J Mendel (Q2161)
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- J. Mendel
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| English | J Mendel |
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Statements
Gilles Mendel is still making pretty evening confections in his atelier uptown, but he’s decided to work at his own pace, not that of the fashion calendar. Still, he leveraged the power of that industry tool to present his latest project, J. Mendel Knitwear, at Saks’s Le Chalet restaurant.Working with Italian artisans using recycled cashmere and a viscose derived from wood pulp, the designer has created a sophisticated and relevant collection. Mendel adapted the Deco-style chevrons he often uses as a decorative motif on embroidered dresses to cable sweaters. This simple reorientation gives a classic a lift, as does adding knit sleeves to a sturdy trench. While the designer couldn’t resist doing some lightweight, dressy evening knits, the majority of the options are more casual and versatile. A knit sweater and legging set would upgrade a coach flight to first class, at least in terms of aesthetics, or work equally well for après ski.The most dramatic piece in the collection is a shaggy hand-knit jacket in valentine red that looks like fur, and brings Mendel full circle, after a fashion—his forebears founded J. Mendel furriers in St. Petersburg in 1870. Having used fur as if it were fabric, the designer is now doing the reverse, responsibly. Encore!
17 February 2022
While fashion changes, classics retain their integrity—as Gilles Mendel well knows. He’s a designer who has a signature look to which he sticks while experimenting with seasonal themes. For fall 2020 he played with surface embellishments like three-dimensional padded flowers (which were a bit bulky on jackets) and embroidered deco motifs. The handwork, like that on a neo-Edwardian dress (Look 11), is always incredible here, but this season the best looks were all about the fabric. Working with an Italian mill, Mendel created some incredible materials using devoré velvet. What looks like embellishment on the red Deco-ish dress in Look 3 is actually the design of the fabric. That’s an idea that the designer should continue to explore.There was nothing, and everything, new about the stop-you-in-your-tracks one-sleeve purple dress in the collection. The same could be said of the plunge-neck red number with a bodice made of hand-pleated pieces assembled together in an incredible honeycomb-like pattern. Both of these are exemplars of the Mendel signature: hand-pleated dresses that are romantic and a bit classical. Mendel has adopted an old-school way of working; his atelier is located in his Madison Avenue shop where he can provide a personal shopping experience. At times his work can feel a bit insular and “boutique;” to be fair he is an eveningwear and fur specialist. Not so much this season, though. As a number of designers in New York have (re)discovered Madame Grès—whose masterful draperies, inspired by Grecian sculptures, were worked on structured inner supports—for fall, Mendel’s truly beautiful dresses felt like they were part of a larger conversation around technique and a return to construction.
11 February 2020
“I wouldn’t say that she’s a Cinderella, but somehow there’s the feeling of a princess wearing these clothes,” said Gilles Mendel at a walk-through of his romantic “fairy tale” pre-fall collection.Richard Avedon’s black-and-white pictures of 1950s couture had sparked the designer’s interest in structure. One of the ways Mendel achieved it was by using fabrics new to him, like scuba silk, which has built-in body. The designer worked this material into pretty pouf-y dresses with big bows that had a touch of Valentino about them. The collection sang when Mendel brought those shapes into ethereal moments of hand-pleating and very lightweight fabrics. Of note: A deep pink petaled robe de style dress, its fullness built on an airy horsehair base, and an embellished chiffon column from which floated marabou feathers. For a latter-day Renaissance princess there was a hand-pleated, floor-length dress with romantic Juliet sleeves that seemed to whisper “Wherefore art thou, Romeo?”
13 December 2019
Now that Gilles Mendel has moved his workrooms to his Madison Avenue store, he has daily real-time feedback about what his customers buy. “They’re looking to us for something special,” he says. Those special somethings are his romantic evening dresses—airy dreams, usually of tulle, with hand-worked “couture touches” like micro-pleats, cording, beading, and appliqués. “What is so special about us,” noted Mendel, “is that we really bring a level of detail and workmanship that [doesn’t come with] a couture price tag.”Mendel’s closer focus on customers has resulted in a Spring collection that displays the designer’s confidence in his craft and vision. There were no nods to trends here, or silhouettes that others are doing. It was pure Mendel in execution and conception. The starting point was Venetian glass, which shares with Mendel’s work weightlessness, transparency, and intricate detailing. (His father was a Venetian glass collector.) One of the lightest looks was a white mesh-patterned tulle enlivened by hand embellishments of cord and beads. Classic and undeniably pretty was a pleated pink dress with an enormous bow at the empire waist. For daytime there were white lace dresses to wear with sandals or over pants and, unexpectedly, some smashing print dresses. The purest expression of Mendel’s craft, and most resonant with his Venetian theme, was a black dress with beaded horsehair appliqués topped by a cape bolero that would be the belle of any ball.
13 September 2019
Gilles Mendel recently relocated his studio. He now works above his Madison Avenue shop, in a glass-ceiling studio that feels near to the sky. Maybe it’s this natural light that led the designer to the work of the French artist Henri Rousseau, whose “naive” paintings often portray fantastical Edens teaming with flora and fauna. From these, Mendel drew literal and abstract inspiration for a collection that had a strong tropical vibe. (Its metaphorical soundtrack, according to Mendel, would be Cuban music.)To communicate his theme, the designer developed tinsel-y metallic jacquard with leafy patterns. He also sequined ivory organza with foliage, developed botanical prints on airy mesh, and embroidered palm fronds all over a wispy, knock-out black plunge-neck dress. Floral shapes were also dramatically worked into feather and fur evening coverups. Lovely, but expressive of a more mundane fantasy, were Mendel’s “princessy” dresses, which had big bows or pretty poufed sleeves (some detached). These keepers are really rejiggered Mendel classics; crowd-pleasers, if you will. And goodness knows, Madison Avenue, no longer the bustling mecca of designer flagships it once was, needs some of those right now.
3 June 2019
Gilles Mendel’s work was associated with an uptown, ladylike look even before the designer staged his first fashion show in Bryant Park forFall 2004. Fifteen years later, a new generation of designers is discovering the appeal of a more polished look. Inklings of this renewed interest started appearing last season and are popping up again for Fall. When asked why, Mendel says he sees it as tied into sustainability: “People are trying to save the planet, and they are becoming more aware of their surroundings; in clothing [that translates into] an idea of being more conscious of what you wear.” The more conservative look, he believes, is a reaction against trends and disposability.Certainly, Mendel has never abandoned his house codes. “I’m still the guy who goes in the morning to his atelier and drapes dresses,” he says. Manipulation of materials is the bedrock of Mendel’s practice, and for Fall it was evident in a red mille-feuille pleated dress with an asymmetric ruffle neckline and a confectionery pink princess dress; keepers, both. Elsewhere, there were hit-and-miss attempts at a younger feel. The best of these were ruffled dresses of lovely lace in a sort of super-lady Batsheva mode and beaded knit openwork tunics; think of them as the dressed-up-lady equivalent of the holey T-shirt.
11 February 2019
“At the end of the day, I make beautiful dresses that are sort of ageless,” said Gilles Mendel during a showing of his Pre-Fall collection, rich with sparkle and shine.Artist Danh Vo’s deconstructed Lady Liberty sculptures, rendered in copper, got the designer thinking about metallics. Flou is important to this designer, so the collection’s title, “Armor With Amour” was a bit misleading. It wasn’t the hard durability of metal Mendel was thinking of—most of his dresses had a molten quality of movement—but the way light flashes off of its surfaces. He did have a strong woman in mind though, and this, combined with the shine of metallics led him, in turn, to the (trending) 1980s, when disco was still playing in clubs. “It was definitely a glamorous moment [and] a time where women liked to go out and they liked to dance, and I think the dancing vibration translated very well into my clothes,” he said. Some of the shorter, more “period” looks echoed those seen recently at places like Saint Laurent; the opening lookbook image, an oversize and glittering jacket, was true to its inspiration: the divine Grace Jones.The most casual look in the collection—relatively speaking, that is—was a sheared mink bomber jacket/minidress with strass trimming, but it’s the get-dressed-up-and-hit-the-town dresses that are always the draw here. The most Mendel-looking were the hand-pleated looks. It turns out that this signature handwork (which can be applied to any silhouette), stems from a source far distant from the hedonistic greed decade. “I always had a love affair with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire,” said Mendel. “When I started to design clothes my dream was to make that Ginger Rogers moment, and hand pleating was a perfect way because it was taking chiffon, which is the lightest material ever, and pleating it in a way that it feels airy and has texture and lightness. You want to dance with it on.” And so the beat goes on chez Mendel.
