Just in time for season ten of Project Runway to premiere last week, J.C. Penney announced that Nina Garcia had signed on as their new “Style Voice and fashion collection curator.” And really, the retailer needed all the extra help they could get: Over the past month, they’ve cut hundreds of jobs and had their credit rating downgraded thanks to lackluster stock performances. But then, yesterday, Garcia tweeted, “I’m @jcpenney’s HQ. Thank you Ron Johnson for the walk through of JCP’s prototype. Get ready to shop! Its going to be a game changer!” Immediately, J.C. Penney’s stock jumped 9.9 percent, according to WWD. It came back down by the end of the day, but was still up 4.7 percent when the market closed. Analysts attributed the spike to Garcia’s 470,000 Twitter followers, although yesterday’s news that juice bars will be featured in J.C. Penney’s revamped stores can’t have hurt, either.
