LOGIN
THE OBAMA FACTOR: Michelle Obama may very well be the new Oprah Winfrey when it comes to Midas-type on-air mentions. Dressed head to toe in J. Crew for a chat with Jay Leno on Monday’s “Tonight” show, Obama told the talk show host she was in a J. Crew ensemble. Needless to say, that plug sent scores of shoppers to J. Crew’s Web site looking for the $90 color-blocked cardigan, $100 Deco tank and $148 dot Camilla skirt she was wearing. The Web page featuring the latter was the most viewed page on jcrew.com the next day. Traffic to the site was 464 percent higher than it had been the previous day, and 64 percent of the online visitors found their way to the company’s Web site through search engines.
Creative director Jenna Lyons said the company is trying to figure out its next move, since the skirt was already a popular item before Obama wore it and the sweater was introduced in August. “It’s an honor. Not only did she wear our clothes and wear them beautifully, but she could go anywhere. And she actually called it out,” Lyons said, adding that she couldn’t get over how blogs pieced together Obama’s outfit and offered links to its site.
* Required