STYLE ICON: Mickey Drexler

Got a second? Let's talk about J.Crew...

...and the man behind the brand's meteoric rise

from a single store at the South Street Seaport

to a $1.7 billion retail powerhouse:

Mickey Drexler.

Tastemakers like Jenna Lyons and Gayle Spannaus

are largely credited for the brand's revamped image, 

but Mickey is the man behind it all.*

*However, I would really like to have a chat with him

about this $1,250 "cashmere popover," since my Shih Tzu

is tired of hearing about how absurd I find this.

Rein it in, Mickey.

In fact, Jenna (seen above with Mickey) called

J. Crew before Mickey "vanilla."

Even Ms. Anna Wintour herself agrees:

I first learned about Mickey when "J. Crew and the Man Who Dressed America" 
aired last spring on CNBC. The guy's got quirks, to say the least
(he rides a bike around the office for starters), but his emphasis on classic pieces 
and consistency (leave the twist to Jenna and Gayle)is getting something right.

Learn more about Mickey's pretty dead-on take on 
Margherita pizza in his interview with the FT here.

"You know what the most popular ice cream flavors always are: chocolate and vanilla. 
It's the same with cookies: chocolate chip, then oatmeal raisin, then maybe sugar. 
And you always have to have this in stock. I tell this to my team when we go out 
together: you need the Margherita! People like consistency. Whether it's a store 
or a restaurant, they want to come in and see what you are famous for."

Let's take a sneak peek at J. Crew's 

Spring 2013 Ready to Wear collection:

Images via

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