If you were prepared to don sackcloth when Jenna Lyons announced her departure from J.Crew in 2017, you’d be forgiven. Over the course of her 25 years with the company, Lyons took the catalog retailer from a sleepy prepster resource to a fashion-forward juggernaut—with an A-List fan club that included Gwyneth Paltrow and Michelle Obama to boot. Her insouciant style of dressed-up casual paired everyday denim with statement earrings, or tulle skirts with sneakers—finished off, almost always, with a bright coral lip.
Lyons’s approach to fashion has always been all about reinvention, so it’s no surprise that post-J.Crew her career has also undergone a makeover. Today, you can catch her design show, Stylish, on HBO Max or scope out her DTC lash brand, LoveSeen. And since the trendsetter has long had an abiding love for home design, it’s no surprise to see that she is now adding furniture design to her list of creative projects. Today, Lyons and New York furniture and lighting studio Roll & Hill unveiled an exclusive collection of furniture and accessories.
The collab marks Lyons’s first commercial foray into decor. It is also Roll & Hill’s inaugural partnership with a style icon: “Jenna epitomizes New York,” Jason Miller, Roll & Hill’s, CEO noted in a press release. “Her attitude towards design reveals an incredible sense of freedom, but is grounded in her respect for history and her reverence for materials.”
True to fashion, Lyons breathed new life into classic silhouettes for this eight-piece line. The Lair club chair features cream-colored tufted leather and a gleaming brass frame with an attached coaster that flips out to accommodate the sitter’s choice beverage. The Cain cocktail table, which also includes those handy integrated coasters, has slender legs and comes (like most of the pieces in the collection) in a pale white oak or a moodier black walnut.
“My deep appreciation for ’70s design as well as traditional elements were the starting points for me,” Lyons explained in the announcement. “I wanted to find a way to infuse every piece with a hint of tradition and pull them forward with a sense of simplicity and contrast.”
Just as Lyons proved at J.Crew, a classic never goes out of style—as long as you add a twist.
Anna Fixsen, Deputy Digital Editor at ELLE DECOR, focuses on how to share the best of the design world through in-depth reportage and online storytelling. Prior to joining the staff, she has held positions at Architectural Digest, Metropolis, and Architectural Record magazines. elledecor.com
