Designer Rebecca Crews is Pasadena’s resident style icon who turns the tables on the expected. She tells LNP “I’m not really a minimalist, but I do know when to say when.”
This being awards season, the fiercest competition on this or that red carpet this year seems to be how much skin can be legally flaunted without inciting a vice-squad crack-down.
At the 1986 Oscars, when the ever-sleek Cher flaunted her steely abs in a black Bob Mackie sequined, two-piece gown with matching feather headdress, the world collectively gasped, “OUTRAGEOUS! She’s gone too far!”
That was four decades ago. And while the near-octogenarian will never be truly tamed, this year’s level of exposure is even more extreme and no longer seems daring. At the Grammys, Chappell Roan donned a burgundy Thierry Mugler creation anchored to the wearer’s chest via twin peaks of chiffon, each filmy triangle suspended from pasties in the form of a faux nipple-piercing. The next day, Kim Kardashian stepped out in Paris in a sheer lace catsuit. The headlines bark that these get-ups leave nothing to the imagination, which perhaps is easy since no imagination is required. To say there’s no end in sight would be inaccurate.
Crews chuckles when she recalls, “When my son Isaiah was a child, we would cover his eyes when we passed by a Victoria’s Secret storefront window. Not only were the clothes very revealing, but the manikins were posed very seductively. What’s funny is that the brand name refers to modesty, to that very special, intimate femininity that ladies enjoyed keeping under wraps.”
Emerging from a partnership with Saks Fifth Avenue, Beverly Hills, Crews opened her eponymous fashion studio at 52 Hugus Alley in 2024, saying of Pasadena, “I love, love, love this town! My husband and I moved to Pasadena in 1999 to raise our five kids!” Her husband is Terry Crews, an actor, television host and former NFL linebacker/defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams, Chargers, Washington Redskin and Eagles. Crews designs for her super buff 6’2” mate, and includes a few luxury essentials for men in her line.
Tuxedo styling is literally her strong suit. Premium materials—cashmere, silk charmeuse, crepe, and crinkle chiffon, buttery lambskin, gleaming eel skin, and patent leather —sculpted with a dancer’s instinct for movement are the secret to making the Crews brand both modern and timeless.
“My jackets are nipped and tucked for a woman’s contours, so you get that flattering Coke-bottle silhouette,” she says. The collection includes some cotton poplins and dark denims, elevated to executive-level elegance.
Trousers, sometimes with an outer on-seam satin stripe, deftly tailored jackets, and classic blouses set the standard, with black-and-white colorways as the foundation. Occasional hits of hot and bubblegum pink, lavender, lemon yellow and robin’s egg blue throughout the collection sweeten up the mix. A few patterns offer a bit of flirt, though solids dominate.
Pink resonates for Valentine’s Day, of course, and also because Crews is a breast cancer survivor. She is a passionate advocate and philanthropist for research and education regarding estrogen-dominant cancers. Crews also generously lends her presence as well as making monetary donations to nonprofits that feed the hungry, support the needs of disadvantaged women and children, and champion the rights of survivors of sexual assault and human trafficking.
“Obviously, I love the look and feel of menswear made feminine for women,” she says. “Part of what makes these garments work for women is stretch. Everything I make has some ‘give’ to it, so you don’t feel like you’re stuck inside this stiff box. For instance, my wool crepe is woven with a little bit of spandex. So the clothes look sharp, but feel easy on the body, which is what I like for myself. My trousers have a slimming tummy-panel, and the cut is high-waisted, to avoid muffin-top.” The clothes are silk-lined for longevity, helping the high-end garments retain their shape, the antithesis of disposable fast fashion. The smooth lining also prevents bunching and makes the jackets and trousers glide into place easily.
The brand strives to be wearable across the spectrum of sizes, shapes, and body types. A few short-sleeved tops, like her pearl-button golf polos, classic tees in white or cream, inspo-message tees, and sleeveless turtlenecks, are perfect for toned, Michelle Obama-esque upper arms. Trousers range from wide-leg to skinny, with some cropped styles. But not too cropped.
Crews says, “You will rarely ever see me in shorts. Rarely. Almost never. My legs are pretty worked out from the gym, but I usually do prefer more cover.”
The collection includes luxe footwear, handbags, makeup and accessories; mum’s the word, but a signature Rebecca Crews fragrance may be in the works. In terms of scent, she says, “Right now, I enjoy wearing Maison Francis Kurkdjian, Polo by Ralph Lauren, and Beautiful by Estee Lauder.”
She says her handbag is always stocked with lipstick in true red or a mauve-y pink, a lipliner pencil, and face powder. When she’s not wearing her own beauty products, she likes Tarte, Bare Minerals, Ogee foundation stick, and Ilia cosmetics.
A Family Legacy
It all began, she says, when her style-savvy mother bought Rebecca her first suit.
“It was for my eighth-grade graduation, and I was already really tall for my age. It was an Evan Picone, beautifully sewn, and I’ll never forget the way it made me feel. Sophisticated. Smart. Thanks again, Mom.”
