Jonathan Cohen (Q4853)
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
Jonathan Cohen is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Jonathan Cohen |
Jonathan Cohen is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Not so long ago, the NYC LGBT Center on West 13th Street held one of its annual fashion industry focused fundraising dinners. Movie producer and Center stalwart Dorothy Berwin gave a rousing call to action to get behind the space and the organization like never before, because—as if this needs saying, all too sadly—homophobia and transphobia are on the rise. Designer Jonathan Cohen, who first visited the Center in 2021, was at that dinner and took note. He visited the building some time later for a walkthrough, then committed himself to doingsomething. “I think of the Center as being a bit like Planned Parenthood,” he said. “It can be a refuge; knowing that it exists… it brings such a sense of comfort.”Which is why bright-ish and early-ish on a Saturday morning, we were back at the Center to see Cohen’s Spring 2025 collection. It was a symphony of: color (from bright scarlet to a shimmering midnight blue); pattern (anemone flowers rendered with a delightfully faux naif vibe, luxe-y luxe tie-dyes for cashmere sweaters and cardigans); beading and embroideries exploding like supernovas over shirting and lanky jeans; and gentle layering like a dress over a skirt over big pants, which, seen here and elsewhere, is beginning to coalesce into one idea of how you might want to dress come next spring. (Or sooner! What’s stopping you now, after all?) One other styling tip worth sharing: The spangly Swarovski colored crystal belts worn over the tie-dye cardies and lean jackets, and modeled on the necklaces of a certain editor-in-chief you may have heard of. I’ll give you a clue in case you’re scratching your head: I am currently writing this about ten feet from her office.One of Cohen’s best qualities as a designer is his intentionality. His choice of venue was one of them: The desire to do his part, make a difference, be sensitive to the world, is very Cohen. (He’s planning to get involved in workshops and open days to help young people, to demystify the industry, and to more broadly empower them as they move into adult life.) The other way it shows up is in how he meticulously researches and thinks through the starting point of any collection. One thing was uppermost as he started Spring 2025. “How can you push things forward, make the future better?” he said. “Clothing has the power to do that. I’ve always felt that—and it’s my job not to ignore it.
”He alighted on music, an abiding love of his, which led him to reading about people who see colors when they listen to it—synesthesia, the condition is called. (Cohen said, laughing, that he doesn’t have it.) That in turn set him off on his foray into those aforementioned bold hues, or a rather psychedelic striped textile which is a Japanese fabric that takes some three months to make just fifteen meters of; Cohen used it for a short wrap skirt and a shoulder hugging jacket. For evening, he repurposed what was meant to be a capelet into a one-shouldered top, serendipitously discovered while styling the presentation. His way with handwork was evident in a nip waist jacket and long dress combo whose seams were lined with tiny knots. Much of this was worn with flat docker shoes—“Bringing it back to California!” said west coaster Cohen—which were trimmed with fabric orchids. And by the time all of this arrives in stores, he will already be doing all that he can for the Center. Quite a bit to admire here then, whether Cohen’s clothes—or his sense of commitment.
