Who is Jenna Lyons? Meet the former J.Crew exec who’s joining ‘RHONY’
Jenna Lyons has a new crew.
The former J.Crew executive and creative director was announced as one of seven new women cast on the revamped “Real Housewives of New York City,” along with Sai De Silva, Ubah Hassan, Erin Dana Lichy, Lizzy Savetsky, Jessel Taank and Brynn Whitfield.
Lyons, 54, made a surprise appearance with her new co-stars at BravoCon 2022 to announce the news.
Production on the Bravo show is set to begin in the fall, with Season 14 to premiere in 2023.
In the meantime, read on for everything you need to know about the fashion designer-turned-reality star.
She worked at J.Crew for 26 years.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Lyons was the face of the retailer for many years. She was hired in 1990 when she was just 21 years old and worked her way up to the top to become president and creative director in 2008. She made the company so wildly popular that Michelle Obama famously wore (and name-checked!) the brand during her husband’s campaign trail. In a shocking turn, she stepped down from the role in 2017 amid declining sales.
She has her own beauty brand.
After her departure from J.Crew, Lyons took some time off. However, she returned in 2020 with the launch of her false eyelash company, LoveSeen, which was inspired by her experience with incontinentia pigmenti. It’s a genetic disorder that’s left the designer with no eyelashes or eyebrows, bald spots in her hair, scars on her skin and all fake teeth, as she told the New Yorker.
She’s been on reality TV before.
In 2020, Lyons tried her hand at reality television with a documentary-style HBO Max show, “Stylish,” that followed her growing design firm. It’s unclear if the show will be renewed for another season, though it’s likely the bespectacled star will simply showcase her business life on Bravo moving forward.
She’s no stranger to controversy.
In 2011, Lyons came under fire when she posed for a J.Crew ad while painting her then-4-year-old son Beckett’s toenails pink.
“Any 4-year-old, boy or girl, who watches their mothers’ toes go from nude to pink, they’re, like, ‘I want that,'” Lyons told the New Yorker in 2020 of the backlash. “At 4, you don’t know color assigned by gender. There’s no meaning attached to anything. The idea that I was somehow trying to mess with his gender identity was just so absurd.”
She’s part of the LGBT community.
In 2011, Lyons divorced her husband, Vincent Mazeau, after nine years of marriage. The couple shares son Beckett, who lives with Lyons in New York City. Shortly after her divorce, the fashion designer announced she was dating Courtney Crangi — the sister and business partner of jeweler Philip Crangi — though the couple broke up in 2017.
Fans are sure to tune in to see how Lyons fits in as a “Real Housewife.”