10 December 2018
What do Claude Monet’s gardens at Giverny have in common with Bianca Jagger or Guy Bourdin? Plenty chez J. Mendel, where, for Spring, colors borrowed from an Impressionist palette—cantaloupe, citrus, mint—were used to create confections along a sensuous, slightly bohemian 1970s line (which is developing into something of a micro trend this New York Fashion Week).The unusual (for Gilles Mendel) palette seemed to free up the designer; the collection, apart from some bread-and-butter tucked floral looks, had an admirable lightness and cheerful energy. The presentation format allowed guests to get a close-up look at the incredible handwork Mendel’s small atelier is capable of, such as marabou and sequin embellishments on an acid green fur, and airy ruffles shimmying down hand-tucked, see-through dresses. Simpler, bohemian silhouettes—for latter-day Jaggers, suggested the designer—were made up of gold-flecked fabrics. Separates styled with wide-leg pants offered a new and perhaps more accessible way to look at Mendel’s work, but attractive as they are, his name has become synonymous with red carpet dressing. The pre-Emmy timing of his presentation was fortuitous, to say the least.Mendel’s take on the 1970s was the stronger for not being literal. Where was the designer in the 1970s? Not at Studio 54; he was too young and his first visit to America took him not to New York but to family in Chicago. It was there, with a cousin, that Mendel had his first taste of disco, walking into a club just as the DJ was playing a track from theSaturday Night Feversoundtrack. It was a Me Decade moment par excellence. To Mendel, the ’70s was a time that was “exuberant and very free and very fun”—just like this collection.
10 September 2018
A photo of Henri Matisse’sJoy of Lifepainting was on Gilles Mendel’s Resort 2019 mood board, hanging (temporarily) on the wall in his elegant Madison Avenue store. Alongside that famous painting were stills of Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong in the 1932 filmShanghai Express. Do those references have anything in common? Perhaps not. The Matisse preceded the movie by about 30 years, and whereShanghai Expresswas shot in black and white, Matisse was known for his supercharged colors. Mendel borrowed from both in his Resort 2019 collection though: A floral-embroidered poncho with extra-long fringe nodded to Wong’s costumes, while pieced-together lace dresses in raspberry, blush, and terra-cotta evoked the intensity of Matisse’s oil paints.Mendel is known for dresses, and lately, he’s been thinking about how to make them feel more relaxed. Those lace numbers had long, bell-shaped sleeves, and a few other “high day” dresses came in the high-necked, mid-length silhouette women are into right now. But even the fancier tulle gowns had an ease to them: Sara Sampaio wore the tiered blush one to the CFDA Awards on Monday night, and from afar, it shimmered a bit, like the tulle was spliced with Lurex. But upon closer inspection, each tier was actually studded with tiny crystals.To truly appreciate a J. Mendel gown or coat, of course, you have to feel it. His furs are unmatched, and Resort offered plush, stripe-y capes as well a trenchcoat in wavy-textured broadtail. With patch-worked chocolate, raspberry, and ochre panels of fur, it had a slight ’70s vibe, which is mirrored in a lot of Mendel’s daywear. A flippy mustard minidress recalled the grooviness of the decade, and there was a blush fur pullover cut like a vintage tennis sweater.
6 June 2018
Gilles Mendel hosted his Fall 2018 presentation in what’s becoming his usual place: Ladurée’s tranquil back garden. Upon walking through the door, guests were faced with two stunning, can’t-help-but-touch-them patchwork coats: one in a fur-wool intarsia, and another in blush, sky, and brown squares of mink. Both coats exhibited the atelier’s impeccable craftsmanship, but Mendel got a bit more experimental (dare we say, streetwise?) with his other coats: A faded-looking “corduroy” jacket was actually mink, and a gray tartan trench was lacquered with waterproof plastic.Perhaps it sounds obvious to say that coats have been the biggest news of the New York shows (see: Victoria Beckham, The Row, and even Oscar de la Renta). Outerwear is a given in cold weather, but in 2018, a coat is also how women want to make a strong, confident statement. Mendel said he was thinking about today’s rule-breaking ladies, plus two muses of decades past: Katharine Hepburn and Louise Brooks. Hepburn inspired the cropped trousers, naturally, but also the easier, slightly boyish feeling throughout. The long-sleeved, modest-yet-body-skimming turtleneck dress is an important silhouette this season, and Mendel’s came in an ultra-light crimson dévoré velvet. He also introduced a new “high day” knit turtleneck, a slinky layering piece to wear under fur coats, sequined dresses, you name it. J. Mendel isn’t exactly where you go for basics like that, but the turtlenecks will be a smart addition to Mendel’s stores. Women in the market for a new cocktail dress or evening gown will walk away with a clever new way to wear it.
13 February 2018
It comes as a bit of a surprise that after 36 years at the helm of J. Mendel, Gilles Mendel hasn’t name-checked Talitha Getty. Chances are the actress made it onto a mood board or two, but Pre-Fall 2018 was a dedicated study of her haute hippie caftans, billowing gowns, and gold jewelry. The A-line miniskirts, silk blouses, and stripy furs were evocative of the late ’60s, and Mendel’s signature micro-pleated gowns are a consistent nod to those times. The most memorable ones came in unusual color combinations—plum and rust, burgundy and mint—and looked comfy enough to lounge in.Those colors were loosely informed by Mark Rothko, who gained fame around the same time as Getty (and also suffered an untimely death, though he was 66, not 30). Mendel was interested in his signature color-field paintings, particularly the ones that mixed unlikely hues. The palette turned out especially rich on a handful of burnout velvet pieces: an olive green bishop-sleeved gown was laid-back enough for day, ditto the burgundy tunic and trousers, while a teal jumpsuit had red carpet potential. Cinched with a slim velvet belt, it had the same groovy, unpretentious air that made Getty an icon.
12 December 2017
Spring ’18 marked the second time Gilles Mendel transformed the Standard East Village rooftop into a giant, sun-streaked walk-in closet of plush furs, micro-pleated dresses, and tulle gowns. Eveningwear designers almost exclusively show on the runway, but Mendel’s labor-intensive, handcrafted clothes are really best seen up close. He joked that the salon style forces him to finish the collection early and make sure every detail is absolutely perfect; on the runway, you’re not close enough to see an unfinished seam or last-minute pins.That’s why his presentations are a treat. It’s not until you’ve felt Mendel’s ultra-light broadtail and lace trench or inspected the incredible handwork on his gowns that you realize how rare this kind of quality is. Here, he was as committed as ever to the craftsmanship, but he also didn’t want it to feel stuffy. He’s noticed that most women want to look a little cooler and less fussed over, even at red carpet events, so he whipped up gowns in easy, free-flowing silhouettes. A turquoise cut-velvet number had the look and feel of a (very luxurious) T-shirt, and the tiered slip dresses were floaty and unrestrictive. Even the dreamiest ball gown with a big pale pink tulle skirt had the ease of a scoop-neck tank.Surprisingly, though, Mendel pointed out the ivory nipped-waist, micro-pleated gown as his favorite. “It represents what we do,” he said, referring to the painstaking hand-pleating. It also had the makings of a future heirloom or even a wedding dress; rest assured it will never go out of style.
12 September 2017
Gilles Mendel is known for his haute furs and glitzy red carpet gowns, but he’s also adept at less-flashy micro-pleated dresses. At last night’s CFDA Awards, his date Sara Sampaio wore the cobalt, cape-sleeve pleated gown from his brand-new Resort lineup, and it spoke to the collection’s loose starting point: Slim Aarons’s iconic ’60s and ’70s pool photos.Speaking of pools, the dress was vaguely reminiscent of a caftan silhouette, which is new for Mendel; he featured two actual caftans in the collection, too—one in beaded ivory, another in teal and copper. They were “resortwear” to the nth degree, but a cool woman might wear one to a black-tie event. Elsewhere, those caftans’ easy, languid vibes informed softer, slightly oversized silhouettes: A glossy calf-hair trench had extra-large sleeves and dropped shoulders, and there were several comfy, lounge-worthy gowns, like a gold-flecked ivory column with flutter sleeves. It would make a lovely destination wedding dress, ditto the ice blue and silver pleated number.
