J.Crew will Finally Launch a Fragrance Line

J.Crew has an impossible-to-mislabel aesthetic – preppy, all American, classic clothes (think lots of stripes, khakis, and blazers) and fresh-faced, all-natural looking models with just the slightest bit of a sun-kissed face and a dab of coral or red lipstick. The company has done beauty product collaborations before to encourage this look, including the very recent partnership with Bite Beauty, but the brand has never dabbled in fragrance. Until now.

J.Crew is making its first foray into fragrance with a collaboration with the perfumer Arquiste. Arquiste is best known for selling its fragrances at retailers like Birchbox, Barneys, and Net-a-Porter. According to a J.Crew rep, there will be two scents — “No. 31” and “No. 57” — which will sell for $78 (50 ml) and $25 (10 ml). The scents will be available for purchase in all of J.Crew’s stores and online.

The inspiration for the fragrances reportedly came from a Peggy Guggenheim art gallery show (Marguerite “Peggy” Guggenheim was an American art collector, bohemian and socialite). The show in question? Guggenheim’s “Exhibition by 31 Women,” the U.S.’s first all-female modern art exhibition that featured works that debuted beginning in 1943. The actual composition of the J.Crew fragrances draws on what one imagines the gallery room would have smelled like – think vanilla, aged whisky, and cedar wood. Apparently the cocktails people would have drunk back then were inspirations themselves.

But let’s go back to the retailer’s new beauty collaboration with Bite. Together, the company’s developed three matte lip colors that launched last month. J.Crew also designed a  range of nail polishes with TenOverTen, a famous nail salon/company in New York City.

In addition to collaborations, the J.Crew sells a number of third-party beauty brands on its website, including Jurlique creams and Dr. Dennis Gross skincare products. But finally moving into fragrance shows a deeper investment in the beauty business, and WWD reported that the two scents took over a year to develop. That’s a serious commitment.

(Photo by Getty Images)