirational and quirky!! I love that they put leopard with this  Crew-ified classic color palette. 

Indian Block Prints with
Stripes and Denim

I want both ensembles....

Since there was no runway it was great to get close to the clothes and see the details, texture and colors that separate J. Crew from the rest.

What I love is that you don't have to buy every piece to get the look. The styling is inspiration enough to buy the really special pieces that can be mixed in with your own basics at home. And throw in a bit of leopard to throw people off!!!

Next week- more color stories, details and people watching from the J. Crew Spring 2012 Presentation.

Love, love , loved it!!!