Crush of the week: The J.Crew catalog models in 1992
I have recently stumbled upon the Instagram account @lostjcrew, which chronicles the catalogs from 1983-1997 (before Jenna Lyons and daytime sequins, which don’t get me wrong, I also adored) and I’ve stone cold fallen. The essential 90s element makes all the difference to the preppy drip of it all — oversize fits, loose wrinkles, and muted primary colors feel so homey and nostalgic now (rather than the starched, slick silhouettes and nauseating pastels of the 2000s prep that never fail to remind me of the rude boys terrorizing the halls of my middle school with their double popped collars and gelled hair).
This kind of preppy lakehouse dressing is exactly the type of man (tortoiseshell glasses included) I picture while reading old Jayne Ann Krentz novels and it gives me very specific butterflies.
And speaking of the old catalogs, I was just talking to my sister-in-law (who is, coincidentally, my best friend) about how we’re not dress people — I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve reached for a dress in adulthood. Dresses remind me firmly of high school homecoming. Occasion numbers with flowing skirts and satin ribbons. Casual dresses remain elusive to me, I don’t have a single one in my closet at the moment.
I can trace my fascination with menswear back to the old J.Crew catalogs. I use to hoard them like candy, stacking them in my room to riffle through in front of the TV, armed with a black Sharpie to circle my selections.
I love the layers of menswear — t-shirts under button downs under crisp jackets. And there’s something so inherently sexy in the androgyny of the 90s fit of these layers. Everything almost too oversized; loose and casual. I used to obsess over the way J.Crew would play with these fits — draping them over men and women alike. The outcome something I’ve been trying to emulate (with varying successes) my entire life. I’ve always wanted to dress like I was 37, no more so than when I was 12. The more things change, the more they stay the same.
A few of my favorite looks from the insta:
Hey, Kelly here. Welcome to The Landline. Dial in for gentle deep dives into anything and everything I'm obsessing over at the moment (mostly sane, always silly). Grab your Diet Coke, wind that phone cord around your finger, and let's get to it.