For Jenny Lauren, a love of fashion and storytelling has always been something of a family affair, but her latest chapter is distinctly her own. With Jenny’s Barn in Southampton, Lauren has created a world that feels both deeply personal and effortlessly nostalgic, drawing on the kind of timeless American style, collected treasures, and lived-in charm that never really goes out of fashion. Would you expect anything less from the niece of Ralph Lauren? It’s an aesthetic informed by a lifetime spent around the creativity of her entire family, but filtered through her own point of view, one that favors authenticity and pieces with a story to tell. The Daily caught up with Lauren to talk about the inspiration behind Jenny’s Barn, the influence of growing up in one of fashion’s most iconic families, and what she’s learned about defining a style, and a space, entirely on her own terms.
Jenny’s Barn feels less like a traditional store and more like stepping inside someone’s very personal world. What was the original idea behind it, and what did you want people to feel when they walked through the door?
As I was creating Jenny’s Barn, I knew I wanted it to be a unique experience for customers and also to interact in person and get to know people. For a few years prior, I had an online store to sell my handmade jewelry and I didn’t like the idea that people could not feel or hold the pieces. Jewelry is tactile, and since most of my work is one of a kind, I wanted people to be able to have a personal connection with it. So originally, I was looking for a space to create and sell my jewelry collections, yet when I saw the barn, I had an even bigger breakthrough. I started jotting down all the things I loved, have collected, and even reminisced about the outfits I wore as a child and teenager. So much of what I loved were outfits that my mother had dressed me in that I had seen in pictures of me from early days in the Hamptons, to my rebellious teenage years in rubber crop tops and all the vintage items my brother Greg and I would go hunting for together on Canal Street. As I wrote my list, I remembered long Thunderbird earrings I used to wear that I got in Santa Fe, to my favorite fringe and leather jackets, and then the first pair of cowboy boots I got at 14. After going down memory lane, I knew I wanted to create a shop in the barn and fill it with everything I loved from the past and the present of my life in NYC, the Hamptons and Santa Fe. I focused mainly on the idea of mixing Western with Coastal vibes. The barn is a personal expression of many different parts of my life coming together and is constantly growing!
The mix at Jenny’s Barn is incredibly eclectic, from your own jewelry and vintage treasures to Western pieces, books, art, and objects for the home. What makes something feel distinctly “Jenny” enough to earn a place in Jenny’s Barn?
It’s funny because when people I have known for years have come into the barn, they have said, “It’s so Jenny,” and it has made me ask myself what makes them feel that way. I know that I’m very passionate, I love researching, I love exploring, solving puzzles, and I have many different interests. I am also obsessive when it comes to the things I love like color, beads, clothing, and art. I also think I’m half child, half woman, so I can get excited about stickers, journals, as well as a fabulous suede jacket! Whether it’s a long white lace dress, my favorite children’s book by Paul Goble, Oshkosh ov…