J.Crew Color Names Are Confusing

Is bright rhubarb pink or red?  I love the fun color names that J.Crew uses, but like the shopper here, they can be confusing when it comes to ordering items online or through the catalog.

Tartine cardigan, $88.00 Item 96527

Cotton taffeta Belle skirt, $78.00 Item 97636

Color me confused by Kathleen VanDerAa

Open memo to the color namers at J. Crew. Please stop naming your colors after foods, flowers and other ambiguously colored items found in nature!

A few months ago I bought a sweater which appeared to be red on your website. The color was cutely named geranium, and so, I figured that sounded like something red and it looked red. It must be red.

But when it arrived in the mail, oh no, it was not red. It was not red at all. Not even close. It was pink. But not just pink. It was bright pink. So not what I was expecting or wanted, so back it went.

Well now, months later I’m still on the hunt for the perfect red sweater and I stumble across this one. I think the red one is called “bright rhubarb” but, honestly rhubarb can be any color from red to pink and all the shades in between. And then I see a skirt comes in a color of the same name, except this “bright rhubarb” looks quite pink. Ugh, I give up!

Maybe that sweater doesn’t even come in red. Or maybe it’s called “bright persimmon”…although I’m pretty sure that’s orange. But maybe not. Five minutes ago I thought the one I now think is pink was the red one. What gives? I feel like I need a J. Crew color decoder ring.

Seriously folks. Can’t we just call the red sweater RED and the pink sweater PINK. Enough with all the cutesy sounding names. I don’t want to have to call up customer service just to confirm that “bright rhubarb” is red. Stop it. Just stop it!