J.Crew Celebrates CFDA Collaborations
Photo: Patrick McMullan
Eddie Borgo, Billy Reid, Anna Wintour, and Prabal Gurung at J.Crew's
CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund party
J.Crew’s recently renovated, three-story Fifth Ave. outpost opened its doors to a bevy of fashionable revelers Wednesday night as the brand celebrated a collaboration with CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund winner Billy Reid and runners-up Prabal Gurung and Eddie Borgo.
The three men of the evening—along with Peter Som, Rebecca Minkoff, Christian Cota, Anna Wintour, Coco Rocha, and Joan Smalls—mixed and mingled over basil lemonade and sweet tea cocktails in the third-floor party space.
Marissa Webb, J.Crew’s head of women’s design, sported Gurung’s offerings for the brand—a pair of khaki pants with a black tuxedo stripe—even though his pieces won’t be in stores until June. “If I could fit into all the samples we have of his, I would be wearing it all tonight!” she laughed. “It’s always interesting to have other visions—and it was such an easy collaboration.”
“I didn’t know how it was going to turn out, but when I saw the J.Crew well-oiled machine, I was pretty relieved,” said Gurung. “It turned out amazingly well. Everything is under $500—and there’s nothing under $500 in my collection!—so it was good to see that.” The perks of the friendlier price point? “I’m excited that I can buy it for my cousins!”
Billy Reid, who celebrated his K-Swiss collaboration the night before, thought his family would be equally psyched about seeing his name in the beloved retailer’s windows. “I’m still pinching myself. My mother is going to freak out!” he said.
“We’ve never done anything like this before, so it will be interesting to introduce our collection to a customer that maybe is unfamiliar with it,” said Borgo.
A customer unfamiliar with Borgo? Hard to imagine—it was tough to spot a wrist at the cocktail celebration that wasn’t adorned with his cult-favorite cone bracelet. Not that he minds, of course: “It’s not something I’m tired of seeing!”
While Gurung’s and Borgo’s collections are geared toward the girls, Reid’s eight-piece collection will live in the men’s department. Reid noted, however that it doesn’t mean the ladies can’t do a little shopping there as well—as impeccably demonstrated by Hanneli Mustaparta on Vogue.com.
“I loved when that came out because that’s exactly what we wanted,” he said. “You may not go head-to-toe with it, but a piece here or there … Girls can make it their own!”