7 September 2024
For Jonathan Cohen, this coming fall starts with Karen O. Well, with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Well, with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs playing live in New York some years back when Cohen was in the audience, as visually dazzled as he was sonically. He took pictures of the light show on his iPhone, and it’s those lights—colorful, pulsating, and totally hypnotic—that were referenced everywhere in this collection. And it just so happened that he went with his images from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs show. It could have been Madonna (saw her in Brooklyn, loved her) or the Cure or Beyoncé. (He also saw—a major formative life experience this—the original four-girl lineup of Destiny’s Child.) “My favorite part of the concert is at the beginning when the lights go down,” Cohen said at a preview the other day. “That moment when you come out of pitch black. It’s why we have a lot of black this season.”There was indeed a ton of black in this collection, but it existed in duality with the light-show inspiration. You could see it as a print on one of those soft and sinuous dresses Cohen does so very well, that combination of rounding out the silhouette yet also letting the fabric gently fall. Or as an allover fabric embroidery on a narrow skirt, the fragments of material falling like confetti all over it. (It’s become something of a trademark of his, and it comes with an even better backstory: It’s a thoughtful and thrifty way to use leftover fabrics, a sustainably minded waste-not-want-not approach rendered to good effect.) Or, perhaps most subtly, as the luminous gold thread on a rather chic black hourglass jacket, the yarn picking up the light in the same way a car’s headlights do traffic-lane markings at night. Or indeed, just before the lights go up, and a band comes on.That jacket, incidentally, might have had a little of the spirit of Ms. O, too, in other ways. Cohen partnered it with an organic indigo denim skirt, fullish, shortish, and tiered in such a way that flattened knotted bows, which are integral to its construction. It took the formality of the jacket down just a tad, imbued it with a different spirit, an easier if no less dressy attitude. That knotting motif popped up elsewhere too—on a black satin coat, and yet more black satin in the form of a sleeveless long evening dress.
The knots were like other elements in the collection—the light padding used to create volume on the back of the short puffed-up sleeves on a standout cotton dress; the three months it takes to make 15 meters of the colorful tweed that looks like static on a TV screen and was deployed here for a jaunty suit—all done by hand. When it comes to Cohen’s fall, that’s another sensation he was looking to connect with: getting back to what it means to him, aesthetically and emotionally, to be doing his job. “Where we are right now…you keep thinking, What does it mean to be a designer?” he said. “I’ve always thought my purpose was to bring some joy to the world. And it feels like it’s more important than ever.”
10 February 2024
The location Jonathan Cohen selected for his spring presentation,—the artsy Chelsea Hotel (Oh, if those walls could talk!)—hinted at what the designer’s mindset had been while creating his collection; artistic disruption. “This season I was researching impressionism and the punk movement from the ’70s on,” Cohen said at a preview. “I was reading a lot about Impressionism and how radical it was for its time, but now when you look at Impressionism, it’s almost like calendar art. I found [a connection between] the irony in that and the idea that punk is almost becoming a little passé. I grew up in San Diego, which was [home to] the punk skater movement, so it’s very much a part of me.”It wasn’t difficult to discern the romanticism of the French art movement in Cohen’s florals. Likewise, the curved silhouette of the big-sleeved cape coats (including a khaki one named after editor Sally Singer, who once called the Chelsea Hotel home) wouldn’t look out of place in a painting by Renoir or Manet. The punk element of the collection was invisible to the eye: It was there in Cohen’s DIY method of production, which included collecting and reusing scraps from the production of past collections. It’s those which he delivered to Marina Larroudé for their successful shoe and boot collaboration.Taking all of this into account, it’s fair to say that Cohen achieved what he set out to do ideologically. That wasn’t as much the case aesthetically. It’s often the case that a stated inspiration is transformed in the making. What was clear on the racks (and less so in the lookbook) was how this designer’s work fits in with the history of Seventh Avenue design. Without being referential, there were pieces that connected back to pioneers of American sportswear like Stephen Burrows and Anne Klein. A collage-print suit and the peplum one had a touch of the ’80s, which is starting to appear in flashes here and there.As the Impressionists blurred lines, and Punks lived outside of them it’s ironic—that word again—that what distinguished some of the strongest pieces in this collection were straight lines. They defined and detailed a black leather dress. Variously colored threads were used to bring joy and subtle interest to a shapely ecru dress (look 7). The result of Cohen’s deciding to “color inside the lines,” this season was a collection that was pretty and polite, rather than progressive.
