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The President and artistic director of J. Crew, Jenna Lyons,
...splits from husband to live with lesbian lover. Colourful life of CEO Jenna Lyons. [Source: Daily Mail]That is the same clothing company which Michelle Obama made famous (or more famous).
Lyons, J.Crew's top woman, has left her husband of nine years, Vincent Mazeau, and moved in with Courtney Crangi. Lyons has a five-year-old son, who now probably has to shuttle between his lesbian mother and father, and Crangi has three children, one daughter the same age as Lyons' son. I tried to look up the father (fathers?, sperm donors?) of Crangi's children, but to no avail. There is no news on Crangi's personal life, other than she "split from her partner" to be with Lyons. Is her partner male, female, transgendered, transsexual? No information on that either.
I've put together a couple of collages of these women. One shows how unfeminine, even androgynous, they look, even when married (prior to their tryst). The other is how Lyons' son looks like a little girl.
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Top Right: Jenna Lyons with lesbian lover Courtney Crangi
Lyons and Crangi have some photos where they appear in dresses, but even then, there is something androgynous, or unkempt, with the "feminine" styles they chose (see the top right photo of Lyons in her shapeless dress with the giant beads). Lyons has on an attractive floral skirt (bottom left), yet she wears it with a masculine blazer and dark, thick tights, not the feminine stockings it calls for. The bottom right photo of Lyons shows her in her full androgynous regalia, with masculine cut pants and shirt. She clinches the look with a hand in the trouser pocket. Crangi's pairing of a shapeless evening gown with a shaggy fur vest (top right) is simply odd.
Looking like a man finally led Lyons to flinging aside her womanhood and ultimately into a convoluted relationship she fostered with her "friend" (which is how magazines describe Lyons' and Crangi's original relationship). Crangi's trajectory is similar. Here she is with her brother/business partner looking reasonably feminine, yet here she is looking ominously amazonian.
I think looking feminine is part of the process of thinking (and being) feminine, which leads to all the other normal functions that women do: getting married to men; having children; battling the modern feminist world which wants to turn women into men (in the work force, in the family, etc.).
Appearances matter. The world has known this for eons. Kings dress as kings, soldiers as soldiers, women as women and men as men. Little girls dress as little girls, boys dress as boys.
But not only do people dress their roles, they dress in their roles aesthetically. I think aesthetics, or the desire to make things beautiful (our clothing, our homes, our cities), is part of our natural desires. When society veers away from that I think confusion ensues. Aesthetics seems to be the anchor around which we can build our identities. Looking like a beautiful (at least attractive and pleasant-looking) woman is part of securing the the identity of the woman. Having a beautiful city is inherent in our desire to live and maintain that city. Think of those Soviet cityscapes, where ultimately people could no longer live with their ugliness, hence that quick demise (as history goes) of the unaesthetic socialist revolution.
A well-groomed man is actually a more masculine man, where the grooming may takes on a cultural particularity, but is particular to all cultures. For some reason, a badly groomed man looks weak (and effeminate?). In any case, it doesn't help his masculinity.
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Notice (in the photo above) Vincent Mazeau shaggy beard, uncoiffed hair, and that startled expression I see in so many men these days, as though engulfed by the contradictions of feminism, an ideology which they support against their innate desire to be anything but a feminist - or feminist supporter. Although Lyons looks mild and nonthreatening in the photo above, below is another where she has none of the soft femininity one would expect of a woman (and a wife).
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Mazeau was a "stay-at-home-dad" and is seeking alimony from Lyons for the time he spent at home with their son when he could have been building his career.
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Above is the little boy, who became famous for having his toenails painted by his mother. On the left, he looks like any other toddler, with his truck and teddy-bear-type Sesame Street's goofy, yet decidedly undoll-like, Emo. Yet in the photo on the right, without his boyish paraphernalia, those long locks make him look like a little girl. I wonder what he'll grow up to be, with a father who couldn't keep his wife, and a mother who left the family for another woman?
Finally, here is the image in last spring's issue of J. Crew that catapulted Lyons' son into the media.
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The caption above the picture reads:
Saturday with JennaThe caption below reads:
"See how she and son Beckett go off duty in style."
Quality Time: "Lucky for me, I ended up with a boy whose favorite color is pink. Toenail painting is way more fun in neon."I hardly think that painting a son's toenails in neon pink will damage his personality (notice the crayola in the jar, which makes the whole thing more of a fun painting game). It's the sordid family saga that is infinitely more serious, but no-one seems to be paying that much attention.