Madewell (Q3248)
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Madewell is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Madewell |
Madewell is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Yes, Madewell can cut a party frock or knit up a cute sweater, but the core of the brand’s business is still what it was founded on: timeless American classics. Its denim offering has grown exponentially since the brand was relaunched in the 2010s and made it the de facto source for cropped jeans across America’s malls. As such, Madewell excels in the easygoing basics that align with denim so well, like white tees, striped button-downs, and jean jackets. For spring 2020, head of design Joyce Lee and her team are taking the brand back to its roots, looking at Americana and Western motifs for a collection that evolves the signatures of all things Madewell.Denim in all its forms is, of course, key to this collection. All the usual washes and cuts persist, but what will really excite shoppers this spring are Lee’s ivory tonal combos, like a chore coat with straight-leg jeans. Paperbag shorts in sun-washed gray or dusty rose offer a more tomboyish feeling, while a boxy jumpsuit comes in a dreamy shade of Parisian-door blue. To complement all of this twill are soft sweaters, mannish shirting, and the occasional chartreuse daisy embroidery for a sprinkle of feminine flair. It’s a return to form for a brand that has experimented with girlishness and nostalgia of late, and a smart one at that. As a quarterly wardrobe reset for Madewell’s core customer, the spring collection has all kinds of new goodies that will pair back with the brand’s more exciting pieces.
23 January 2020
At Madewell’s showroom in Long Island City, head of design Joyce Lee described the brand’s holiday collection as being about nostalgia. “For a person, for a time, for a city,” she went on, moving through a rack of wine-hued corduroys and sherpa-puff jackets, referencing the idea of ski trips to Aspen or a family hangout in Jackson Hole. The Madewell lifestyle might like read easy, effortless basics on the surface, but it’s designed with emotion to keep shoppers coming back to the brand’s many stores.A weighty flannel, for example, could stir up memories of a high school love who got away, while a quilted coat in military green could evoke your grandpa’s army portrait. This little bit of romance is Madewell’s connective tissue, pieces evocative of a life well lived and well loved and turned into something affordable to buy. The fact that all these cute little things come with an implied history is precisely what has made Madewell such a hot commodity under Lee’s direction. But the clothing is also cool in a modern way, even for customers who see no memories in a floral-print cord midi-dress. There’s the fact that the clothing fits a wide range of body types well, that it’s affordable (those coats clock in under $300), and that it’s just trendy enough to have a little oomph. In a crowded contemporary market, something simple but special goes a long way.
17 December 2019
A whimsical irreverence is at the core of what head of design Joyce Lee brings to Madewell. That spirit of devil-may-care dressing has taken her through workwear tomboy-isms and into the earthy spirit of the American Southwest for her recent collections, but for Fall 2019 she’s playing it a little bit more by the book. With a trio of well-cited fashion legends on the moodboard—Jane Birkin, Ali MacGraw, and Diane Keaton—Lee and her team developed a collection that ticks all the boxes of a pragmatic woman’s wardrobe.In Birkin-land, there are high-rise, wide-leg jeans, wispy tops, and ditsy floral dresses.Love Story–era MacGraw inspires smart plaid outerwear and bookish Ivy League blazers and corduroys. As for Keaton, well, her newly adopted viral headwear is definitely not in this lookbook. Instead, you’ll find herAnnie Hallwardrobe of mannish pants and crisp shirting alongside softer stripe knits and shearlings. These will not come as new concepts to many, but the young millennials and Gen Z-ers inching upward into Madewell’s demographic might be totally turned on by a vintage movie or a #TBT muse.Plus, there’s a little more irreverence coming into stores, it’s just not pictured here. A cute little tee illustrates cities around the world with their local fare (Paris is paired with two glasses of red wine); there are many little bandanas, leather bags, and daisy chain earrings to add a bit of flair to the brand’s sorta-serious clothing this season. If none of that pique interests, a paisley corduroy puffa will have to do it. The coat is the low-key antidote to a decade of fluffy, furry outerwear—and it’s made of a material far more earth-friendly than faux fur, too.
