GQ, Behind the Scenes: Frank Muytjens, J. Crew.

When it was announced a while back, I was stoked to hear that Frank had been nominated as one of GQ's Best New Designers of 2010. Like most of the other nominees, Frank is anything but new to design. Having done his requisite time at RL, Frank took the helm of men's design at J. Crew a few years back and in the meantime has, with the help of his able design team, the pitch perfect Creative Direction of Jenna Lyons and the CEO-ness of Mickey Drexler, steered J.Crew into a whole new direction. There may be some debate, and when I say "may" I mean "is", as to whether what J.Crew is doing is anything other than co-opting what many feel is something that belongs to the initiated few and mass-retailing it across the country. I know this due to the amount of comments, left here and elsewhere, whenever a J.Crew post pops up. And I can't say that, at times, I don't see that side of the argument. The fact remains that J.Crew has surfaced on radars where, a few years prior, they hadn't even blipped.
Knowing Frank and Jenna a bit, it's a very genuine excitement that gives genus to what they do over there. Frank has an earnest and totally legit love for the same things that we all do. He just happens to be the head of Men's design at J.Crew.
We all have our opinions on the matter. Feel free to leave yours in the comments if you like.
Congratulations to Frank for the nomination. Well deserved.