Audio only
The Kingdom of Prep
The Inside Story of the Rise and (Near) Fall of J.CrewBy Maggie BullockNarrated by Cheryl SmithLength13h 29m
About this audiobook
One of Vogue's most anticipated books of 2023.
A quintessentially American fashion narrative about the rise and fall of the first lifestyle brand, J.Crew, and what the company’s fate means for the shifting landscape of the retail industry.
Once upon a time, a no-frills J.Crew rollneck sweater held an almost mystical power—or at least it felt that way. The story of J.Crew is the story of the original “lifestyle brand,” whose evolution charts a sea change in the way we dress, the way we shop, and who we aspire to be over the past four decades—all told through iconic clothes and the most riveting characters imaginable.
In The Kingdom of Prep, seasoned fashion journalist Maggie Bullock tells J.Crew’s epic story for the first time, bringing to life the deliciously idiosyncratic people who built a beloved brand, unpacking the complex legacy of prep—a subculture born on the 1920s campuses of the Ivy League—and how one brand rose to epitomize “American” style in two very different golden eras, and also eventually embodied the “retail apocalypse” that rocked the global fashion industry and left hollowed-out malls across the country.
In a juicy business narrative rich with humor and insight, Bullock combines the colorful characters of The Devil Wears Prada, the business insight of Deluxe, and the nostalgia factor of True Prep, to chart J.Crew’s origin story, its Obama-era heyday, and its brush-with-death decline through the stories of the mercurial characters who helmed the company. There is founder Arthur Cinader, who set out to sell the Ralph Lauren look for half the price, and his daughter Emily, who turned J.Crew into a new campus uniform, and then a temple to ‘90s minimalism. Then came ex-Gap CEO Mickey Drexler—the most renowned (and controversial) retailer of his generation—who took J.Crew to a never-before-seen peak, only to contribute to its financial disaster, and the brilliant designer Jenna Lyons, who rose from the anonymous ranks of a catalogue company to become a star in her own right, but burned so bright she left J.Crew in her shadow.
Through extensive interviews with more than 100 J.Crew insiders and top industry experts, Bullock crafts an impossible-to-put-down, neon-glitter-sprinkled tale that traces the trajectory of American style, invites us into the inner sanctum of fashion’s most bold-faced names, and weaves together the threads of style, finance, and culture like no other brand’s story in our lifetime.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 4.1 (4.5K)
Includes Goodreads, Amazon
GenreBusiness and Economics, Other
Length13 hrs 29 mins
Narrated byCheryl Smith
FormatAudiobook
Publish dateMar 7, 2023
LanguageEnglish
Never Split the DifferenceChris Voss, Tahl Raz8h 7m4.4 (277.7K)$26 · $0.00
The Intelligent Investor Rev Ed.Benjamin Graham17h 48m4.3 (191.5K)$40 · $0.00
The Hard Thing About Hard ThingsBen Horowitz7h 57m4.2 (134.3K)$26 · $0.00
Boundaries for LeadersHenry Cloud7h 36m4.3 (3.6K)$26 · $0.00
Level UpRob Dial7h 42m4.6 (3.3K)$26 · $0.00
Eat It!Jordan Syatt, Michael Vacanti4h 40m4.6 (1.5K)$20 · $0.00
Progress and Poverty, Volumes I and II (Annotated)Henry George19h 21m4.6 (574)$1.99 · $0.00
Not Everything Counts but Everything Matters: The powerful and inspirational new book about leadership and achieving success from the visionary multi-premiership winning Panthers coachIvan Cleary6h 1m4.6 (680)$24 · $0.00
