Before working at J.Crew, I wasn’t very familiar with the lady jacket. Although I loved the brand, I wasn’t really dressing like an adult per se. And when COVID hit, I exclusively wore Lou & Grey. All of the companies I worked for didn’t include a lady jacket in their brand DNA (Perry Ellis, Free People, and Lou & Grey), so my personal style was a reflection of the type of products I was surrounded by every day.
What is a lady jacket?
Okay so you might be wondering, “Dana, what the hell is a lady jacket?!” A lady jacket is a jacket that is super versatile because it can be worn as your top, a third piece, or an outerwear piece! It’s feminine and timeless. I think many people would associate them with a tweed fabrication, but luckily the insanely talented designers at J.Crew have helped me see them differently. I own two of our lady jackets currently – one in a sweater and one in a durable Italian wool.
I love the structure of these jackets. And I don’t mean like a structured garment in the rigid sense – I mean in terms of the make up of the garment. The shorter, almost cropped length, allows you to wear SO many different pieces with the jacket (which I’ll get into below!) I also love that (at least for me), lady jacket sleeves always hit around my wrist. I think that’s such a sleek and feminine touch!
Ways to wear it
At first, I wasn’t totally sure how I was going to style one. My first lady jacket was this sweater version (since it’s from fall, it’s pretty sold through) – it felt like it was the easiest iteration. I love the classic silhouette with the gold buttons, it felt very Parisian (I feel like my recent pins are v. Parisian too). Even though I work in kids, we still talk about lady jackets a lot – so naturally, they were on my mind. When the wool version launched (ugh I’m sorry it sold out!), I immediately ordered it.
Now with Spring on the mind even though it’s the dead of winter (unfortunately that’s the vibe when you work in fashion), I love seeing all of the takes on the lady jacket. Here are a few ways we’re styling them:
- Dressed down with jeans and a tee
- Worn closed (as a top) with jeans
- Layering a white button down under a collarless lady jacket with leggings
- Third piece, opened, with shorts and sandals
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