9 September 2023
At the Mexico City premiere ofBlack Panther: Wakanda Forever, Lupita Nyong’o wore a two-part Jonathan Cohen look. On top was a sweeping red cape in silk faille, and underneath, a black leather harness dress with a high front slit made in partnership with Evolved by Nature, a biotech company that has eliminated harsh chemicals from the leather tanning process. The outfit was representative of the two strands of this fall collection, which was decorous in the manner of previous Cohen outings, but also more daring.During a preview the designer reported that bustiers have become a surprise hit at the Madison Avenue boutique he opened last year, and not just with young women who seem like the target audience for such pieces. Body-baring styles are dominating fashion at the moment. Cohen cut his in the Evolved by Nature leather, as well as in a dark-rinse denim embellished with appliqués made from fabric scraps. There was a leather bustier dress with a mini-length lampshade skirt as well.Cohen has long designed his own prints, painting them by hand in the studio. The fall lineup included a motif of eyes and lips that he created using watercolors on a paper towel; the print had a playful charm exemplary of his best work. Other prints featured peonies at various stages of the bloom cycle, from just budded to blowsy. On a chartreuse-colored evening dress, song lyrics swirled amidst the bordeaux petals of flowers, inviting closer inspection. A more formal evening dress with recycled glass beads on the bodice was constructed from bonded cotton whose luscious floral print combined shades of blue, green, and violet.The colorful florals found their way onto sweaters and sweater-dresses, both machine-knit and hand-crocheted varieties. Most interesting was a black-and-white micro version of the eye and lip print that he used for a wool sheath with an asymmetric neckline and a draped back.
20 April 2023
Since releasing his last collection Jonathan Cohen has opened a small boutique on Madison Avenue where his neighbors include Akris, Dolce & Gabbana, and Prada—it’s a mom and pop shop in the land of corporate giants.Cohen left the runway pre-pandemic, betting on a pre-season schedule and a DTC business. It wasn’t an easy decision for a brand barely out of the emerging phase, but putting the money he saves on fashion week expenses into e-comm and, lately, an IRL location provides invaluable customer research. He and his business partner Sarah Leff split their time on the sales floor and they know a silhouette is a success when ladies from the building across the street call up to order the look from the shop window. Conversely, when multiple customers ask for the same alterations (which are handled on the premises), Cohen knows he has to adjust the pattern in his factory.Though small, the shop is decorated with resin skateboards incorporating the brand’s fabric scraps by Djivan Schapira (retail: $1,850), and a mirror and side tables by Fernando Mastrangelo (price upon request), as well as a selection of accessories and home goods from the hat-maker Gigi Burris and the woodworker behind Seven Cedars. Localism is essential to the formula here. It’s part of Cohen’s commitment to responsible design. At a preview, he elaborated on a new initiative on that front. This season’s embroidered leather trench and flower appliquéd leather sheath and button-downs are made from hides processed with an innovative Activated Silk™ finishing by the biotech company Evolved by Nature that eliminates the chemicals and pollutants typically used by the industry. The leather is notably supple.As ever, flowers are a recurring motif. Their painterly, almost drippy aspect was the result of Cohen’s research into female artists including Lee Krasner, Judi Regal, and Frida Kahlo. Highlights include a silk cady pantsuit in a blue matilija poppy print and a bustier and ball skirt in a orangey-red graphic floral in bonded cotton taffeta. Both looks are as bold as the women who inspired them. A knit maxi dress in “melting” rainbow stripes will make a similarly big statement.Cohen is a designer who knows his way around a pretty dress; making a star turn here is a marigold silk jacquard number with a scooped neckline, thin straps, and a seamed bodice.
It’s a sexy-for-him shape that his retail partners originally passed over only to pick up when he did such a bang-up business with it in his own shop, another perk of thinking locally and designing responsibly.
