Jenna Lyons

EVERYONE EATS        |        NOV 24, 2020

Jenna
Lyons

CO-FOUNDER OF LOVESEEN

While president and executive creative director of J.Crew Group, Jenna Lyons was widely recognized as the creative force behind the American retail chain’s phenomenal rise from floundering catalogue chain to one of the most coveted fashion brands in the US.

Jenna is now Co-Founder and CEO of direct-to-consumer beauty brand, LoveSeen, as well as title role and Executive Producer of STYLISH with Jenna Lyons, set to Premiere December 3 on HBO Max. Jenna currently resides in New York City with her son Beckett.

INTERVIEW BY ROSIE ELLIS
PHOTOGRAPHS BY GREGORY WIKSTROM

JENNA'S LOFT IN MANHATTAN

While Jenna danced on countertops, we ogled her ice cream selection and recent prosecco shipment. Everything about Jenna's food existence is enviable, including her newfound quarantine chef, Ashley Merriman of Prune.

BREAKFAST

My typical breakfast is just caffeine: half milk, half coffee.

When I pick up a coffee, my go-to spot is Ground Support here in SoHo. They’ve been my absolute pandemic savior. They very carefully and graciously stayed open during the shutdown, letting one person in at a time to shout their order across to them. I get an iced latte – always. No matter if it’s 18 or 75 degrees out. I walk Popeye and hopefully he does his business. (He’s not always consistent.) When it’s warm out, I sit outside, take in the morning coffee goers, and catch up with email.

LUNCH

I don’t normally eat breakfast, so I'm hangry by 1pm. I try to eat no later than 1-1:15pm, and in the moments that I miss that window, the quality of my correspondence diminishes.

A typical lunch consists of probably the happiest accident derived from Covid - I am sadly culinarily challenged, and after eating ravioli for 18 days straight, I innocently posted a photograph of my last pasta box going in the trash, which was seen by Ashley Merriman, the chef at Prune. She graciously offered to bring me some of her stuff from the restaurant as they were forced to close due to Covid, which initiated the most glorious, healthy, tasty habit of Ashley bringing me food every week. She makes beautifully portioned salads, stews, soups (and hand delivers). It’s literally the best possible outcome of the shutdown.

I’ve never been a snacker. It’s from the way I grew up. My mother was a piano teacher and we weren’t allowed to make noise in the house. I had to go through the living room where she taught to get to the kitchen, so I didn't do it. We didn’t have a culture of snacking. So everyone who comes to my house wonders why I don’t seem to have anything in my fridge or any fruit. My poor kid.

DINNER

A typical dinner is anything Ashley makes, as well as my favorite cocktail – either an Aperol Spritz or straight up prosecco. She makes this one thing that I never had before until I met Ashley which she politely calls Agrodolce, and I call onion crack. Or just crack. It’s basically shallots sauteed in something magical with some other magical things and some magic-ness that make it taste amazing. The first time I had it, I thought I had not lived until that moment. The other thing she makes that blows my mind is this smoked vinaigrette dribbable globbable stuff that I’ve never had in my life. It could make dirt taste good. On top of that, my son is obsessed (and he hates tomatoes).

I used to have a consistent date night with my son prior to Covid. We would go to some of our favorite places like Lilia, Misi, Beatrice Inn for smoked duck, Russ and Daughters for caviar, white fish and biales. Blue Smoke for BBQ, Altro Paradiso for fennel salad and Via Carota and Pasquale Jones for pizza. I wish I could say I have a proper routine, but the best routine I have is lighting candles and insisting on no phones. But I can’t deny that my child sometimes retreats five minutes after eating.

I wish I could tell you I learned to bake bread and cook five course meals [during quarantine] but that just hasn’t happened. I have been deeply reliant and appreciative of Ashley helping me navigate the food desert in my kitchen.

DESSERT

Ice Cream. Any ice cream. Or Ashley’s chocolate pudding.

SPEED ROUND

Recent food discovery?
Fennel pollen. Who knew? Kind of the best thing on the planet.

Biggest food splurge?
Caviar.

Food celebrity crush?
Gabriela Cámara of Contramar.

 

Best snacks between meals?

Beef jerky and Double Stuffed Oreos.

 

Go-to cookbook?
Misi and Chrissy Teigen’s are my top two.

Dream dinner guest?
Kamala Harris, AOC, Samantha Powers and Cass Sunstein. Cate Blanchett, too.

Favorite restaurant?
Via Carota.

