Jenna's absence was a complete let down (we didn't even received an excuse or some sort of explanation. They have probably underestimated our real interest in JCrew). Instead of Jenna we had the VP of women's design, Marissa Webb, a mini-woman (it would have been interesting to see her and Jenna side-to-side) who wears Crewcuts pants (I swear) and was completely unable to say anything interesting about the brand and the pieces that they were featured on the show (also not very interesting choices in my opinion). Because during the taping we were not allowed to take pictures, I don't have one of Marisa to show you, but I have one of Martha who answers questions from the audience. Can you tell that she's wearing Jcrew (her line was all about the jacket, that I didn't recognized, but the tie-neck blouse was actually quite nice)?
The Jcrew segment was only the first out of 5 segments that we had to sit through before being entitled to leave the premises and receive our goodie bag, a deceptively empty JCrew canvas tote (only Jcrew goodie inside the bag, besides a September catalog with no coupon inside - a joke considering that the October catalog was out today - was a bottle of Essie nail polish in the "Cantaloupe" shade, probably an old Jenna's pick that the stores couldn't sell).
Anyway, Justin Long of "He's not that into you" fame, saved the day. He was the special guest invited to "help" Martha cook lobster linguini and he made me forget the reason why I was there in the first place. The segment was hilarious and if you are going to watch the show that airs this Thursday (tomorrow) make sure not to miss it (time better spent than watching Marisa Webb repeating that at Jcrew they like sequins). I don't know how much of it was scripted and how much it was impromptu but surely the guy is a natural and Martha kept up with him (I hope that they won't cut too much of it). He was also really fresh and cute (he came with his mom).
After a (thankfully) short segment on facial yoga (where we had to make funny faces and were threatened to be caught on camera), we had to show our enthousiasm through an unreal "DIY" segment where we learned how to make a statement necklace out of hosiery and ping-pong balls and an Hermes-inspired canvas bag that Martha unwillingly made fun of when she said that it was good to carry the dog's stuff.
Anyway the most interesting part was to see what the other JCAs were wearing. I expected more iconic and old pieces but there were a few very cute outfits and a few doubles: two buffalo boy check shirts (even if styled very differently), two berry-trim Astrids in the plum color (one wore by the friend I went to the show with), two sequined skirts from this season (the bell store-only one and the brown pencil one). I recognized a few other bloggers and I was seated next to Tres Tippy. She was the one wearing one of the two Astrids and I was wearing my Jardin jacket with the contrast-stitch perfect shirt:
All in all it was an interesting experience (at least I learned how a TV show is made), even if it wasn't what I had expected it to be.
And now I am going to give away a bottle of the infamous Cantaloupe polish, generously offered to you by my friend. If you want to be entered into the giveaway, leave a comment in the comment section telling us what you would have worn if you had been invited to the show. I am going to pick a winner on Monday, so you have until Sunday midnight ET to enter.
