J.Crew has taken stock of Barbour‘s Derwent jacket, a vintage-inspired tackle jacket from one of the UK’s no-longer-hidden gems. The jacket features proper old-school styling in an military olive finish. It’s crafted in English thornproof waxed cotton and lined with Barbour’s tartan fabric.

Buy It: $399 at J.Crew

By now, you may have heard that J.Crew has invaded Madison Avenue with their latest men’s store, one that transforms a space once housed by a bank into the go-to shop for Upper East Siders. There are plenty of exclusive items found only at the 1040 Madison location which you won’t find at the other locations, including the Ludlow suit in Vitale Barberis Canonico cashmere or a Thomas Mason spread collar button down made exclusively for the shop. The two-story shop will house plenty of other fine collaborations as well, but none more appealing to us than that with Brooklyn-based Hickoree’s Hard Goods.

The folks have actually set up shop with some of their finest offerings right in the center of the former bank’s vault. Hickoree’s tells us this new venture will house an array of fine items from handmade bags and aprons by Stanley & Sons, to Hart’s Heritage seed packs, to Japanese pencils, to vintage chore coats, to Astronaut Ice Cream.

Look for them to periodically switch up the goods for freshen it up and keep you coming back quite often.

Select J.Crew shops will soon be taking stock of the Lot 484 jean, made in collaboration with Japanese denim house Warehouse. This special pair follows Warehouse’s 800 series with a rinsed and aged 14oz vintage, which is made to mimic 50 year old dead stock denim. Frank Muytjens and company have decided to go with Memphis Cotton on these tapered jeans to take full advantage of its high and low fading tendencies.

It seems J.Crew‘s leading men [and women] have been catching some much-deserved face time as of late. The Wall Street Journal recently did an excellent write up of the company’s CEO, Mickey Drexler. The 66 year-old CEO is closer to the ground floor and more passionate about his work than any other modern-day corporate leader, and some of his closest colleagues refer to him as the “Steve Jobs of retail”. Head to WSJ to find out why.

Then, there’s Drexler’s team of gifted individuals which includes executive creative director Jenna Lyons, head of men’s design Frank Muytjens, and collaborator Andy Spade. The folks at Details recently caught up with the trio to weigh in on what to wear, eat, and do this summer. Lyons endorses, among other things, an old-school Polaroid camera while Spade digs Bermuda shorts and Mr. Muytjens pushes Alden’s white suede bucks made exclusively for J.Crew.

Give it a read here.

J.Crew has taken lightweight cotton gingham and delivered a summer blazer in the brand’s modern Ludlow fit. Not really much else to say about it, but that we expect it to be a huge success so we’d suggest heading over to your closest shop or computer and grabbing one.

More info and images after the jump.

J.Crew continues to deliver some timeless collaborations, this time bringing together L.A.-based Mister Freedom and France’s Saint James. Mister Freedom designed and hand screened the original graphics onto an authentic Breton tee, a shirt that’s made Saint James the king of classic nautical style.

Stock is limited on this piece, so get yours asap.

Buy It: $175 at J.Crew

Another day another dolla fall 2010 preview, friends. This time, we took a quick trip over to Milk Studios for the preview of J.Crew‘s Fall+Winter 2010 collection. These days, the American retailer is doing very few things wrong and when I say few I mean none. They’ve got a talented designer in Frank Muytjens, some great New York locations (including our favorite — Tribeca’s Liquor Store), and they’re in “good company” with some of the world’s most reputable brands. They’ve delivered some highly coveted products from the likes of Mister Freedom, Belstaff and Quoddy, all while giving us a collection of their own that proves they’re unlike any other brand.

The Fall 2010 lineup is a versatile one with everything from a wool blazer to a Levi’s denim jacket all the way to a pair of classic chinos. They’re all available in a trimmed cut that’s not a centimeter closer than they should be. The mid-layer pieces look promising as well as we noticed a few warmed sweaters and cardigans that will do us wonders when the cold season comes around again. And of course, we couldn’t help but to notice the models’ footwear yesterday as they were sporting Russel’s and Alden Longwings in an array of finishes. Just one more thing to look forward to, friends, that’s all.

More looks from the preview after the jump.