Reviews - The Kingdom of Prep: The Inside Story of the Rise and (Near) Fall of J.Crew

202 reviews for:

The Kingdom of Prep: The Inside Story of the Rise and (Near) Fall of J.Crew

Maggie Bullock

4.0 AVERAGE

twhinery's review against another edition

4.0

informative medium-paced

barizley's review against another edition

3.0

As a former J. Crew die-hard who hasn’t purchased anything from them in years, I was eager to read this book. The author comes in swinging with a fascinating analysis (takedown?) of the economic, cultural, and racial history of prep. I was sold. Then the pacing came to a screeching halt.
I have a lot of thoughts about the last decade at J. Crew and therefore I have a lot of thoughts about how it’s portrayed in the book. Bottom line: by the end, Jenna Lyons and her team were putting out some bonkers looks and I wanted to know what the heck was going on there. The author got a little into it in a quick discussion about losing sight of the J. Crew girl. Still, you don’t lose your core demographic by making shady investment deals. You lose it by fastening too many jewels to too many sweatshirts.