After 7 Years, J.Crew Catalog Returns

Demi Moore gets top billing

Am I the only person excited to hear that J.Crew resurrected its catalog after a seven-year absence?

Clearly not. Because when I went to a J.Crew in Manhattan on Friday to get my hands on said hot-off-the presses publication, I couldn’t find a catalog anywhere in the store.

I was disappointed because I had called that morning to make sure they were in stock. A sales associate stepped in to help me and was surprised to discover there weren’t any at the checkout counter. “They were stacked right here!” she declared. Thankfully, she was able to grab me one from the back room.

I walked out holding the fresh volume, and I got about half a block away when I realized it had that new-catalog smell. Yes, I could actually smell the paper, and that made me happy as someone who appreciates printed matter as much as I love a J.Crew blazer or overcoat.

Naturally, models pose throughout the publication in their J.Crew. The shoots took place in the Hamptons (a place I have never visited, even though I live in NYC) and in Central Park (a place I’ve ventured to lots of times). But on the cover and in a set of pics by fashion photographer Max Farago, Demi Moore is the star.

Moore, one of those people for whom the term “effortlessly cool” was created, is a perfect fit. First of all, she appeared in Andrew McCarthy’s recent Brats documentary, sounding like a smart, introspective person with a good head on her shoulders. The Brat Pack label, slapped on young stars in the 1980s, did not inhibit her career because, well, Demi Moore is talented. (I could go on a long why the Brat Pack documentary was such a disappointment rant. But I’ll abstain for now.)

Secondly and most importantly, Moore loves J.Crew clothes. As we learn in the catalog interview, she actually owns a collection of items from the ’90s J.Crew. She models some of them, including a vintage t-shirt, jacket and brown leather work boots with orange laces.

I hope J.Crew brings back these boots with the orange laces. They have to be thinking about doing that, right? It wouldn’t be fair to tease us like this.

I don’t buy as many clothes as I use to because I haven’t worked in an office since 2020. And to be honest, I probably don’t need a double-breasted blazer made of fine Italian fabric or a featherweight cashmere polo.

But the new J.Crew catalog makes me want to go to shopping. So, the book’s a success in my book. It’s also inspired me to binge some of Moore’s movies.

Starting with St. Elmo’s Fire. Which never goes out of style.