“Shine” is Yuri Pleskun’s nickname inked on his left arm in red and black letters.  It was anointed in the streets of Co-op City where the fair-skinned kid stood out long before becoming a male model.  Recall the dark-eyed, cloth-clad figure behind Gisele in Balenciaga’s Spring 2011 campaign. That was Pleskuns, er, Shine.  Campaign aside, he has quite the oeuvre (from Italian Vogue to the runway at Rick Owens) for a twenty-one-year old discovered three years ago on the two train headed back to the Bronx.

When I meet Yuri, he is wearing a grey t-shirt, black jeans and Nike Dunks.  A silver cigarette hangs around his neck and square diamonds sparkle in each of his ears (“twenty dollars on Delancey Street”).  His sister’s name, “Lena,” is tattooed on his right arm.  She now lives in Westchester, but the two grew up together in Co-op City, the children of Ukranian immigrants.  Pleskuns still lives there where he takes care of his grandfather.  We’re on our way to East Village restaurant Veselka to pick up authentic Ukranian fare after a day of shooting. He likes pelmini and potato vareniki, a sort of dumpling also known as pierogies.  This is where Pleskuns goes when his grandmother’s in town from New Jersey, a sort of throwback to old times.

“Being a kid is tough, everyone knows that; everyone has some rough issues,” Pleskun says of growing up.  Before finding his way to fashion, he worked at Burger King, as a carpenter and a school janitor.  He shows me his license from the New York Board of Ed, pointing out the title description, which reads simply, “Clean.”  Post-janitorial work, it was on to the more dangerous métier of window washer (he once polished the entire exterior of the downtown W hotel).  “Pretty scary, but beautiful,” is how Pleskuns describes the dangers of this last gig before he was discovered as a model.  He’d never paid much attention to clothes (“we heard the brands in rap songs”) but he decided to give it a go despite being self-described camera shy.

Pleskun’s first big purchase happened only recently, a suit from “some super classy British designer” and YSL black patent leather tap dancing shoes.  His prize piece is a big Dunhill sheepskin coat given to him by Kim Jones.  Still, he usually goes for the jeans, Dunks and leaves the rest to character.  “People respect you by your aura,” he says.

Where do you go from here? Pleskun’s references a television show he’s just watched about mogul Richard Branson. “I want to be able to be on a beach and make money by smiling.”
Funny, he’s kind of already there.

– Stephanie LaCava

Photographed by Patrick Demarchelier

Styled by Katie Grand

Over the years, Katie Grand has bought herself a fair amount of Marc Jacobs womenswear. Her collection now stretched to several rails of clothes and boxes of shoes, big enough, Jacobs reckons, to rival his brand’s own archive. By curious coincidence, both Jacobs and Grand are not dissimilar sizes. So when it came to finding a model for this very personal Marc Jacobs retrospective, who better than the man himself?

Black wool hat (worn throughout), autumn/winter 2007; Pink flower necklace, spring/summer 2011; Lace monogram fan by Louis Vuitton, spring/summer 2011; Mens’ black shirt (worn throughout) by Marc Jacobs, Marc Jacobs’ own.

Burgundy sunglasses, spring/summer 2011; Purple cotton coat, spring/summer 2002; Brown clutch bag, spring/summer 2011; Mary Jane shoes, autumn/winter 2001. Grey stockings by Prada

Dark blue lurex skirt, spring/summer 2009; multi-coloured wedges, spring/summer 2011

Necklace, autumn/winter 2007; Blue wide leg trousers, spring/summer 2002; Glitter platform sandals, spring/summer 2011

Marc pulled on one of the coats, put his hand in the pocket and found a Louis Vuitton Murakami phone charm that I must have been carrying the last time I wore it. He gave me a funny look and said, “I’m actually wearing your clothes. This feels a bit weird.” - Katie Grand

Blue and black sequined skirt, autumn/winter 2005; Mary Janes, autumn/winter 2011

Pale multicoloured coat with fur collar and gold buttons, fall/winter 2004; Black shirt by Marc Jacobs, Marc Jacobs’ own; Leopard-print pony skin court shoes, fall/winter 2006; Black felt and knitted wool hat with brimmed detail, fall/winter 2007. Grey stockings by Prada. Black briefs, Marc Jacobs’ own