6 June 2017
New York fashion week tends to be a whirlwind of disjointed ideas. One night, you’re bobbing your head to deafening music at a young designer’s lo-fi presentation; the next you’re checking out Kanye West’s new jeans and hoodies; then you find yourself poring overJ. Mendel’s beautiful evening gowns, which were set up salon-style at Ladurée this afternoon.Eveningwear is often slapped with a stuffy, unrelatable stigma, particularly during fashion week when everyone is searching for the next big thing. But Gilles Mendel isn’t just out to create a fantasy. He thinks about the real-life viability of his clothes (even the couture pieces) and spoke of a high-low missive for Fall ’17. “I think today’s woman wants to wear a fur coat over a gown, but she’ll also wear it with jeans,” he said. A shimmering lace dress, for instance, was paired with the millennial girl’s must-have item: a leopard coat.The other furs were as dreamy as ever, and Mendel pointed out a few “wild” mash-ups of color and texture, from a black and mint-green chubby to a fox stole trimmed with ostrich feathers. Hands-down the most impressive coat was the hooded, oversized fox and skunk parka, which Mendel styled over a tulle midi dress. It was impossibly luxe, yet informed by the street--and if last week’s blizzard and 40 mph winds taught us anything, it’s the importance of great, super-warm outerwear.As for the dresses, there was a balletic quality to the weightless tulle skirts and above-the-ankle hemlines. “Floor-length gowns start to feel a little old,” Mendel admitted. For the modern woman, a lighter, shorter dress is also just practical; you can keep operating at full-speed without worrying about tripping on your train.
16 February 2017
As a designer known for fur and eveningwear, Gilles Mendel doesn’t always have to think about practicality. His gowns make it onto major red carpets no matter the season, and his fur offering ranges from featherlight calfskin jackets to mink-trim sweaters to super-plush chubby coats. You’ll find all of the above in his new Pre-Fall collection, plus an emphasis on more wallet-friendly daywear. In fact, Pre-Fall is Mendel’s biggest opportunity for the versatile, wearable—but still very feminine—pieces he calls “high day.” Mendel is also known for couture-level embellishments, but many of the looks here were “precise and defined,” as he put it—razor-sharp trousers, crepe dresses, and muted lace separates. They made the ruffled party frocks and tiered gowns nearby appear all the more playful. Spain and Morocco were on Mendel’s mind this season—he used to spend his summers in Spain and recently took a trip to Morocco—but he was also inspired by vintage photos of the Rolling Stones. The mosaic-like embroideries and frilled sleeves were pure Marrakech; the leopard prints, skinny scarves, and giant pink furs were Stones-era glam at its best. Also reminiscent of the ’70s: embellished party dresses styled with fur stoles and flats. They looked cool and offhand in a way that sequins and tulle rarely do.
13 December 2016
Gilles Mendelpresented a couture collection for the first time in July, and the experience inspired him to bring a bit of that intimate, handcrafted magic to his ready-to-wear collections. Instead of his usual runway show, Mendel welcomed guests to The Standard, East Village Penthouse, where intricately beaded gowns and impossibly light sheared-fur jackets were displayed on dress forms. Each one had been shipped from his atelier in Paris. “These dress forms have lived with me for a very long time,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve done a lot of celebrity dresses on these forms—they all have their own life, and I know every patternmaker who works on them.”Mendel prefers it that way, but since his familial, couture-like sensibilities weren’t always evident in a rapid-fire runway show, he’s elevating the presentation format to reflect his exquisite clothes. “This season, I wanted to get back to the real DNA of the house,” he explained. “People come to me to see beautiful things and modern heirloom dresses. It’s about the touch, the feeling, so I find it so important to show the workmanship up close.” If the white sheared fur and silver sequined vest and white midi skirt breezed by you on the runway, you might not have noticed the wavy texture of the fur, or that the sequins were twisted in two different directions. And there’s no substitute to feeling the stripy, weightless tulle-bonded fur coat in person: “With the sheer tulle, it’s almost seasonless,” the designer said. “It’s more like an accessory, or a little object of desire you can layer over a dress.”There was a more dramatic oxblood fur coat with a big cut-out grid pattern, inspired by the work of Emilio Jiménez, whose photographs of nude women show them “dressed” in shadows of nature. But on a humid day in lower Manhattan, some of the simpler, unadorned pieces resonated even more, from a blush chiffon dress with shirring at the bodice to a paper-thin leather shift in deep bordeaux.
15 September 2016
It was a homecoming forGilles Mendeltoday. The Frenchman left Paris for New York in the 1980s and he’s built his business there, but it’s been a long-held dream of his to come back to do a show. He was visibly thrilled backstage, explaining that his first ever couture collection was a bridge of sorts between the two places. Keith Haring was an artist famous in New York’s ’80s downtown scene, and riffs on his signature energetic squiggles formed the basis for graphic beaded patterns on evening columns. Paris was represented by its familiar geometric maps: broad boulevards meeting up with circular roundabouts, narrow streets intersecting with geometric park spaces. Both references were subtle enough to not be too obvious. As a rule the collection was better when Mendel used a lighter touch. Hand-stitched labels featuring the Empire State Building or Paris in block letters were a nice detail.Mendel is a furrier, like his father was. This being a Fall show, there was naturally quite a bit of the stuff here. The first dress was made from small and smaller squares of shaved mink embroidered into Haring-style swirls and stitched together into a grid. Mendel used the same grid technique for the floor-scraping black coat and the white jacket that followed. They were exquisite and extravagant. They won’t necessarily keep you warm: In Mendel’s universe, that’s not really the point. Stitching fur to tulle, he created peekaboo evening coats through which the sequins and beads of his party dresses shone. Other furs were bisected with long rows of functioning brass buttons. Sleeves peeled off shoulders in a timely, if somewhat ungainly style. Still more furs were misted with liquid gold, so they looked burnished. Mendel’s enthusiasm may have gotten the best of him in some cases. The standout of the bunch was among the most understated, a short jacket in Russian broadtail with gold bead embroidery.
5 July 2016
Understated luxury. Gilles Mendel isn’t the first designer to set his sights on truly effortless refinement, but his show today was a step in that direction. While pastJ. Mendelcollections may have been glamorous in an overt way (read: ultraviolet colors and layers of ruffles), Fall found the designer thinking along subtler lines. He started with an unlikely mix of references: Tamara de Lempicka’s graphic Art Deco paintings and Sheila Metzner’s delicate, soft-focus photographs. “Both artists celebrated beauty and elegance, and they both loved flowers,” Mendel explained before the show. It turns out each woman also had a different take on Mendel’s current favorite bloom, the calla lily: De Lempicka’s was bold with heavy contrast, while Metzner’s was modest and a bit hazy.Mendel interpreted those calla lilies as a print on a ruby-and-cobalt balconette dress, and as a beaded motif on a glittering, floor-sweeping gown. But you could also sense the flower’s curves in the simple draped dresses, sculpted bustiers, and overall lack of frippery. Instead of making an audacious visual statement, Mendel wanted it to be about the feel of the clothes, which, admittedly, isn’t as easy to appreciate on a computer screen. But it was the pared-back looks that felt most compelling. Rather than play into the rainbow fur trend, for instance, Mendel’s sheared mink coats had subtle pinstripes. Crepe separates were flourish-free, save for white topstitching here and there; and evening dresses (whether bugle-beaded or slinky georgette) skimmed the body “like liquid,” so the women who wear them will feel unencumbered. If asked to pick out the most opulent pieces of all, though, no one would point to the suede jacket and shirtdress that appeared to be crocodile-embossed but were actually made ofrealsueded crocodile skin. Both items were jaw-droppingly luxe, yet rendered in the plainest of colors: taupe and navy. That’s understated luxury at its finest.
18 February 2016
Gilles Mendeldesigns his clothes with a glamorous agenda in mind, so the notion that there should be any hard and fast lines drawn between day and night is obsolete. That approach to dressing would have come naturally to model and actress Jean Shrimpton in her swinging ’60s heyday, and her infamous little white dress ended up on theJ. Mendelmood board forPre-Fall. With its fluttering chiffon sleeves and high, embellished neckline, his update on the look was surprisingly more covered-up than the original shift that Shrimpton wore to the Melbourne Derby back in 1965.That said, Mendel understands the allure of skin more than most designers, and the standout dresses in the collection toed the line between revealing and elegant. His signature hand-pleating was put to good use on two floor-length soft pink gowns—one with a plunging V-neckline, the other with delicate, shoulder-baring spaghetti straps. Perhaps as important as their prettiness, though, was the practicality of these dresses: The supportive construction on the inside makes the most tricky red carpet conundrum (to wear a bra, or not to wear a bra?), that much easier to answer—undoubtedly a major selling point for the bright, young Hollywood things shopping for awards season right now.Where evening gowns go, fur coats are sure to follow, at least in Mendel’s world. Along with more familiar transition pieces (knitted fox scarves, shearling biker jackets), the sheared mink parkas that he cut with graphic, Frank Stella–inspired florals are the kind of statement pieces that would make for a fashion moment at any given hour of the day.
