Fashion guru Jenna Lyons said she's "trying to stay very busy" these days.
Is there anything Jenna Lyons from The Real Housewives of New York City can’t do?
The answer is "no," and the proof came in Season 15, Episode 5 when the former President and Executive Creative Director of J. Crew gave audiences a front-row seat into one of her latest business ventures. Credited for helping dress former First Lady Michelle Obama, the stylish fashion icon isn’t one to rest on her laurels, especially since she has more time at home these days.
What is Jenna Lyons doing for work now?
Jenna — who just rocked her signature look at the Victoria’s Secret 2024 Fashion Show — revealed she has taken the top position as the Editor-in-Chief-at-Large for the famous fashion and beauty magazine Coveteur.
Jenna placed emphasis on the “at-large” part of her fancy-schmancy title.
“The ‘at-large’ means I’m not in the office every day,” Jenna explained in her confessional. “I said I have another job … two other jobs.”
The working girl went into more detail as she and her Coveteur team gathered for a roundtable brainstorm for some ideas that could be included in their digital magazine. Not only did Jenna mention her false eyelash line, LoveSeen, but she’s also “a partner in a start-up,” she dropped in the recent episode.
As noted in Jenna’s Bravo bio, she is a partner at FundamentalCo, a design business once described by business magazine Fast Company as “the quietly powerful company that’s changing how business values design.”
But two things really sold Jenna on the idea of taking on her newest position with the fashion brand publication.
Why is Jenna Lyons at Coveteur?
“What excited me is I haven’t really been close to photo shoots in a long time, and I love that part of it,” Jenna said. “And also, this whole process of sitting with these women, you get this opportunity to have a brain-share.”
It’s safe to say that being engaged to fashion and editorial photographer Cass Bird has helped Jenna be at least some degree closer to the photo world. In a March 14, 2024, interview with Coveteur, she explained how Bird worked downstairs from her office on a photo shoot with the legendary supermodel Linda Evangelista.
But Jenna’s brand is consistently and fluidly evolving, and just when you think she can expand no more, she proves the world wrong and amasses more success atop Achievement Mountain. In September 2023, she told New York Magazine’s fashion site The Cut that she had a “really different idea of what success looks like now.”
Jenna touched on the development of her success following her 27-year tenure with J. Crew in her aforementioned interview with Coveteur. Pivoting, said the New York Housewife, was an advantage of her career journey.
“Since I left J. Crew, where I was on one track, I've done so many different things and learned that pivoting is actually okay and good,” she told the magazine. “So, I think now I'm really looking at it as, ‘How do I share the things that I love and how do I get them out there?’ I try to focus on smaller brands. It doesn't necessarily mean exclusively, but I really try to focus on the discovery of things that I love and people I want to support.”
And that is why we can all aspire to be more like J.F.L.
See more of Jenna’s journey in all-new episodes of The Real Housewives of New York City, airing Tuesdays at 9/8c on Bravo and streaming the next day on Peacock.