26 July 2019
Madewell is on track to become a billion-dollar brand. How did the kid-sister line to J.Crew not only overtake its struggling parent company, but also come to dominate the accessible, everyday market? It hasn’t been a straight path, or even one without its fair share of speed bumps, but under the creative direction of Joyce Lee, Madewell has become synonymous with three things in the minds of millennial women: denim, playful but functional accessories, and just the right amount of wanderlust.Inside the brand’s sunny offices in Long Island City, New York, the only sign of its success is the constant shuffling about of women in rainbow-stripe and daisy-strewn dresses. The hallways are constantly, incessantly bustling, but beautiful. That’s the Madewell allure: It’s corporate and big, but it’s not scary or difficult. It’s a cool friend giving you a fashion tip, not a data-produced bit of jargon that promises you a better you. Where other mass-market retailers hew towards aspirational ready-to-wear trends, Madewell will dip its sky blue pedicured toenail into the vibes of a season, but never more.For Pre-Fall 2019—the brand’s high-summer drop—Lee and her team imagined three destinations, New England, Beverly Hills, and Hawaii, and crafted capsule collections for each that will release in June, July, and August respectively. In the lookbook here, the collections are styled all together for a sunny mishmash of tropical printed shorts, denim jumpsuits, and mustard yellow sundresses. Tie-front details and rainbow stripes are big ideas for the season, as are rompers and enough pastel dresses to make a girl’s head spin. Formalwear is not really Madewell’s thing, but there are some pretty lilac frocks and slips that could work at a chilled-out wedding or graduation ceremony. It might not be big-time, bold fashion, but capturing women’s imaginations in a relatable way is turning out to be big business.
14 April 2019
Madewell is in growth mode. A stand-alone men’s collection was launched last year, as were extended sizes in the womenswear range. And there’s much that’s new on the horizon for 2019, including advancements in the brand’s denim and a new category launch. But its core offering of denim, T-shirts, and comfortable outerwear is evolving, not changing outright.Over the phone before her maternity leave, head of design Joyce Lee explained her quest for balancing out the boyish with a new femininity. “We know our girl loves feminine,” she said. And so there are raw-edged denim minis and blouson tops with shots of Lurex or dainty stitched details. Even a ruffle makes an appearance, on the strap of an airy camisole top. Bags have grown more structured—a clear response to the many square, beaded, and architectural bags popular on Instagram—while the range of summer sandals is wider than before, from lace-up leather flats to thick-strapped black heels. All together, it’s a sunny, happy vision of springtime dressing, nothing too fussy or trendy, just a bit of refreshing effortlessness in an ever-more-complicated world.
18 January 2019
At Madewell, Joyce Lee navigates the waters between fun and functional with a captain’s panache. Her customer, whom she knows so well, is a young woman into clothes, but not a victim of trends, and she has exploring and entertaining on her mind. Lately, Lee and her team have seen her through a sunburned Southwestern lens, with Georgia O’Keeffe becoming their de facto muse. If the artist’s languid florals and pastel palette inspired the Spring collection, then O’Keeffe herself was the jumping-off point for Fall. See the wrap jackets in adobe brown, extra-wide-leg trousers in sandy khaki, and slightly pointed suede boots well suited for a Sedona lifestyle.But Madewell can never be just one thing, and so to counter the austerity and earthiness of O’Keeffe, Lee is also offering up a more-is-more proposition. Here the collection takes on a younger bent, with a lilac faux fur jacket, puffy burgundy tote, and a pair of saccharine glitter Mary Janes with a twee ’60s block heel.The best stuff is neither the minimal nor the maximal—both categories that seem tailored for Instagram success—but the middle, the everyday essentials that Madewell specializes in. People who live off the ’gram will enjoy a caramel corduroy jumpsuit or an embroidered floral bib blouse or wrap dress that goes from Vans to stilettos. The thing about the middle is that it’s not too flashy and not too sleek, but in the end, it’s just right.