7 December 2015
The detachable overskirt has emerged as a dark-horse trend of the Fall ’16 bridal offerings, and that shape was central to designerGilles Mendel’s latest lineup. The generous tulle skirt, which topped a sleek, densely beaded column number, felt like an apt metaphor for the modern version of femininity that the J. Mendel woman is looking for. Waistlines came nipped, necklines plunging, and even the fullest of skirts light and unfussy. Also decidedly 21st century? A pair of gowns in graphic, camouflage-inspired lace with edge to spare.
13 October 2015
The J. Mendel customer has long been a certain type of Madison Avenue grande dame, one who comes for the furs from the incomparable atelier and sticks around for the romantic frocks to tuck under them. But the designer’s recent red carpet successes with a younger crowd—Taylor Swift,Maria Sharapova, and theSports IllustratedmodelHannah Davisamong them—have opened up a new demographic, one just as attuned to major red carpet moments as self-styled Instagram snaps. And who can blameGilles Mendelfor wanting to be there for both?The day looks he had designed for Spring seemed crafted with this crew in mind, with urban-minded accents such as graphic prints, grommets, straps, and slits. Asymmetrical micro-pleated skirts were either made micro-length or cut to the ankle, paired with roomy tunics or boxy tees. In what felt like a more-is-more take on what “the kids” are wearing, bandeau tops were paired with snakeskin wrap skirts or light-as-air organza ballroom styles that, while masterfully rendered—“The pleats open up and blossom like petals,” said Mendel, and they did—ultimately missed the mark. (Skin may be in, and snakeskin, too, but the kids who love you for old-school romance won’t necessarily love you for their going-out-clubbing looks.)As the glamour level rose, things loosened up. A narrow micro-pleated column dress with a built-in bandeau had massive appeal on and off the hanger, while a black-and-white abstract-print silk chiffon gown with cutout bodice was its own wind machine, moving with extreme grace—it could be just the thing for next awards season. A creamy textured silk crepe anorak patterned with graphic black abstractions inspired by Japanese woodblock prints hit just the right note: charmingly sporty, even when paired with a matching intarsia cropped mink that Mendel explained was intended to “disappear” into the pattern when popped on top. And as for those furs, a pair of long, vividly patterned yagasuri intarsia mink vests —"For the plane?" Mendel said with a wink—will prove just the thing to tide over the J. Mendel client, old and new, until fall, when the big coats come out.
17 September 2015
If in past seasons J. Mendel outings have felt a bit scattered, Resort found a more single-minded status as creative director Gilles Mendel pondered many of the house's signatures: the graphic furs, tiered organza, pleating, and, of course, furs. Inspiration from the op art of Bridget Riley gave this collection plenty of punch by way of swirling, undulating prints. Mendel DNA may come with omnipresent associations of red-carpet flou, but this time there was a premium placed on separates done in a way the brand's customer will appreciate. Tap shorts and blouses in a celestial combo of black with metallic silvery swirls will be a welcome solution to cocktail dressing concerns; ditto a mod little shirtdress in thoroughly modern, camo-esque lace with contrasting trim. (J. Mendel, though not always the most reserved of labels, had a notably splashy number on its hands with an electric coral crop top in that same lace.)Still, evening was the real story here. Monsieur Mendel puts the company's in-house atelier to good use, and there were some pretty exquisite fabrications, like the tiers of dégradé, raw-edged organza that fairly exploded out of a mermaid stunner. Best of all was a style not such a far cry from the black and gold gown that Mendel's date Hilary Rhoda wore last week to the CFDA Awards. It comprised what the designer estimated to be 15 yards' worth of sunburst-pleated, peachy nude chiffon, shot through with ice blue Lurex all over, in a simple V-neck shape. That one really brought the J. Mendel ethos of opulence to life.
8 June 2015
Year established: 1870Known for: Understated yet glamorous gowns, with styles ranging from Grecian to Deco
20 April 2015
Free glamour. That's how Gilles Mendel described his Fall 2015 collection, inspired in part by late-1970s New York City nightlife. He also looked at Richard Avedon's portraits of Anjelica Huston from earlier in that decade, because, "every night owl needs a day dress."Mendel, like many designers feeling the '70s this season, used skinny scarves as a styling prop, like the black embroidered version tied around the waist of a lingerie-inspired jumpsuit. But he also fashioned them into work-ready frocks, including a billowy-sleeved, below-the-knee shirtdress done in a paisley-printed silk jacquard that was paired with tall leather and suede boots. As he suggested, some of the best looks were indeed made for daylight.For evening, Mendel proposed a gold lamé jacquard jumpsuit with a plunging neckline, which was sexy and just flashy enough. A high-slit wrap dress—done in that same jacquard, but this time draped alongside black crepe—had a similar appeal. However, some of the fairly modest styles, like a mock-neck black crepe column with a low, draped back, didn't pack the necessary punch.Mendel was relatively spare with the furs this season. But what he showed—particularly a mink intarsia cape featuring black-and-white-patterned flowers, as well as ruby red buds—demonstrated the arguably unmatched talent of his atelier. Mendel's client likes to be seen, and many pieces from this collection will afford her an unforgettable entrance.
19 February 2015
Gilles Mendel offered up a practical take on Pre-Fall today, showing his new collection by appointment at his studio. As Mendel explained, he wanted the focus to be on "special" pieces—items his clients could wear with the (undoubtedly luxe) clothes they already own, but that would give those pre-existing wardrobes some thrill of the new. The outerwear here made Mendel's point: Alongside the house's signature eye-catching furs, there were tailored patchwork shearlings, buttery leathers, and jackets and coats in a tiger-stripe calf-hair, any of which would ably do the work of "spicing up" a wardrobe, to use the designer's term. As far as nonanimal fabrications, the emphasis for Mendel this season was on tweed—looking smart in a bell-shaped dress—and on lace, which he used in both gowns and day-to-evening looks like a trim little suit. Mendel's gowns make a lot of appearances on the red carpet, and as we head into awards season, one of his canniest moves in this collection was to translate prints and motifs from the gowns into more accessible looks. Witness the lace, or the ikat-ish print that was used on a va-va-voom, semi-pleated gown, as well as a more modest, midi-skirt frock. Savvy, very savvy. And that was the news here—nothing to write home about, except the fact that clever Gilles Mendel is making clothes his customers will want to wear.
15 December 2014
Gilles Mendel found an ideal collaborator in the artist Enoc Perez. The friends share a love of architecture—which is a big, and often direct, influence on their work—and are drawn to the same colors. "We speak the same language," Mendel said backstage before the show. In 2013 they even made a book together,Gilles Mendel by Enoc Perez, a series of collages of Mendel's work created by Perez. For Spring, Mendel asked Perez to help build his collection. The partnership somehow allowed Mendel to better focus, resulting in sharper, more-pleasant-to-digest clothes.To create a cohesive thread across the 45 looks, Mendel drew from Perez's paintings of buildings, which were mimicked in the diagonal-grid designs on many of the dresses, gowns, and even a few furs. (Some were painted on; others were woven, beaded, or pieced together.) Mendel kept a clean silhouette throughout: There were waisted minidresses in one-shoulder, strapless, and cap-sleeve varieties. Many gowns, featuring his signature pleats, were color-blocked. And about that color: What a dynamite use of red! There were also electric pink, seafoam, and citron, paired in wonderfully clashing ways, using black and white as stabilizers. One of the finest looks was the simplest: a black crewneck mini in scuba, with a shock of pink patched into the skirt on a diagonal. What was so great about this collection was that Mendel didn't just digitally print one of Perez's paintings onto a dress or a T-shirt; he truly incorporated them. It felt quite authentic, like any good collaboration should.
