When J.Crew asked their former womenswear designer, Olympia Gayot, to return as creative director in 2020, the circumstances were anything but typical. It was during the pandemic, offices everywhere were dark and deserted, and Gayot was pregnant with her second child. “It was intense,” she says. “I came to work every day, designing collections with this tiny, masked crew who just knew we had to make it happen. But I also knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and that in my heart, I wanted it.”
Her return to the brand, where she had spent seven years before departing in 2017, wasn’t just a good professional move, it has become a central part of Gayot’s creative identity. Charged with putting J.Crew back on the fashion map, she turned the role into a chance to design for women like herself—juggling work, life, and motherhood. “There’s so much creativity coming from women, especially mothers,” she says. “If I can spotlight even one of them personally or through the brand, I will.”