23 July 2018
Designing a collection based on the idea of wardrobe essentials could seem like a thankless task, but Madewell’s Joyce Lee has turned the remaking and rethinking of basics into a delightful experiment. The brand’s vice president of design, now in her third year at its helm, has found increasingly whimsical ways to modernize Madewell’s basics—easy trousers, light blouses, and graphic tees. This season, the devil is in the details, with fringed and floral embroideries on blouses, extra-long cuffs and a slightly tapered leg on jeans, and a somewhat more body-conscious silhouette.These changes were inspired by the spirit of warm-weather travel. Lee and her team looked to some of the most photogenic destinations around the world as references, like the bazaars of Morocco and the canyons of the American Southwest, filling the collection with motifs from each locale. A Berber-rug motif appeared on a light sweater and an O’Keeffe-ian wrap jacket was adorned with graphic embroidery. There are also South of France sailor striped trousers; Mediterranean floral blouses with ruffled sleeves; some proper pastel Nantucket striped sets; and even a Mickey Mouse sweatshirt for the girl who considers Disney World the happiest place on earth. Lee’s thinking might not have been as calculated as actually referencing social media–popular destinations and the outfits that go with them, but it is a clever way to play into the wanderlust of Madewell’s young female fans, many of whom spend hours scrolling through Instagram landscapes, mapping out fabulous destination trips in their minds.Lee’s ability to tap into the hearts and brains of the brand’s customers, without skimping on their need for practical rust colored trousers, say, is what sets her Madewell apart from other mainstream retailers. The brand’s best pieces this season, like a Van Gogh–ish botanical print gardener’s jacket, a blue check sundress with buttons up the side seams, and a white maxi dress with strawberry embroideries, don’t feel contrived or even particularly trendy—but they’re not so basic as to be boring. They sit in that sweet spot where what you need and what you desire meet. Sounds like a lot of heavy thinking for a mid-market day dress, but just because something is practical and affordable doesn’t mean it can’t have emotional value, too.
8 January 2018
“We’re evolving what we know our customer loves,” saidMadewellcreative director Joyce Lee at the brand’s Fall 2017 preview. This season, that means more denim, now with the occasional shearling lining, more revved-up word prints likeCha Cha Cha!, and more just-polished-enough blouses in black eyelet, gold velvet, or simple white cotton. To those already in the Madewell fold, these pieces will be exactly what Lee promised: welcome comrades in a closet full of striped tees and simple trousers. The formula is not complicated—just give young women unfussy pieces—and yet it manages to elude other brands, including Madewell’s big sister,J.Crew.What’s more is that there’s also plenty that might draw a new woman into the shop, from an army green wide-leg jumpsuit to a perfectly bulbous puffa jacket. There’s even a big, aviator-style shearling jacket and a thigh-slit denim midi that edge into proper adult territory. In the lookbook, everything is styled with Madewell’s signature aplomb on model Heather Kemesky, the type of babe who could make a sack look like a seasonal It item. But these pieces will hold up on the hanger for babes of all kinds.
13 July 2017
Joyce Lee took the helm of Madewell nearly two years ago, after creative director Somsack Sikhounmuong left to lead up J.Crew’s womenswear efforts. Where Sikhounmuong infused his designs with a coolness rooted in Madewell’s American heritage—think: patchwork denim, workwear silhouettes, and plenty of plaid—Lee has altered course slightly, giving up tomboy charm for a more on-trend bit of femininity and whimsy. Considering the romantic mood on the runways, her shift feels right, particularly for Spring.High points of Madewell’s expansive offering this season included an airy blouse with blue floral embroidery down the sleeves, a coral off-the-shoulder top and matching button-front skirt, and a zebra-pattern pajama top that echoes J.Crew’s successful collaboration with Drake’s. There were more matchy-matchy separates than ever—all to make the Madewell girl’s daily dressing a bit easier—and even some editorial-minded numbers that will woo fashion followers, like a white denim bustier. On a recent weekday, Lee walked through the line at the brand’s new offices in Long Island City, in a corner office dubbed “The Desert Room.” The collection’s lovely sun-bleached palette was complemented by cacti and Southwestern rugs, but the silhouettes will find happy shoppers from New Mexico to New York.