11 September 2014
The idea of Catherine Deneuve inBelle de Jourmade for a more mature J. Mendel Resort. "I left behind the free-spirit ingenue of past collections for a grown-up woman," said designer Gilles Mendel. "Parisian-chic signatures." Those are oft-used tropes, to be sure, but Mendel made them work most of the time. See the double-breasted, notch-collar coat in a dusty pink-and-black jacquard leopard print just abstract enough not to feel same ol'. Elsewhere, Mendel played a little trick on several dresses, seaming them so that the natural figure was defined, but adding a trompe l'oeil band at the hip that mimicked a drop waist. It looked best on a silk-faille cocktail dress with a pink top, black skirt, and purple belt. On other frocks he used stripes all over: A daytime mini was peach, sherbet, and black in a silk crepe with a flared skirt, while an evening option in a similar color scheme was embroidered with sequins from top to bottom.Fur made its requisite appearances—most fetchingly on a pale pink shadow fox vest—but leather dominated, from an off-the-shoulder crop top striped with black leather and organza to a pair of high-waisted black leather shorts. Some of it was a little too aggressive. For instance, the silhouette of a double-breasted skirtsuit was appealing, but in purple leather seemed overly opulent. Colored leather is always tricky, given that it is no longer the 1980s. While Mendel suggested that there was a toughness to the collection that doesn't normally surface in his work, it really seemed to be more about power. A woman wearing this particular set of leg-baring minis and sharp-shouldered jackets and dresses will not only look sexy, but also emboldened.
18 June 2014
Before the Russian Revolution, Gilles Mendel's great-grandfather made furs for the House of Romanov. So this season's inspiration—the ornate costumes of the Ballets Russes—was certainly informed by the furrier's roots. "It's a celebration of artistry," Mendel said backstage before his show. "The clothes are bold, but there's an ease to them as well."The defining look was the first. The diagonal plaid broadtail coat, worn with a hooded bolero in red sable, instilled the "sense of luxury" Mendel sought. And while the starting point was the turn of the twentieth century, the styling was sharply modern. There were looks more in a lean silhouette: chevron wool coats in beige, red, and black, with luxurious red furs wrapped around the neck. A high-collar white mink coat with horizontal leather insets was graphic and distinctive, as was the cape coat following it. (With a strip of white shearling down the front, it looked more like an anorak; the close-to-the-body cape was a unique touch.)In eveningwear, which J. Mendel has become just as well known for as fur, graphic elements again stole the show. The pleated chiffon gowns were pretty enough, but those embellished with crystal-embroidered tulle inserts—either at the collar or around the waist—were the ones that really caught the eye. Still, the true standouts were the mink dickeys. Done in sapphire and black and worn over long fur coats, they were wildly luxurious and felt very new.
12 February 2014
Gilles Mendel is known for long, fluttering eveningwear—the stuff of Hollywood red carpets, especially relevant given that awards season coincides with the Pre-Fall collection—but lately he has turned his attention to the shorter, the sportier. Dare one say daywear? There were skirtsuits but, overall, not quite. With zoos' worth of fur, Mendel's "day" is not exactly 9 to 5. But recent seasons have seen him working to balance J. Mendel's traditional extravagant elegance with something more like ease. (It is still, he admits, "close to decadence.")Spring moved in this direction, but the many themes Mendel pursued made the effort come off a bit confused. For Pre-Fall, things were in better order. There were still disparate strands—a passage of fur-trimmed, double-faced cashmere coats in pop colors had a sixties zing but felt out of place with the lot—but on the whole, the focus on shorter, sharper shapes clarified the intent. If the geometric shifts and biker-style jackets weren't necessarily the most original, you'd be hard-pressed to find them elsewhere in fabrications like these: "cavallino" hand-painted to resemble tweed, leather tufted to suggest bouclé. Furs were herringboned or houndstoothed.Skeptics will endure—to say nothing of antifur types—but Mendel is riding high, not least because of the recent opening of his new boutique on Madison. It's a showroom as well as a lab for his efforts. "There's no compromise," he said. Doing particularly well, he added, was a room of the most luxurious of his ultra-luxurious wares. "I call it the millionaire room," he said. (A publicist stepped in,Austin Powers-style, to note that, really, it should be thebillionaireroom.) Future stores are being considered for Russia and Asia. He who laughs last laughs richest.
17 December 2013
Patchwork was the name of the game for Gilles Mendel this season. That was true in a micro sense and in a macro one: Not only did Mendel work a mix into his typically polished clothes, he also applied the "little of this, little of that" MO to the collection as a whole. The patchwork effect scored in the looks that featured it, but the collection overall never really cohered. The show started strong, with a series of outfits in white and sherbet tones that featured various kinds of lace. The gowns in that group had real panache—sexy fitted fishtail numbers that nonetheless expressed a sense of gamine sweetness rather unusual for J. Mendel. Then there was a lick of sportiness, and then a hit of that J. Mendel-trademark slick, uptown, razor-sharp glam, and then a group of dense, arcadian jacquards, and then a graphic group in mean yellow, black, and white.… And then more stuff—more colors, more varieties of proportions and silhouettes, more attitudes, more everything. (This being a J. Mendel show there was fur in there, of course.) Mendel is usually a very focused designer, but this time out it felt like he was grab-bagging, hoping a message would emerge that was more than the sum of this collection's many parts.
10 September 2013
Gilles Mendel read the poem "Ma Sirène," by surrealist Robert Desnos, while designing Resort. "That blue siren, that beautiful woman underwater…that's what I was thinking about," he said. So yes, there were sea-blue dresses, and even a goat-fur trench in that color. But that was as far as the obvious references went.Sheer organza was used prominently—although often as a backing, peeking through a white cotton boatneck dress or a blush fur peplum vest. And Mendel took the liberty of playing with stripes, something he has avoided in the past because they are not easily draped. "I decided to forget what they were supposed to look like and see how it came out," he said. The experiment worked. Cut on the bias and jutting out at different angles, the striped dresses were both dramatic and flattering.But the number that really popped was a short white organza frock, featuring a barely there iridescent print and sheer black panels at the hem and neckline—worthy of a bewitching siren.
12 June 2013
There's no point going to a J. Mendel show if you're queasy about fur. Gilles Mendel comes from a family of furriers, going back generations, and he really knows his way around the material. Even a person who chooses not to wear fur can appreciate his artistry. In the good-looking collection he showed today, he really outdid himself with his laser-cut minks, in particular the trim black coat sliced in a pattern so subtle, it had to be touched to be believed. Luxe, luxe, luxe. So too the quilted, zip-off motorcycle coat trimmed in mink, and the rust tweed biker jacket with a peplum of chevron-cut raccoon. There was a recurring biker theme here, which Mendel cannily translated for his super-upscale clientele. Elsewhere, the most interesting development was in Mendel's construction—he reiterated a draped dress silhouette, which he'd tapered at an angle via spiraling seams. A knee-length version of the dress in moss-colored velvet was a knockout; there was also a chorus of slinky gowns that featured the technique. Evening is an important category for Mendel, and this season he tended to err on the side of clean and sleek; meanwhile, he didn't seem entirely committed to the more decorated looks. A clutch of floral cloque organza dresses trimmed in black were very pretty, though. Overall, there was a nice sense of dressed-up toughness here, and an emphasis on the practical that Mendel's clients will surely appreciate.
12 February 2013
Gilles Mendel's Spring '13 collection was quite the flowery affair, replete with eye-popping floral prints and wispy dresses efflorescing a garden's worth of fabric blooms. This season, the J. Mendel tone deepened by several registers, as Mendel emphasized a moody palette and taut silhouettes. He also introduced a new print that riffed off and abstracted Ori Gersht's photographs of exploding flowers. That was an explicit riposte to Spring; this time out, the print announced, J. Mendel would be eschewing girlishness and frou.As Mendel pointed out, his leaner, meaner look this season was largely attributable to his decision to focus less on manipulating his materials (by pleating them, for instance) and more on showing them off by means of architectural construction. In practice, that translated to slim metallic jacquard dresses and tops that featured paneling or articulating seam and trim details. Mendel's dressier looks also emphasized harnessing and bustier construction, though evidence of his gossamer touch remained in a frothy, red carpet-destined gown topped with a sheaf of fluttering chiffon squares. The construction overall was impressive—it was nice to see, up close, the consideration that had gone into these simple-seeming clothes. Overall, though, Mendel's more straightforward take on his classic, high-end look only served to reaffirm that "pretty" is his native language; even hard-edged J. Mendel clothes are heavily accented.
