No, J.Crew might not be reinventing the wheel for fall '13, but you can't deny that Jenna Lyons is anything less than a savant, debuting a collection of game-changing separates bound to become industry and shopper favorites. What the collection lacks in out-of-the-box silhouettes, it more than makes up for in the quality and creativity of simple, wearable shapes that are taken to the highest level, like a pair of blue, circle-print silk trousers or a bejeweled, lapeled coat that somehow made a camel coat feel new again.
As J.Crew proves again and again, it's not what you're wearing, it's how you're wearing it — and that rings true even at Fashion Week. Thankfully, Lyons put together a show of styling ideas that was built upon perennial tricks (turtlenecks, creative layering, color matching, and print mixing) in new and interesting ways. A scarf-printed coat with a sweatshirt covered in flowers made of crystal? Brilliant!