BuildTony Fadell11h 5m4.5 (14.3K)$8 · $0.00
The Joys Of CompoundingGautam Baid17h 34m4.5 (2.5K)$18 · $0.00
Basic EconomicsThomas Sowell18h 32m4.5 (29.3K)$28 · $0.00
Poor Charlie’s AlmanackGrover Gardener, Charles T. Munger13h 9m4.5 (24.7K)$18 · $0.00
The Ambuja StoryNarotam Sekhsaria13h 59m4.5 (830)$33 · $0.00
The Secret Door to SuccessFlorence Scovel Shinn2h 25m4.5 (2.1K)$1.20 · $0.00
This Is Going to HurtAdam Kay5h 47m4.4 (444.7K)$24 · $0.00
Big TrustShadé Zahrai, Fayçal Sekkouah8h 36m4.6 (406)$26 · $0.00
The Intelligent Investor Third EditionBenjamin Graham, Jason Zweig20h4.4 (156.6K)$46 · $0.00
Bottle of LiesKatherine Eban14h 25m4.4 (12K)$33 · $0.00
The Antiracist Business BookTrudi Lebrón6h 10m4.6 (275)$17 · $0.00
The FormulaJoshua Robinson, Jonathan Clegg10h 41m4.4 (6.9K)$29 · $0.00
Mere ChristianityC. S. Lewis7h 7m4.4 (519.7K)$24 · $0.00
Her Daily BreadKate Wood12h 57m4.6 (153)$33 · $0.00
The Holy Bible - 1 SamuelKing James2h 13m4.8 (1.6K)$3 · $0.00
The American Standard Bible — The Gospel of MatthewMatthew3h 56m4.7 (3K)$2 · $0.00
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
The King James Audio Bible New Testament CompleteChristopher Glyn20h 2m4.7 (2.6K)$12 · $0.00
Faiths CheckbookCharles Spurgeon12h 44m4.7 (3.2K)$11 · $0.00
Ten Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child's Mental HealthDr. Billy Garvey4h 53m4.7 (2.4K)$20 · $0.00
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
The Chosen Book OneAmanda Jenkins, Kristen Hendricks, Dallas Jenkins3h 8m4.6 (4.9K)$10 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeJ.C. Ryle27h 13m4.7 (536)$18 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m4.6 (4.9K)$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
Brain Training for RidersAndrea Monsarrat Waldo5h 56m4.7 (550)$19 · $0.00
My Effin' LifeGeddy Lee17h 11m4.6 (13.1K)$40 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
The Elementia Chronicles #2: The New OrderSean Fay Wolfe11h 17m4.6 (841)$29 · $0.00
The ActsLuke2h 55m4.6 (19.7K)$12 · $0.00
New Testament - Easy NavigationWorld English Bible19h 35m4.6 (1.3K)$1.30 · $0.00
You may also like
The Death of PoliticsPeter Wehner6h 30m4.1 (480)$24 · $0.00
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?Louis V. Gerstner6h 27m4.1 (9K)$24 · $0.00
The Jewish State (Annotated)Theodor Herzl5h 13m3.9 (3.2K)$2 · $0.00
A Century of ImmigrationChristopher Collier, James Lincoln Collier2h 9m4.2 (262)$15
Pregnant After I Signed GoodbyeLarissa Zrina6h 44m4.2 (1.1K)$5
We Stand DividedDaniel Gordis8h 6m4.1 (519)$26 · $0.00
Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?Louis V. Gerstner8h 29m4.0 (9.1K)$8 · $0.00
The Wake-Up CallJohn Micklethwait, Adrian Wooldridge4h 28m3.9 (1.7K)$20 · $0.00
Endless Summer NightsDonna Hill, Grace Octavia, Delaney Diamond9h 2m4.2 (252)$20
Magic TimeHawk Koch7h 29m4.2 (310)$17 · $0.00
Confessions of a Radical IndustrialistRay C. Anderson11h 16m4.2 (348)$21 · $0.00
The Pursuit of HappynessChris Gardner5h 45m4.1 (67.9K)$24 · $0.00
Blue Collar ConservativesRick Santorum5h 17m3.9 (184)$17 · $0.00
A Nation like No OtherNewt Gingrich7h 58m4.0 (225)$17 · $0.00
Debt of the HeirCorinne Halloway Pike11h 1m$5
So You Think You Want to Be an EntrepreneurDarryl “Cajun” Centanni2h 53m5.0 (4)$4.99
The Pluck of the IrishJim Hayden3h 31m4.4 (10)$5.20 · $0.00
The Merger He Rode In OnElena Rossi-Park12h 6m$5
The Price of His BillionsKathona DeRose9h 47m$7.50 · $0.00
All He KnewJohn Habberton3h 16m$2 · $0.00