Please, no questions about “personal life, PETA or fur in general.”
Jennifer Lopez had promised five minutes of her fame, one on one, during her Marshall Field’s State Street store visit, where she would unveil her first World of JLO Shop in the U.S.
The request that followed didn’t exactly come as a shock.
The beating of the Bennifer period taught Lopez, 36, a thing or two about tiptoeing around the tabloids–namely, to stay mum about matters of marriage.
More recent was the anti-fur commotion at Lopez’s Manhattan office. Lopez wasn’t there when Heather Mills McCartney delivered a DVD from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, clashing with Lopez’s security. But, making headlines, Mills McCartney urged a boycott of Lopez because she wears and uses fur in her Sweetface and JLO collections.
Even with that fresh land mine to avoid, Lopez warmly gave Q a full 12 minutes. Here are the fashion snippets.
Q: What was the craziest thing you ever wore?
LOPEZ: Hmmm. I was 4 years old and I had on this one-piece blue–probably polyester–jumpsuit with one zipper with a little gold ring, you know what I mean? V-neck to here, no sleeves, very ’70s! But, you know, I guess that’s where I get my one-piece thing from–my obsession–and my obsession with light blue as well.
Q: If you were to receive a lifetime achievement award for one of your pursuits–singing, acting, dancing, fragrance, fashion–what would you want it to be for?
LOPEZ: I guess in a way, I’m kind of an entrepreneur because I start different things. I’m a very creative person. I’m here for the clothing lines today–we started with JLO and now we’re into Sweetface and we have all of our fragrance lines. [Her newest, Live, was in the event goodie bag, along with hoop earrings, a CD of her music and Frango mints.] My new pet project for the next year or two is going to be really producing film and television. It all goes together.
Q: Tell me about your fashion lines– how proud of them are you?
LOPEZ: I come from, you know, I didn’t grow up in a palace. I grew up in the Bronx on Castle Hill Avenue, and I know what that is. But I’ve also traveled the world and been lucky enough to see what couture clothing is. And we marry those things together, and we bring it to everybody, so you can have luxury and style and street. That’s what the mix of JLO and Sweetface represents. JLO really started it and we just launched Sweetface, which kind of showed a more luxurious side. And [to] people who maybe saw JLO back in the day and were like, “Oh, I don’t know how good it was,” I’d say give it its second chance now. Because now it is what it was always meant to be. Now we’re finally, finally at a point where I’m so proud of the product we’re making. It takes time to get a company off the ground. We’re only 3 or 4 years old! Most fashion companies have been around for years and years and years–getting factories right, and this and that. And we had to learn on a fast curve. So, to be opening our first store in the States here at Marshall Field’s in Chicago, in a major city, it’s a dream come true.
What they bought
When Jennifer Lopez took her bow at the end of her fashion show at Marshall Field’s, there was no hint of protest over the mink hat, fox bolero or other fur that trimmed the models on the catwalk.
Only a standing ovation–a LOvation–for design unmistakably true to Lopez’s style, which she calls “free-spirited, glamorous and feminine, with a bit of street.”
Cream angora sweater pants, zip-front pantsuits and high-waisted sailor pants, cropped just below the knee with knit cuffs, aren’t seen in every store window, after all.
“It’s definitely very innovative–she used soft fabrics but made it urban,” said Rinoula Litos, 19, a student at DePaul University, who bought black beads, a silk top ($59) and a black suede fur-trimmed purse that doubles as a muff in the cold ($125).
Speaking of weatherproof fashion, Natalie Sartor, 28, of Addison was inspired by the layering of a silk sleeveless top over a turtleneck in the fashion show.
“I have so much more appreciation for these now,” she said of the bronze sleeveless top she bought for $59.
Shoppers gravitated toward the accessories display with such Lopez signatures as a felt hat with ribbon trim ($48), a distressed leather studded belt ($52), a leather bucket bag like the one Lopez arrived carrying ($165), as well as her fragrances, jewelry and sunglasses.
“There was a lot of fur!” Lisa Sanchez, 28, said of the show. “But it doesn’t bother me. She’s such an inspiration for fashion. She has accomplished so much. We need more women like her.”
“We’re both from Puerto Rico,” her mother, Carmen Sanchez, 55, added. “We’re proud of her.”
They left with a $20 heart necklace for Mom, $69 jeans for daughter, and a $49 tank top that proudly proclaims “authentic Latina.”
— W.D.
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wdonahue@tribune.com
