Inside the Early Days of J.Crew: Before Jenna Lyons or Olympia Gayot, There Was Emily Cinader

When you think of J.Crew, you probably picture Jenna Lyons, the larger-than-life high-fashion persona whose image became synonymous with the brand—if you are a person who has bothered to give the matter of J.Crew’s identity any thought, that is. Six years after departing the role, Lyons’s image will soon loom even larger as a member of the revamped cast of The Real Housewives of New York City. The generation currently coming of shopping age might solely associate it with its current head of women’s design, millennial social media darling Olympia Gayot. But the original human embodiment of J.Crew—though she will surely be uncomfortable to see it put in these terms—was a woman whom even constant J.Crew shoppers have never heard of. Today, she lives deep under the radar at her minimalist Connecticut manse, married to a cofounder of Nantucket Nectars and going by her married name, Emily Scott. But at the dawn of J.Crew, she was Emily Cinader. Read more at Vanity Fair.