25 October 2022
At a Jonathan Cohen appointment, a pair of party pants made from rainbow-bright fabric paillettes practically shimmied off the rack. Cohen makes pretty dresses, often in floral prints that he paints himself. His aesthetic leans exuberant, but the pants stood out, not least of all because the fabric paillettes were made using scraps from prior collections.The pandemic forced designers at all levels of the business to rethink their strategies. Cohen and his partner, Sarah Leff, gave up the runway and opted to focus on trunk shows, his direct-to-consumer e-commerce site, and a custom-made business instead. There’s also a Madison Avenue temporary pop-up coming next month.Additionally, Cohen redoubled his efforts around sustainability. An internal audit revealed that he was losing tens of thousands of dollars on fabric that ended up on the cutting-room floor—that’s tens of thousands of dollars per dress style. Now he’s putting those materials to work on those party pants and a matching slip dress, as well as on contrast linings that elevate his tailoring and as fabric-covered stone appliqués on an evening dress. He also pointed out that all of the solid-colored pieces in the collection are made from deadstock supplies.“In March 2020 we had about 90 rolls of fabric leftover, and I think we’re down to less than 15 at this point,” he said. “We keep finding new opportunities to take our waste and make it purposeful.” Cohen is a small business; what if large global companies followed suit?His other news for fall revolves around silhouette and print. There’s an easy-chic new pajama set and a playful new photo print of dahlias. Fun fact: Cohen and photographer Spencer Ostrander used hand sanitizer, of all things, to accentuate the dahlias’ reflections. Now that’s resourceful.
11 April 2022
Jonathan Cohen’s business and aesthetic both underwent significant change in 2020. He’s showing and delivering his collections at his own pace now, even if it breaks from the rhythm of the fashion calendar; he’s also doing more trunk shows around the U.S. to understand exactly what his customer wants. Design-wise, his fall 2021 collection shown in May marked a sharp pivot away from raw textures and handwork to pretty, exuberant prints (most of them hand-painted by Cohen) and cleaner, more straightforward silhouettes.Spring 2022, which includes a few looks that are available immediately, continues that evolution. Photographing the clothes against a stark white background emphasizes their sleeker lines and no-fuss appeal: drapey T-shirt dresses in ditsy-print jersey, A-line frocks in rich wildflower jacquard, shirtdresses in a graphic houndstooth motif that reveal bees and honeycombs on closer inspection. Cohen and his business partner Sarah Leff echo what other designers have reported this season: Their customer wants to go out, wear some color, and feel fantastic; it’s really as simple as that. Some of those women might be holding out for his early signatures to return, like the raw-edged slash skirts and midi-dresses with tie closures, but spring wasn’t lacking for experimentation or quirk. A sculptural miniskirt was dotted with fabric-covered stones made with leftover scraps from his studio floor, and if you zoom in, you can make out tiny hidden ladybugs and caterpillars in the wildflower print. Cohen’s customer may be feeling for classic silhouettes, but she still expects a touch of humor.
3 November 2021
Some designers say the pandemic hasn’t really affected how they work or what they choose to make. But Jonathan Cohen spent the past year retooling almost everything about his business: He built out his e-commerce site, adding ready-to-wear alongside his upcycled “Studio” pieces for the first time; he shifted much of his production to Italy, where he’s found better craftsmanship and managed to trim costs (since his fabrics are sourced nearby, he’s spending less on international shipping); and moving forward, he’ll release new collections when it makes sense, not when the fashion calendar dictates it. Fall 2021 is debuting months after the season began, but customers will be delighted to see that several looks are already available online.Sarah Leff, the label’s cofounder and CEO, put it bluntly: “We’re doing what’s best for our business.” It’s sage advice for any independent or upstart brand. The ones that made it through 2020 knew (or quickly learned) the pitfalls of relying on a broken system and the merits of writing your own rules.All of those changes came with a pivot in Cohen’s aesthetic. While texture and craft were often the highlights of his past collections—the fraying knits, the ribbon-trimmed dresses, the patchworked coats—he leaned into prints this season, noting they’re easier to understand on Zoom. The same is true of his simpler, leaner silhouettes, like a crisp shirtdress and a body-conscious T-shirt dress in glossy recycled polyester. Both still had a touch of the designer’s hand: The recycled number was ruched up at the hip, while the shirtdress had deep godets in the skirt for volume and movement. Cohen said he was going for “joyful ease”: dresses that are as exciting to wear as they are comfortable.Cohen sourced a few of his fabrics from Carolina Herrera’s stockroom, including a cornflower striped cotton (seen on a ladylike, Herrera-esque nipped-waist dress) and a dark-rinse denim, which he cut into a suit and painted with giant magnolias. “Responsible” was how he described the textile assortment; in addition to those leftover materials, he cut strips of past-season florals and plaids into a smocked off-the-shoulder midi-dress, and continues to upcycle leftover fabric in his face masks.That smocked dress might speak to fans of Cohen’s more artful, tactile work, ditto the long-sleeve minis with smocked collars and cuffs.