11 December 2012
Proenza Schouler isn't the only brand celebrating its tenth birthday today. Gilles Mendel launched J. Mendel ready-to-wear ten years ago as well—about 130 years after his family established the house of J. Mendel in Saint Petersburg, as a furrier catering to the Russian aristocracy.Plus ça change: Walking into the J. Mendel show at Lincoln Center this afternoon, one heard plenty of Russian being spoken in the front row. And what did these new-wave czarinas get to see? Primarily more of the sharply cut, unapologetically luxe day dresses for which Mendel is known, and a great number of the diaphanously sexy, draped, and pleated gowns for which he is famous. And of course, they also saw fur—including a minty astrakhan minidress with an open-back trapeze top. Summers in Russia must be cold.There were a few key recurring themes for Mendel this season: an articulated bodice construction, lace overlays, organza flowers sprouting on dresses, floral-print jacquard. But the real story here was color. The palette started soft and watery and ducked into navy and earth tones, but ultimately it emphasized what can only be described as hi-vis, construction-cone orange. (The show notes called this, rather prettily, "Tiger Lily.") For whatever reason, this color worked better on the statement pieces, in particular the flashy micro-pleated gown with handpicked cording and organza flowers. Maybe the reason was: If you're going to make a statement, why go halfway? In daywear, Mendel did better with a subdued orange floral print, which he used to best effect in a sharply tailored suit. As a full look, the suit may be a little eye-searing for the J. Mendel girl, but this collection provided her a bouquet of other, unabashedly pretty florals to pick from.
11 September 2012
The J. Mendel signature has been, for some time, fluttering trains of balletic mousseline, so it was something of a surprise to see Gilles Mendel turning his attentions to a silhouette he called "very tight." The old plisséd skirts were still in evidence on his most dramatic gowns, but for much of the collection, he hewed much closer to the body, mimicking its own architecture with details that, he said, "brought the construction out." Seams were bound in faille on siren-tight bustier dresses (and inset with python strips because, well, why not?), as they were on a micro raffia jacket, giving it a semi-futuristic spin. Cord details crisscrossed gown bodices, apparently in homage to the textile artist Sheila Hicks; Mendel hinted that future collections would head in this direction, too. On the gowns with softness to spare it worked, though on other pieces it undercut some of the romance the house has courted so successfully in seasons past. Still, those missing the old can take heart. Opening a side door of his showroom, Mendel led the way to one room of a multi-part atelier, where seamstresses were busy draping a long yellow gown for a Middle Eastern princess, part of his growing side business in couture. Ask and you shall receive.
11 June 2012
Today's J. Mendel show was a mellifluous affair: Making a U-turn from last season's sharp silhouettes and color-blocking, designer Gilles Mendel sent out a collection that emphasized soft shapes and a neutral palette. His experiments largely centered on the construction of his furs, in particular the coats that knit together various fur textures, and voluminous yet lightweight dégradé furs mounted on tulle. Elsewhere, Mendel focused on dirndl-shaped short skirts in crepe and wool breezy pleated ones made from chiffon. He girded all that movement with architectural cutouts and structured tops and jackets; his paneled crocodile and metallic tweed jackets were particularly fine.Alongside the furs, gowns are the J. Mendel stock-in-trade, and with Oscars looming, Mendel didn't stint on the glam eveningwear. That said, there weren't any gowns at this show that screamed to be seen on the red carpet. One possible exception to that rule was a strapless, gold-beaded sheath; otherwise, his beaded and hammered charmeuse bias-cut gowns were very nice, but not jaw-dropping. On the whole, this was a collection full of ultra-luxe elegant looks that will go down easy with the high net worth J. Mendel customer. That customer is also likely to be very pleased with the debut of J. Mendel bags: The designer introduced the range with a natty, oversize crocodile handbag, lined with mink and alpaca.
14 February 2012
It's back to basics at J. Mendel, a line whose basics aren't, of course, very basic at all. They're luxe enough for pharaohs and queens, those accustomed to an excess so fabulously wretched they don't need another mink coat—they can afford one fully lined in mink, like several on offer here. "We were very focused on bringing back the essentials of J. Mendel," Gilles Mendel said at a showroom appointment. Meaning? "Unapologetic luxury."Jackets, chubbies, and hooded scarves kept the fur flying, the finest pieces in gorgeously striated Russian red fox. But the most interesting new development for the line was a handful of shearlings, a new fabrication for the brand. Mendel's came in mixed furs, with shearling, lambswool, leather, and deerskin. Since the Fall '11 collections, the parka has roared back onto the scene, and those on offer here—many styled as sleeveless vests but available with leather sleeves for production—are worthy successors to the trend. They're also (though you could take this with a diamond-sized chunk of salt) closer to an entry-level price point than most outerwear he's yet attempted.Where cocktail dressing is concerned, Mendel offered plays on his draped, corseted frocks—some elaborately beaded, in what he suggested would be a preview of Fall '12—and voluminous evening gowns a shade more solid in their silk faille than the delicate mousseline creations he showed last year at this time.
11 December 2011
Gilles Mendel's latest show kicked off today with a bang. Inspired by Dorothy Draper, the original queen of American interior design, Mendel concocted a range of savvy, fresh-looking dresses featuring vertical stripes in bold color combinations. The dresses had a cool geometry to them, courtesy of both the stripes and Mendel's clean silhouettes and sharp pleating. They were winners.The show lost some steam after that. The sportswear—mainly slouchy trousers and crisp silk shirting—was well-executed, but failed to make much of an impression. And Mendel's gowns and cocktail dresses this season were nicely done, sexy things slit all over, but they didn't exert any real pull beyond that. (Nevertheless, Hollywood starlets will be fighting over them for red-carpet appearances.) The collection perked up again with the appearance of a couple of short looks in an abstract brushstroke print that had been crusted all over with sequins; taut and asymmetrically hemmed, they were atypically edgy for Mendel. Overall, this was a slick show, likably frou-free and full of solid, accessible dresses that will be snapped up by Mendel's VIP clientele.
13 September 2011
Day has dawned at J. Mendel. The house that eveningwear built is exploring daywear for Resort, inspired in part by creative director Gilles Mendel's recent trip to, of all places, Utah. The natural beauty of the scenery inspired Mendel to think geologically about his new creations, resulting in hand-pleated layers of fabric on fabric (silk mousseline, wool crepe, and Lurex), like stratified rock formations. The result is more dress in less space (though anyone worried that this might bring down prices can rest easy; with hand-frayed details on each piece—even down to jacket linings—day is sure to be almost as expensive as night).Separates included long, color-blocked skirts with asymmetrical pleating, wide-leg silk crepe pants (a label first), and cashmere/silk knit sweaters (another debut) pieced with silk mousseline panels. Color-blocking continues to be a major trend of the collections, and Mendel's muted tone-on-tone dresses (in mini and maxi lengths) are fine additions to the ever growing canon. The overall shift to shorter, sportier shapes and subtler details produced one of the label's freshest offerings in seasons. And while change may be afoot, every day does eventually shade into night, and every J. Mendel collection into evening: For after dark, there was an almost outrageously detailed group of confections, many draped in asymmetrical layers of frayed organza and satin-faced Lurex.
12 June 2011
Gilles Mendel's father was a collector of aboriginal art, and it was, of all things, the tribal body art of the indigenous Australians that inspired his son's Fall collection. The house's famously luxe furs in mink and fox featured "intarsia" patterning that looked like elaborate etched tattoos—or, Mendel noted, like the geometric patterns of Art Deco, or the architecture of Jean Prouvé.The clothes themselves alternated between structured pieces that picked up on pre-fall's tailored theme, and flowing gowns. Those tailored jackets and coats, many with mixed-fur bodies and contrast sleeves, were unquestionably luxe, but with their exaggerated shoulders and hard-edged, slightly eighties glamour, felt a bit out of step with the moment. More on-the-money was a series of flowing gowns, particularly one with a plunging neck, in embroidered rose-colored silk mousseline, glittering with beads. It had red carpet written all over it. Beading is a house first, and it was indulged to good effect; the sparkle leavened the black-heavy palette. Nor was it the only new thing for the label. The high, "tattooed" boots were, for the first time, Mendel-designed and made.
14 February 2011
Believe it or not, it's a menswear moment atJ. Mendel. "It's the sensibility of Spring, but with more tailoring," Gilles Mendel said at his showroom. Translation: weightless, floor-sweeping dresses topped with structured outerwear, as if the girls had borrowed their escorts' coats at the end of a chilly evening. Thanks to a liberal hand with the furs, the men's staples took on a feminine grace; in fact, they were the collection's strongest note. Wool-cashmere overcoats in black and camel were lent texture by curly-lamb linings and sleeves. Another topper ended in striated layers of lamb and raccoon.Mendel's signature delicate dresses—here in hand-pleated mousseline, chiffon, and organza; sometimes asymmetrical; and tending in the direction of the long silhouette he introduced last season—didn't feel as fresh by comparison. Still, they had a balletic loveliness; Mendel has worked with the New York City Ballet, after all. The most interesting were raw-edged, a little dégradé: a ballerina unraveling. Wonder if someone's seenBlack Swan.
