Olympia Gayot, head of women’s and kids’ design for J. Crew, says swimwear is her favorite to design. “Everybody’s the happiest when they’re on the beach, right?”
and I are in a curved booth at The Odeon. She’s just informed the server that she’s allergic to eggs, and I’ve confirmed that there are no beets in the steak salad I ordered. “I have a very strong aversion to them,” I explain. “AnOf course, we’re not meeting to discuss my root vegetable preferences, but it suffices as an icebreaker for two strangers meeting over lunch. Though, as a fashion writer, I’ve been aware of Gayot since she was named head of women’s and kids’ design at J.
After a stint at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts in Boston, Gayot hopped on a bus to New York, applied to the School of Visual Arts, and promptly transferred. “I was always studying art and painting, and then doing fashion on the side—styling, assisting; I worked at DNA, the modeling agency, filing models’ portfolio pictures.” Living in Murray Hill with a friend she met bartending, it was not the college dorm experience you see in the movies.
Back in New York, the balance Gayot had struck between art and fashion began to tilt towards the latter. Painting, she says, “was very solitary,” and also “a boys’ club” that was often discouraging. She was finding more opportunities—and having more fun—doing freelance design projects, assisting onshoots, and styling retail displays. A friend she met while designing a private label for Urban Outfitters had landed at J.Crew, and encouraged Gayot to interview.
“I love designing swim. Everybody’s the happiest when they’re on the beach, right? [It’s] just a joyful category.” The role also came with a welcome dose of nostalgia. “My parents had a place in Florida, so growing up we’d go there for Christmas and we’d always go to the J.Crew store in Miami, or we’d go [when we were] in New York. I loved it. It was so iconic.”
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