If those women are missing his raw-edged tie dresses and floral embroideries, it’s fair to assume those details will return in the coming seasons. But Cohen also seems to understand that many women are craving a more pared-back look for their “post-pandemic” lives—clothes with less fuss, less volume, less styling. For some, that could still mean a legging—Cohen made a few pairs in floral recycled poly—while others will go for his opening number, a bouquet-printed chiffon dress with a removable sash. Those who loved the amethyst coat he made for Dr. Jill Biden will also be happy to see it was recut here, this time in a dry, nubby gray plaid you could wear over jeans or a cocktail dress.
10 May 2021
Jonathan Cohen has become so known for his hand-drawn prints and custom jacquards that many of his fans can recall the exact season a fabric was introduced. Some of his textiles are so beloved, in fact, that Cohen has been re-cutting his deadstock supply into one-off and limited-edition pieces through his new project, the Studio, with the added bonus of zero waste. A few Studio pieces were styled with his fall 2020 collection today, like a coat patchworked from dozens of leftover fabric scraps and a trench spliced with an abstract silk print from spring 2018. We’ve seen those materials before, but they hardly seemed old, and the streetwise proportions felt like new territory for Cohen.As always, there were beautiful new prints and textiles for JC fans to collect—the glossy rose jacquard of a midi-dress, the jewel-toned velvet of a floral column—but the bigger story was Cohen’s study of “gestural” draping. The show opened with a charcoal cocktail dress hand-folded at the hip with a dramatic bustle. A few tunic-length evening tops had similar twists at the side, but came in a sleek Econyl, a recycled nylon made from old fishing nets. The eco-minded material reappeared throughout the collection, including as a Swarovski-bedazzled LBD and the cobalt finale gown, but the tech-y handfeel was a departure from Cohen’s usual silks and raw edges. Upcycling and craft feel like more natural developments in his sustainability journey.Dresses are Cohen’s thing, of course, so the evolution of his tailoring was more compelling; he was excited about the puffed-sleeve blazers and flared trousers, particularly a set in gray flannel with scattered roses. Suits are everywhere this week, and the impulse for most designers is to make them clean and masculine; as the season goes on, Cohen’s will stand out for their feminine curves.
9 February 2020
Jonathan Cohen is a designer known for pretty dresses, not politics. However, it was impossible to miss the statement he made in his opening look: a shirtdress embroidered like the American flag, except craftier and a lot more vibrant, with rainbow stripes and fraying edges. He said it was hand-stitched by women in Mexico City, where his family is originally from, and he was happy to share that the model was Mexican, too. Growing up in San Diego, Cohen doesn’t remember there being a “border” between the U.S. and Tijuana; it was all “a beautiful blur of colors and cultures.” That dress represented his own identity and the idea that we’re all better together. (Later in the evening,Prabal Gurungcontinued the conversation with a 10th-anniversary collection titled, “Who Gets to be American?”)A Mexican serape blanket that looked nearly identical to that dress was Cohen’s inspiration, and it became the jumping-off point for everything else. Memories of his childhood in California and Mexico City informed the prints, withDía de Muertosskulls mingling with surfboards and many of the looks styled with crystal-bedazzled Teva sandals, including some of his fanciest gowns. (Does it get more SoCal than that?) Cohen is known almost exclusively as a dressmaker, but what stood out more than his familiar scarf-tied frocks and A-line minis was a single slinky, sky-blue jacquard suit. His eye for gorgeous fabrics translates nicely to tailoring, and in what will no doubt be a big season of tailoring, this one felt distinctly feminine; there was nothing “menswear-inspired” about its design. It would have been great to see Cohen go more boldly in that direction, or even to introduce separates. Here’s hoping it’s a sign of what’s to come.