12 December 2010
Gilles Mendel has prima ballerinas on the brain. Earlier this summer, he designed the costumes for the New York City Ballet's production ofCall Me Ben; then he shot his Resort lookbook in the dance studio; and now his Spring collection finds him back at the barre.Presumably, you won't hear any complaints from this designer about the tents' new location in Lincoln Center, the NYCB's home stage. Mendel's corps were dressed in Madame Grès-inspired draped silk chiffon and jersey dresses in powdery, neutral makeup tones of peach, blush pink, and icy gray. (To make the palette pop, they were shown with a bright coral lip and brilliant orange wedges—Louboutins wrapped with grosgrain ankle wraps, ballet-slipper style.) The dresses were all variations on a theme, but thanks to the exquisite hand-pleating and ruching, Mendel's uptown ladies shouldn't mind. No complaints, either, about those Mendel furs, here Tibetan lamb and shadow fox in heart-shaped dégradé boleros; they're mounted on tulle to make them semitransparent and featherlight. ("A new little summer sweater," according to Mendel.) The look overall was lighter, simpler than it's been before; "a little bit more easy," the designer acknowledged after the show. And there was a smart concession to downtown, too, in eveningwear, of all places: ankle-length pleated mousseline gowns shown with flat sandals, the way kids are wearing long these days.
15 September 2010
Not surprisingly, Gilles Mendel had dancers on the brain when putting together his latest collection. The designer produced the costumes for the New York City Ballet's production ofCall Me Ben, which premiered last weekend.For Resort, many of his signature draped dresses featured bustier detailing and flouncy skirts; one covetable number was decorated with chunky crystals creeping up one of the straps. Mendel is known for producing knockout gowns in crepe and chiffon, but this season—inspired by the ease of movement afforded by dance attire—he experimented with jersey. A fluid navy long-sleeve gown with a cutout back was as glamorous as any he cut in his more signature materials. And for the off-duty ballerina? Stone-colored suede shorts and a virtually weightless silk-lined white raccoon vest aren't exactly sweats, but they're about as casual as we've seen from Mendel—a welcome sign that he's not afraid to try some new steps.
9 June 2010
Fur has been everywhere this week, and you couldn't expect Gilles Mendel, scion of the grand old furrier family, to just ignore it. Almost half the looks he presented today centered around something fuzzy and luxe. "I experimented a lot with fur techniques this season," Mendel said. "I wanted the pieces to feel textured and light." This was accomplished with patchworking (in the case of an asymmetrical vest of muskrat and raccoon) and bleaching (as in a silver fox hooded jacket with an interesting depth of color). A sequined wool dress with fox epaulets, meanwhile, was a posh nod to the current military trend.Moonmilk, a series of images of caves by the photographer Ryan McGinley, informed the eveningwear palette of rust, Prussian blue, and moss green. Unfortunately, we've seen the strapless, draped silhouettes from this designer before. More interesting was a little red dégradé frock that, when it caught the light, appeared to drip with shimmering stalactites. Just the thing for an uptown girl off on a night of downtown spelunking.
17 February 2010
"I'm really having a 'night moment,' " Gilles Mendel said of his pre-fall collection. His core clientele—starlets readying for awards season, included—will surely be drawn to the draped gowns and elegant cocktail frocks Mendel has made his name with, this season in metallic golds and stoplight reds that almost call to mind the twinkling lights of a city after sunset. But the designer wasn't focused solely on evening; he smartly experimented in other areas by playing with fabric combinations. A cropped wool tuxedo jacket, for example, got a youthful twist with jersey insets, and the furs were not exactly your grandmother's variety: A mix of sable, muskrat, and raccoon jazzed up a standard winter topper, while a cropped multi-fur trimmed jacket with removable leather sleeves was about as hip a pelt as we've seen.
7 December 2009
"What is my message for Spring?" mused Gilles Mendel in the crowded confines of the Lehmann Maupin Gallery, where his models stood about, giving everyone time for a close inspection. "Specialness, preciousness, and value—with a little something to make you dream." Spoken like a true Frenchman.Close up is indeed the best way to admire Mendel's handicraft, especially the sculptural tulle and organza sunbursts that were like the sartorial equivalent of a biomorphic sculpture by Tara Donovan. There were enough frills and cascades to keep Mendel's charity-circuit regulars happy, but there was another welcome dimension to Mendel's lineup: structure. It was there in an unexpected and playful shorts suit, a smart ivory panel jacket and pegged pants, and a knockout citron double-faced satin structural dress that romanced the ongoing body-con trend with finesse.
13 September 2009
After a subdued Fall outing chez Mendel, it was a pleasure to see color—daffodil, poppy, aqua—re-emerge for Resort, along with the sort of dressmaker details with which designer Gilles Mendel made his name. Special touches were applied not only to eveningwear—a yellow gown with petal-like layers was the showstopper—but to day clothes as well: Take a pieced dress in metallic tweed or the must-have tulle-and-chain-lined fur vests. Mendel described the latter as "little additions that bring you into spring, aren't too ornate, and enhance everything else you own." That's a formula we can't argue with.
14 June 2009
Gilles Mendel, who presented his clothes in vignettes at the Chelsea Art Museum to much acclaim last season, was back in the tents for Fall. Why? Because, Mendel explained, his "hard-edged" clothes were about "an attitude" and needed to be seen in motion. It was the right choice, if only in the sense that the handwork details that made close-up viewing so exciting last Spring were nowhere to be seen. Missing was the color and craftsmanship that is the core of the J. Mendel brand identity. (Fur, of course, is also at the label's heart, and the designer used it sparingly, too—although a double-faced wool coat with broadtail inserts deserves mention.) There was but a glimmer of the old J. Mendel glamour in the beribboned, jewel-toned chiffon gowns that closed the show. So what happened? Mendel said he was putting more emphasis on daywear, but 40 looks later the audience was left searching for any message in this collection.
17 February 2009
What's a house built on its fur business to do during times like these? Gilles Mendel zeroed in on daywear for pre-fall, showing slim, short-sleeved shifts and skirtsuits à la Jackie Kennedy. Not that there was anything bare-bones about them. The former came with hand-stitched facings along the seams for extra eye appeal, and the latter were lined in soft pink charmeuse. And no, Mendel didn't forgo the fur entirely. But instead of full-length foxes and minks, he focused mostly on chic little vests and bolero shapes and opted for more wallet-friendly furs like squirrel. Evening was another matter: Sparing no expense, he draped four-ply georgette into 1930's siren gowns.
7 December 2008
Gilles Mendel's clothes never looked as good as they did at the Chelsea Art Museum today. The designer opted to showcase his "labors of love," as he called them, in a presentation format rather than on a runway as usual. That way, everyone could get up close to examine the undeniable art of his dressmaking—which, after all, is what customers fall in love with and open their wallets for. Other designers could learn from his example.With the change in format came a new and welcome lightness. Fur coats and vests, nearly as thin as fabric, were detailed with satin piping. Fresh, too, was the cloth outerwear, done in colors like cinnamon, poppy, buttercup, and rose quartz, and worked with all the delicate finesse of a beautiful J. Mendel gown."My dresses are, in fact, like a flower," said the designer, who had been looking at the hyper-vivid petals and stamens of the botanical photographer Christopher Beane. Well, better make that an orchid—because, let's face it: This collection aims at an exclusive audience. But as today's presentation proved, it's not a rarified hothouse atmosphere that draws customers to J. Mendel dresses or jackets but the skillful hands that make them.
10 September 2008
On paper, the marriage of designer and venue looked ideal: J. Mendel at the Plaza. Extravagant furs and glamorous gowns in a historic setting—how much more upscale can you get? Quite a bit, it turned out. Not only is the Plaza still a construction site, but Gilles Mendel chose to show on an old-fashioned prêt-à-porter-style raised runway that obscured the sight lines."In this age of disposable fashion, I wanted to create a collection that is all about lasting quality and making women look beautiful," he wrote in the program notes. Fair enough, but the execution lacked focus. Showcasing beauty and celebrating craft without a strong point of view leaves the audience looking at a parade of clothes with little context in which to understand them. Mendel showed more fur pieces than he has in the recent past, but while luxurious, they were not necessarily innovative. A number of otherwise promising-looking suits were burdened by two-pocket peplum belts.There were moments when Mendel's workmanship made its presence felt. It was visible in spades in a series of micro-pleated gowns, as well as in the first-rate dusty rose finale number whose elegance matched that of the gilded ballroom.
