It's not every day that a girl gets to meet the designer responsible for almost half her wardrobe. So when I was invited for a private tour of the new J. Crew Pacific Centre location with head womenswear designer, Tom Mora, I jumped at the chance. Opening today, the 4,000 foot store is the second J. Crew location in Vancouver and the first to focus on womenswear only.
Leading a small group of bloggers and industry insiders around the store, Mora pointed out some of the spring/summer 2013 collection's highlights (patterns, light fabrics, bright colours, and playful nautical details). The tour wrapped with a Q&A session where we got to ask Tom about his work:
- The inspiration behind this season's bright green "punk floral" print: Tom's old Time Life issues with photos of flowers "where the colours were a bit off."
- The travel destination inspiring next season's collection: Marrakech.
- How he keeps track of ideas: If they come to him during workouts, he'll ask his trainer to text him and refer to the texts later.
- Does the design team listen to customer feedback, and will they bring back popular items by request? Yes and yes, but if Tom and his team feel an item isn't very current anymore, it'll be available online only.
- The company's plans for a British invasion: A pop-up shop opens this week, and a Regent Street location in the heart of London is in the works.
This is where I'm going to stop writing and let the images in this post speak for themselves. For more photos, go to the album on my Facebook page, and make sure you check out the new J. Crew store!
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