8 September 2019
Jonathan Cohen picked up a runner-up prize in the 2018 CFDA/VogueFashion Fund, and the question he was asked most throughout the program—by judges, interviewers, and inquiring minds—was simply, “Why are you a designer?” It got him thinking about his childhood trips to Mexico City with his family, where he frequented the local markets and was surrounded by gorgeous colors, textiles, and crafts. “That’s really what shaped me,” he said.So when he was back in Mexico a few months ago, he purchased an armful of vibrant traditional rugs and brought them back to New York. Here’s where his singular process comes in: He cut up and deconstructed them, then arranged the tiny scraps into flower patterns, which he then transferred to a digital printed silk. It appeared in the opening look, a silk tuxedo jacket and midi dress, but looked particularly good on a long, flowing patchwork gown (there were panels of striped jacquard and a grid print Cohen also designed with the rugs) topped with a baby pink hand-knit cardigan. Another wrap dress had a miniature version of the flower print, and he translated it as an embroidery motif on his signature poplin “slash skirts.”In general, it’s those more relaxed dresses and knits that will end up in the closets of stylish, influential women. Cohen got his start making evening gowns and party dresses, and his longer, ribbon-striped gowns—one in ivory, one in black—had awards season potential. But it was a bit harder to picture where a young woman might wear the flippy, structured cocktail dresses, though the embellishments on a long-sleeved floral-and-striped number were stunning; zoom in, and you’ll notice they’re actually 3-D.
8 February 2019
Jonathan Cohen is in his seventh year of business, but tonight marked his first official New York Fashion Week event. The time was right, given his placement in this year’s CFDA/VogueFashion Fund, and the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd was a testament to his growing band of followers. It’s always a good sign when “real” women wear a designer’s clothes to his or her show, but it’s even better when they look totally natural about it, as if they didn’t even plan it. Lean dresses in bold, usually botanical prints are Cohen’s specialty, often with raw edges or generous sleeves, so you can wear them with boots, flats, or stilettos and never look overwrought.Spring 2019 had more of those winning dresses, like a structured mini in rainbow tweed; a silk shirtdress made from panels of stripes, florals, and polka dots; and voluminous, couture-ish A-line tank styles. Backstage before his mini-show, Cohen said music was his starting point—namely the work of Lauryn Hill, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, and Kate Bush. There were hints of each artist here and there—the stripes were Siouxsie, the Hawaiian shirts were reminiscent of The Cure’s Robert Smith—but in a broader sense, Cohen was thinking about how stringing notes and lyrics together is a lot like designing a collection. So he took a song from each artist, wrote out the sheet music, then replaced the notes with tiny hand-painted roses. The charming results turned up on a tiered cotton midi skirt.Another print with blown-up daisies and falling petals was cleverly named the “Love Me, Love Me Not” print, a nod to romance songs and love poems. On Cohen’s signature raw-edge slash skirt, the daisies were block-printed in India, courtesy of a women’s organization; handwork is a key ingredient in all his collections—often it’s hand-embroidery, hand-quilting, or hand-beading—but this old-school, un-fancy technique was a first. Cohen also enlisted a women’s embroidery cooperative in Mexico, where his family is from; they chain-stitched the facade of his Bowery studio on a cotton button-down and scattered red petals on a matching skirt. Each piece will be “signed” by the woman who made it; Maria was responsible for the shirt in today’s show.Another departure for Cohen was the group of fancier, red carpet–ready gowns, likely a result of his recent celebrity endorsements. Greta Gerwig has worn his dresses several times, most notably Fall 2018’s sable and lamé column at the BAFTAs in February.
She’ll have her pick for upcoming events, between the billowing saffron gown covered in silk petals and Swarovski crystals; a voluminous jacquard tank dress with a thick ruffle at the hem; and a multi-print scarf dress, which had the look of dozens of silk strips knotted at the center. On a different note, the long and loose ivory gown with tonal embroidery was stunning, too, and would be an understated choice for brides-to-be.