Favorite place to shop for kitchenwares?
Great Jones. I just received these beautiful earl grey pots and now have to figure out how to use them. Also, Sunnie’s Pop – it has the most beautifully curated selection of homeware. And ABC Carpet & Home – there’s always some fantasy tucked in a corner.

Whose routine would you love to see on Everyone Eats?
Ashley Merriman and Gabrielle Hamilton.

What’s the best dish you make?
Pavlova.

Caffeine of choice?
Dreamy Coffee by Sylvester & Co. or Moccona freeze dried coffee – I know it sounds weird, but it’s delicious. My best Aussie friend Jaclyn shared it with me. It’s perfect when you can’t guarantee where you’re getting your next coffee from.

Favorite way to work off a big meal?
Morning workout with Alexandra Gutierrez.

Most overrated food trend?
Oat milk ice cream.

Any allergies or foods you avoid?
I’m not into slime. Please don’t feed me okra, tripe, and unfortunately, I’ve never managed to get into dim sum.

Any vitamins?
Currently, heavy doses of Amoxicillin as I’m constantly dealing with my teeth. I’ve also been told to take magnesium, but I don’t do it. I’m inconsistent at best.

Last thing you ordered for delivery?
Graeter's Ice Cream.

Five items always in your kitchen:
Ice cream, dreamy coffee from Sylvester and Co., anything Ashley makes, Misi Pasta and Wonder Valley Olive Oil – there’s a naked lady on the bottle, that one’s easy.

 

Favorite food family tradition?

Caviar for New Year’s.

 

Go-to market or grocery store?
Mulberry Market.

Ice cream of choice?
Olive oil from Misi Pasta.

Cocktail of choice?
An Aperol Spritz. It’s so f*cking pretty.

Weirdest eating habit?
I like to eat cocktail onions out of a jar.

Cooking playlist?
The National, Solange, Gil Scott-Heron, Miguel, The Gap Band, Curtis Mayfield, Dua Lipa, Nouvelle Vague, Amber Mark, Sade and anything Mark Ronson does.

Secret food hack?
When kids are around, nothing beats a Justin’s peanut butter and fluff toasted sandwich. There are never leftovers.

Where do you most feel like The Regular?
Pre-Covid: Café Altro Paradiso, Lilia, Misi and Charlie Bird.
Post-Covid: my couch.

THIRD SCOOP

You have been frequenting some of New York’s most glamorous restaurants for the last two decades. What the restaurant scene was like when you first came to New York and how have you seen it evolve?

Ironically, one of the first restaurants I ever went to was The Odeon. Odeon and Florent were my two seriously frequented spots. It’s amazing to me that The Odeon is still going strong. I will never forget sitting in a real estate meeting and realizing that the brand I was working on (Madewell) was reviewing lease options for The Florent space. I have serious memories of leaving Nell’s at 3am and trotting over to Florent for a 3am snack. There would be Marc Jacobs and Isaac Mizrahi in the corner. I would see Catherine Deneuve and Calvin Klein too. It was the most exciting time for me in New York. There was an incredible life and fire that existed when I first arrived in 1987. I was going to art school; everything was new. It was so exciting.

What’s the most stand-out meal you’ve had at a fashion event?

One of my favorite events that is fashion-ish is Edible Schoolyard. The project focuses on teaching kids where food comes from, how it’s cooked and how to eat healthily and tastily. Each table has food presented by a different executive celebrity chef, and the food is by far a standout and an overall incredible experience, not to mention it’s for a good cause.

Your new business, LoveSeen, helps us all find eyelashes that fit our eye shapes and skin tones. After J.Crew, how did you decide on lashes as your next big bet? What has it been like working with Troi Ollivierre on this project?

I have always been fascinated with eyelashes because I don't have any myself. I noticed in my late days at J. Crew that all of the girls were coming into the office with eyelash extensions. Interestingly enough, they wore no other makeup. On the flipside, I was deep on my phone watching Huda Beauty videos of women completely transforming their faces through contouring, highlighting, lashing. I realized that both were attracted to the amplification of eyelashes, but there was very little that sat in between. It wasn’t that I thought I was hanging my hat on this new idea, but I was certainly excited by it and thought I could do something different.

I’ve always respected and admired Troi for his ability to amplify the beauty of anyone, not cover them up or change them. And I knew from the get-go that he would be someone I would want to partner with. On top of that, he’s funny as f*ck and I love him deeply.

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