4 February 2008
Gilles Mendel cited the French photographer Guy Bourdin, master of erotic innuendo, as his touchstone. In the seventies, Bourdin shot fashion like a high-gloss crime scene—black latex, sharp heels, sprawling legs, and the like. And Mendel's most prominent pieces for Spring did have a whiff, if not of danger, at least of haute disco dash: off-the-shoulder silk mousseline, for instance, that caught seductively at the hips, and tiered columns trimmed with (what else?) gold lamé.Overall, however, the more sexed-up approach didn't play to Mendel's strong points of sophistication and romance. What's more, in a seeming attempt to keep his balance, he latched on to some complicated and couture-like lattice and pleating techniques, crisscrossing them in (too) many variations throughout. In the end, of course, he couldn't resist a painted flower here and a lace insert there, and in thosevie en rosetouches the real Gilles shone through.
6 September 2007
Gilles Mendel's front row is always a photographer's dream. Today it was studded not just with Patrick McMullan's favorite New Yorkers (Dr. Lisa Airan, Helen Lee Schifter, Jennifer Creel) but also with a gaggle of stars who live in a red-carpet world (Céline Dion, Cynthia Nixon, Natasha Richardson). It's hard to imagine any of them walking away from this show without a wish list."This collection is not about colors, but textures," Mendel said. And so, restricting his palette to ivory, slate, and "blacks of many shades," he focused on a silhouette he described as "post-war." Mendel isn't known for day looks, but he did some very viable, unapologeticallly dressy office options, like suits (pant and skirt) with fitted jackets and a tweed sheath that hit above the knee. His clients go to him mainly, though, for photo-op looks. He delivered these in spades. Glamour gowns featured interesting contrasts. A wrap number, for example, had pleated chiffon on one side and silk satin on the other. The finale piece—backless, cap-sleeved black velvet with patent trim—was long on glamour and begging to be worn by a modern-day Madame X.The minks and chinchillas were also very glam (quite naturally, from a firm that once was exclusively a furrier). Kim Noorda looked every inch the snow princess in a white lamb coat with a halo of a fox hood. And there was a very J. Mendel take on the coat-with-contrasting-sleeves trend: It came cinched at the waist, with two kinds of black fur on the body and full, silvery Old Hollywood sleeves.
7 February 2007
How ironic is it that Gilles Mendel's spring shows have become his strong suit? J. Mendel is a fur house, after all. And yes, he still cuts a superluxe broadtail vest coat, this season in pale lilac. But it's his dreamy gowns, pintucked at the bodice and falling to the floor in soft waves of gently fraying dove gray, ice blue, or lemon meringue, that set the hearts of his front-row ladies aflutter. (No one more so than Dr. Lisa Airan, who will wear a gown of his design at her Tuscany wedding next week.)You could even say that Mendel initiated the trend, in New York at least, for the romantic, petaled evening looks that are so prevalent on this week's runways. For spring, he was thinking more geometrically. Overlapping circles were a recurring motif on everything from a chocolate patent-leather coat to his new suit: a short-sleeve jacket with volume below the bust worn with a pleated, full skirt. And to drive home the point that he can do more than evening, he even tried his hand at denim. A stiff, midnight blue, it was sliced and chevroned like his furs, and oozed uptown cool.
13 September 2006
It's hard to believe that fur specialist Gilles Mendel added ready-to-wear to his repertoire a mere two years ago; his evening gowns have already become popular red carpet garb for stars and socialites. The latter were out in force for what ended up being a safe fall show. It opened with tailored separates that were punctuated with hints of flash emanating from metallic tweeds and from rhinestone buttons on cuffs. Fur-wise, there was a burgundy broadtail coat with fox trim at its curved seams that echoed the bubble shapes seen elsewhere this season, and a white mink that was worked in an Art Deco motif—all of which was nice, though not necessarily fresh. What did look new were the jaunty Persian lamb skullcaps, and a quirky brown-and-black leather jacquard coat. Perhaps wisely, the coat was one of the few direct references to the show's nominal theme: Faye Dunaway inBonnie and Clyde.Mendel's attempts to add fur to evening dresses seemed superfluous (why not just throw one of his coats over your shoulders?), and it resulted in a heavy-hemmed look that seemed anachronistic next to the wrap gowns in red and brown with sweet black bows at the shoulders, or the floaty tiered numbers with a hint of sparkle at the neckline. Mendel certainly knows how to romance a gown, but rather than rely too much on that one formula for success, he'd be wise to push his clothes—especially his furs—forward.
8 February 2006
It wasn't that long ago that the idea of a spring collection from furrier J. Mendel seemed indulgent, silly even. Who south of Saskatchewan really needs mink after March? What a difference a year makes. Gilles Mendel's front row was socialite city, and can't you just see them clamoring for his broadtail bolero vests? Ultraluxe pelts aside, there was plenty to love in this collection, starting with a smart little suit pieced together from panels of washed gold canvas and chiffon trim. As with most of his numbers, its edges were frayed; for all of Mendel's talents as a tailleur, he loves to deconstruct his fabrics.At night, he really shined, but not in a predictable way. The sparkle of last season's bullion embroidery has been replaced with matte white beads or, more frequently, with an absence of ornamentation that let his sinuous silhouettes in barely-there face-powder shades take center stage. By this point in the season, the tiered evening column gown has already become familiar, but Mendel's hand-worked numbers, with their chevrons of chiffon, were in a category of their own.
14 September 2005
Broadtail has become the fur of the season, but leave it to Gilles Mendel, furrier to the young and fabulous, to whip it into an icy-white princess coat complete with tiny ruffles and bullion embroidery. A ranch mink jacket with sleeves pieced together from strips of cognac-colored leather was less precious, but no less a feat of tailoring.Mendel's furs are always luxe—the hem of one coat, for example, was trimmed rather redundantly (and fabulously) with iridescent feathers—but his ready-to-wear shined for fall. Tweedy black-and-white jackets and bubble skirts were edged with silvery beading. For evening, he focused on draping, showing Empire-line dresses that cascaded to the runway in gazar or silk tulle. And he set his clients' hearts aflutter with lovely chiffon gowns, bloused below the knee and accessorized with Van Cleef & Arpels diamond clips on velvet chokers. The rest of the audience (those of us whose calendars are not crammed with black-tie events) left the tents dreaming of his supercool sheared mink puffer coat with hammered-metal belt.
9 February 2005
Gilles Mendel, the designer whose fresh take on luxe pelts has made him a favorite of the young and chic, wants to apply his talents to the wide world of ready-to-wear. But what's a furrier to do when the weather turns warm? Without his familiar territory to fall back on, Mendel's developing design skills moved front and center.He started out strong, with a creamy tweed coat picked apart at the edges and put over a powder-pink chiffon coat. That shredded-edge motif showed up throughout, as a means of breaking up Mendel's rich, polished aesthetic. He understands his customer: The season's trends (face-powder colors, full skirts, fluttery soft fabrics) were all present and accounted for, and delightfully accented with charm bracelets from his sponsor, Piaget.Mendel has a sense for the unexpected; a plunge-neck coral satin dress over a hand-painted petticoat added a delightful color burst. Mendel even managed to sneak in a bit of fur, in a sable collar on a tiny little jacket, or a goat-fur jacket made with his signature, elaborate piecing. But Mendel undercut his strengths by overloading the embellishment—when one outfit has sequinsandpintucksandrose quartz trim, the eye doesn't know where to go first. If he could tone things down just a bit, we'd all be the richer for it.
12 September 2004
Gilles Mendel, the third-generation designer behind the beloved-of-socialites furrier J. Mendel, is a wizard with a pelt. That’s why his sporty designs are filling the closets of women who wouldn’t give mom’s mink a second look. In the past few seasons, Mendel has been adding in bits and pieces of made-to-order clothing to his seasonal presentations; for fall, he went all-out with a fashion show in the Bryant Park tents.Mendel drew his inspiration from Anna Karenina, Tolstoy’s sensually beautiful, irresistible heroine. And there were certainly clothes fit for a czarina: figure-hugging silk dresses in pale colors, trimmed with dangling knotted cords; soft crinkly chiffon skirts that swirled around the knees; and tulle skirts that burst in pleats, all decked with plenty of Cartier diamonds. Mendel worked fur throughout, cutting flawlessly constructed lightweight coats and jackets from sheared mink and broadtail and putting fluffy fox shrugs over satin gowns. He even made a dramatic black dress from feathers and strips of mink; it was old-world luxe with a hip new attitude.
10 February 2004