7 September 2018
New York’s Fall 2018 shows have barely begun, but we’ll go ahead and declare it: Jonathan Cohen has designed some of the best dresses of the week. The designer launched his eponymous line with a handful of cocktail frocks in 2011, and in the seven years since, he’s experimented with suiting, daywear, and even athleisure. But the dress is his bread and butter. Each season, Cohen reinterprets his “champions”—i.e., the drop-waist Sarah, which comes in a blue floral this season, or the pleated Slash dress—but also introduces brand-new styles that mirror the nuances of how women want to look right now. A puff-sleeved wrap dress was charming, for instance—wear it with sneakers or heels!—while a long-sleeved, pajama-ish dress had a languid drape. Both were pretty but not precious, ditto the new body-skimming evening gowns, which had serious Oscars potential.Cohen’s thoughtful silhouettes are upstaged only by his dedication to super-special fabrics and finishes. The Sarah dress came with allover quilting, which required subtle padding behind the silk and hundreds of red contrast stitches. The technique lent a bit of soft structure to the dress, plus some texture and dimension. At the shoot, Cohen styled it over a hand-knitted sweater to play up its day-to-night versatility. As for his signature floral prints, nearly all of them were created in Cohen’s studio with dried flowers scattered across the table or arranged in “bouquets,” then translated to silk or fil coupe. A floor-length ’40s-ish gown with clusters of wildflowers and anemones was, in a word, lovely. So was the black sable column with shimmering blue lamé petals, which should appeal to the less-print-inclined woman.The designer said his inspiration for all of it wasGrey Gardens, specifically, how living in the house made the Ediths’ imaginations go wild. “Their clothing played such an important role, and it helped them escape their troubles,” he said. Women today might feel a similar anxiety; in the face of the endlessly disastrous Republican administration and women’s rights violations in Hollywood and beyond, Cohen’s clothes are reliably beautiful and mood-lifting. He pointed out the raw edges on a ruby silk dress and the mismatched ribbons on a hand-knit cardigan: “I imagined [the women in the film] switching the buttons and ties on their clothes, and putting little touches on each garment,” he explained.
His black three-button blazer will come with just one striped button, and its placement will vary on each jacket, “so each one feels personal.” It’s those special details that feel right for now, and will no doubt earn Cohen a bevy of new shoppers.
6 February 2018
A big takeaway from the July couture shows was the almost-shocking amount of daywear. If the most haute houses in the world are loosening up, you know it’s more than a passing trend. Blame it on athleisure, or maybe it’s just our increasingly busy lives, but there’s dwindling demand for ultra-fancy stuff. Jonathan Cohen is leaning more casual, too; he launched his label with a tight edit of hand-drawn printed cocktail dresses in 2011, but in recent seasons, he’s noticed his customers want to look a little less precious. So he’s experimenting with freer, more conceptual prints and unfussy pieces that work for day and night.For Spring ’18, his muse was the abstract expressionist painter Lee Krasner, one of the few female artists to have a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. She also happened to be married to Jackson Pollock. Who do you think got more glory? Even if Krasner will never have quite the household recognition of her husband, her work greatly influenced his, and vice versa. Cohen’s mood board was covered in snapshots of her wild, colorful paintings, which he reinterpreted as a vibrant print for his classic flared A-line dress. His other prints were smaller and less splashy: a citron dress covered in black squiggly flowers, a quilted jacket in a print that mimicked hundreds of scraps of fabric.Krasner herself might have liked Cohen’s white poplin cocktail separates; a photo of her in a shirtdress was tacked to his board as well. She had simple, classic tastes, but a bit of an eccentric streak, too. Cohen says his woman is similarly “elegant yet subversive.” Those modern-day Krasner types will appreciate the raw edges and ribbon ties on his new Victorian dresses, jackets, and lean trousers, too; they had more of a free-spirited, undone attitude than what he’s shown in the past.
15 September 2017