17 January 2017
Madewell could not host a presentation this season due to the coronavirus pandemic. In these extenuating circumstances, Vogue Runway has made an exception to its policy and is writing about this collection via photos and remote interviews.Madewell’s spring 2020 collection was designed long before the coronavirus pandemic shut down fashion at large—creative director Joyce Lee and her team are already designing spring 2021—but its message of optimism and lightness certainly resonates with our current moment. Lee found inspiration in the sun-bleached colors of ’70s California surf images, which resulted in vintage-y tees and cozy shorts in ocher, marigold, and sky blue.The brand’s advantage, especially now, is that its designs have always bridged the gap between comfort and style. Easy wrap separates in an oversized gingham print float around the body, while a cream-colored sweatsuit with colorful drawstrings is a nice option for working from home. Even a pandemic might not slow down Madewell’s influence: Its popular silk bandanas have already begun to double as face masks. As the sun comes out, expect to see more, paired with this season’s macramé bags and strappy sandals, during socially distanced walks.
27 April 2020
Why mess with success? Under the direction of Somsack Sikhounmuong,Madewellhas proven itself to beJ.Crew’s most solid bet in the face of financial troubles. With the designer shifted over to improve the fortunes of the big sister brand this summer, new Madewell creative director Joyce Lee has stayed his winning course in her first outing for the label (a Madewell vet of seven years, she worked closely with Sikhounmuong before his decampment to J.Crew). It was a little sweeter, perhaps, but what’s arguably most remarkable about Madewell is its knack for conjuring up a convincingly familiar quality in spanking-new, mass-market clothing. Plenty of the styles here looked as if they had seen a road trip or two, or at the very least were ready-made for making memories in. Consider unexpected vintage touches, like custom embroidery (Spring’s high-waisted flares plus cheeky cherry-red script is a combo that will be hard to beat) or the cosmic cowboy–esque stitching on the back of a fatigue jacket. All that ’70s-hued bohemia found a foil in girlish pieces such as striped rompers and frocks edged in broderie anglaise. But perhaps most charming (and savvy) of all was Lee’s choice to introduce collaborative styles, including price-friendly patchworked jeans in partnership with insider-y favorite B-Sides.
5 November 2015
At the risk of stating the obvious, Mickey Drexler is a savvy guy. Despite J.Crew's uneasy financial state in 2014, Madewell sales were up 35 percent—and Drexler isn't one to deny a younger sibling its time in the limelight. Instead, he'll capitalize on it, recently announcing plans to open 20 more Madewell stores before year's end. Where J.Crew's offerings have inched away from basics and swayed to the dressier, the more fashion-y, and the more tangibly styled, customers are responding ever more to Madewell's slouchy, quietly quirky, and imminently pinnable sensibilities. Classic shapes, sure, but eschewing preciousness in favor of something more boyish, artfully undone. "I hope there's an authenticity to it," offers head of design Somsack Sikhounmuong, who was tapped back in the summer of 2013. During that stint, he's quietly moved the brand's vocabulary along without straying too far from its core DNA.Perhaps it makes sense, then, that for Fall the designer and his team toyed with the concepts of tradition and context—boarding school, for one, traceable in tartans and peacoats. Cannily, though, Sikhounmuong and co. avoided trading too heavily on any one decade or influence. His gorgeous peacoat came in dark denim and shearling-lined; his plaids clashing. A handful of looks hinted more to the recent runways in a way that felt natural and off-the-cuff: head-to-toe sweater dressing, great supple leather A-line minis. Madewell's denim range, which has made converts of many a designer jean fan, should make even a few more, thanks to new styles like a boilersuit and a pair that made a convincing stand-in for those dream flea-market 501s. Here was a collection with a winning balance of easily shoppable, no-brainer type pieces (the knitwear was a dream) and quirkier styles (like a quilted denim coat) that the Madewell girl can spring for without breaking the bank. Looks like Drexler's made another savvy bet for 2015.
3 April 2015