Her mother, Anna King Lund, was one of the first African American women to achieve C-suite success in the world of high finance. Crews says, “A pair of eyelashes and a red lip, and she was ready to rule the world. She was a goddess.”
Her first big leap into self-styling was prompted by a wedding anniversary. “I did NOT want to wear spike heels that killed my feet all night, nor did I want to wear a skin-tight, sparkly dress that I couldn’t wait to get out of,” she says. In search of a white tux for a woman, she scoured Beverly Hills and couldn’t find one. Instead, she bought a pair of trousers, a jacket and a blouse, all from differing brands, holding them up to the light to be sure the tones and textures more or less matched.
From there, she set out to create women’s suiting that might suggest Dietrich and Madonna, but answers to no one. An enduring international inspiration: Nana Boateng, the Ghanaian menswear couturier, dresses Forest Whitaker, George Clooney and David Beckham as well as Terry Crews offscreen, and has created head-turning onscreen wardrobes for Djimon Hounsou, the cast of Spiderman 3, and others. Today, Boateng is the lead designer for America’s Got Talent, which Terry Crews hosts. Boateng has commented that, when dressing Terry Crews, he subtly upgraded the big man’s look to be a bit more fitted, with electrifying results.
When her husband received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2021, Rebecca wore a white tuxedo she had designed. A blizzard of queries followed immediately, and she began lending clothes to celebrities and editorial stylists, followed by glam trunk shows around Beverly Hills and beyond.
Asked who she admires for personal style, she says she’d love to design for the consummately fierce Teyana Taylor, whose chiseled eight-pack earns her the crown of Most Snatched Abs.
In fairness, Taylor currently makes headlines for her daring attire. “My general advice,” says Crews, “is to just choose one thing. Meaning, if you want to wear something that’s a bit cleavage-y, great, fine. Then balance that out with a hemline that touches the floor. I’ve worked in Hollywood, and honey, I have seen it all. But I think the impact is greatest when you’re selective about what you display, and how much.”
Yes, she’s been there, meaning she’s done plenty of talk-television, appearing as herself as a guest star on The Bachelor, Master Chef Celebrity Edition, The Today Show, Celebrity Family Feud and dozens of others. She produced and starred with her husband and children in the documentary-style series The Family Crews for BET Networks. She’s also starred in an independent film, recorded an album, and co-authored an Audible Original Memoir about her marriage and life.
All of this calls for clothes that breathe and fit on the fly, and shoes that don’t hurt.
‘Elegance is Refusal’
When it comes to style icons, on the subject of the Big O (Winfrey), markedly less big now than in the past, Crews says, “Oprah presents herself and carries herself like the queen that she is, at any weight. Always has. I love her sense of color. She knows what looks good on her.”
No argument there, but the memory of Oprah’s famously tweeted bunions and hammertoes elicits sighs of gratitude for the Crews line of footwear.
“Again,” says Crews, “let’s make it comfortable as well as beautiful. My boots are an example. They’re made in Turkey because the quality of workmanship there is exquisite. I worked with the production house there to get the shape and fit just right. Initially, the boot’s shaft was straight, like a column, but I had them taper it slightly to mirror the leg’s natural form. No pointy toes. My feet need to breathe and move, like the rest of me. The toe box is square, so it’s comfortable yet chic. The heel is low, about two-and-a-half inches, just enough for a little lift for a finished look. But most importantly, it’s padded. We put padding at the ball of the foot, so you can stand and walk without pain.”
She echoes Diana Vreeland’s famous mandate that “Elegance is refusal,” recalling her own youth in the late 1980s. “It was all about Salt-N-Pepa, Prince and Sheila E., you know? I wore it all, the big shoulder pads, all those ruffles, the lace, the crunchy hair gel, the jingle-jangly chains and clanky hoops, the bright blue mascara. These days, I look in the mirror before I go out, and start taking accessories off! Now I wear the one great ring, the one gorgeous bangle, instead of stacks and stacks.”
Crews says that soon after her white tux hit Instagram, friends encouraged her to set up shop in Beverly Hills. The answer quickly became no. “Way too expansive,” she said, “so I literally began praying for my store. I was praying for a shop in Old Town Pasadena.”
Et voilà. Some prayers are answered. Crews’ long-time go-to for coiffure, Bokaos Aveda Salon and Spa, owned by her trusted friend celebrity hairstylist Hasblady Guzman, opened its doors, and now Rebecca Crews Design calls the location home.
For all of this talk of modesty and good taste, ain’t no drag, and it would be incorrect to say this lady doesn’t know how to turn it up. Within her collections, you’ll find luxe joggers in soft sable leather, an instant outerwear glo-up in the shimmery, belted trench in beige or black, and even a black sequin jacket. Frankly sexy.
She says “In my mother’s day, even wearing a red dress was considered scandalous. But now we’ve swung way, way too hard and too far the other way. This is a predatory culture, where porn finds YOU, comes looking for you, and that has been normalized by social media. Women and girls, as well as men and boys, need to keep their eyes open to this. So respect yourself, and others, and look FAN-TAS-TIC doing it.”