I firmly believe the key to a successful catalog is the ability to transport the readers/shopper into another world where, with the aid of the clothing the catalog sells, they can be as freaking fabulous as they want to be. J. Crew makes me feel this way and I know I’m being a mindless consumer for saying so. Unlike the piles of catalogs that come from West Elm and Crate & Barrel (um, how yuppie am I?), I don’t even get annoyed when I get my third J. Crew catalog of the month! I see its arrival as an excuse to take a little reprieve from my day, to go on a trip to Italy, where I’m wearing a Bright Flame Gayle Ruffle Trench slurping on pasta with my man, Lady & The Tramp-style. Or maybe I’m sight-seeing on a lovely Spring day, hitting the cobble stone streets of Florence in a pair of Bistro Orange-colored Twyla Midheel Slingbacks. Luckily, time doesn’t exist in J. Crew fantasy land, so even though I should really be getting back to work in the real world, there’s still plenty of hours left in the day to walk through the Duomo in a Verushka Print Dress. Unfortunately, the one thing that does exist in both J. Crew Fantasy Land and The Real World, is the prices. J. Crew, I’m just not so sure you’re a fantasy worth going broke for. [J. Crew]