Mauve waistcoat and matching A-line skirt, spring/summer 2002; Burgundy shoulder bag, spring/summer 2011; Mary Jane shoes, autumn/winter 2001

Tweed jacket and matching skirt, spring/summer 2003

Hair by Ashley Javier for Kerastase; Make-Up by Ozzy Salvatierra; Manicure by Honey; Set Design by Stefan Beckman; Fashion Assistants Sari Zoe Rozins and Alexandra Horton; Shot at Patrick Demarchelier Studio

The designer driving the big brand that’s making America dress better

Written by Erik Torstensson

Portrait by Tom Allen

There are plenty of high street brands trying to persuade us that they’re design-led these days. But J. Crew is the only chain whose aesthetic is deemed high-end enough by Net-a-Porter to be worthy of inclusion on its list of designer names. It’s a dramatic turnaround for a company that 10 years ago was saddled with a reputation for being an unremarkable catalogue brand. Jenna Lyons remembers the bad old days, having joined J. Crew in 1990 as a lowly design assistant on men’s knitwear. ‘I’ve worked for every single department,’ she says. ‘I’ve done swim. I’ve done lingerie. Sweaters. Shoes. Sunglasses. Bags. I’ve been involved in every aspect of the business.’ It was the label’s egalitarian affordability that had attracted her in the first place, but the creative aspect of her work suffered after a private equity firm took over in 1997 and commerciality became the only priority. ‘When I started I really loved being here but slowly things went downhill. I was loyal and I wanted it to get better. I didn’t realise how bad it actually was until Mickey arrived.’

Mickey Drexler came in from Gap as J. Crew’s CEO in 2003 and quickly recognised the talent the Parsons-trained designer, who was in heading up womenswear at the time. ‘Mickey went through the rail and asked my opinion on the collection. He held up a pair of stretch pants: “What do you think of this?” I said, “I don’t really like it, but I think it’ll make a lot of money.” And he said, “Throw it on the floor.” Next. “What’s this?” “It’s a poodle sweater that we’ve been running.” “What do you think of it?” “I hate it with all of my life… but it’s a million-dollar piece.” “Throw it on the floor.” At the end of the meeting, half the line was on the floor.’ This little bonfire of the banalities cleared the way for a new-look J. Crew. ‘We pulled a team together, did some sketches, went vintage shopping and got on a plane to Hong Kong to redo the line all over again!’

Even before Lyons was invited to give her creativity free rein, one factor that stood in J. Crew’s favour was its humble mail-order roots: this meant its distribution structure was already in place as the rest of the high street rushed to migrate online. Now Lyons is very much the face of the brand on the J. Crew site, with her ‘Jenna’s Picks’ page guiding the customer through how to assemble a look that she would wear herself. Not that J. Crew’s etail operation has eclipsed the importance of its catalogue, whose reach remains immense: published 14 times a year under Lyons’s supervision, three million issues are mailed out each month. ‘We see a dramatic uptake in sales when the catalogue goes out. It’s a sort of a magazine for the customer; it allows us to reinvent J. Crew every month. That’s where the creativity and the fun comes in because so few brands can do this. I mean, how many brands get to do five women’s photoshoot stories without any advertising?’

She also oversees the interiors of its 229 stores, all within the US; outside of Net-a-Porter, J. Crew’s reach is not yet international, although that may change next year. She’s careful not to grow the brand too quickly, focusing on taking it up-market before breaking it in new markets. She launched the pricier J. Crew Collection in 2007, a line that has included such artisanal pieces as a $2,000 dress decorated with hand-cut sequins in a limited edition of eight. Then there’s the innovative J. Crew ads in which models are shown with products from other brands too (their websites are even generously included); and the Liquor Store, a J. Crew menswear flagship converted from an old Tribeca off-licence, more unique concept store than identikit chain. All in the name of making J. Crew creatively credible while keeping its appeal as broad (and its prices as low) as possible. ‘I want my mum to be able to wear the clothes. I want to be able to wear the clothes and I want the girls from Harper’s Bazaar to wear them. How you do that? It’s hard.’ Hard maybe, but Lyons appears to be succeeding.