J. Mendel Returns to the Runway Under New Designer Jonathan Cohen

J. Mendel is back on the runway, with its first collection under newly appointed resident designer Jonathan Cohen. The label showed its Spring 2027 collection at the One World Observatory in New York, according to WWD.

A resident designer is the person who leads a label's creative work and designs its collections. Spring 2027 is the spring range, shown well ahead of the season it is named for. Cohen had been scheduled to make his debut with the brand in New York in October, and the show marked that moment.

Cohen said he built the collection in about two months. Its looks are made from strips of bias chiffon, a light, sheer fabric cut on the diagonal so that it drapes and moves with the body. Each strip was cut by hand, draped on the figure and handsewn to the next. The result is loose, fluid silhouettes that depend on the handwork more than on structure.

Immediately after the show, the collection was due to be available at the J. Mendel store for private order appointments. Clients who book one of these meet with staff to order pieces, often made to their measurements, rather than buying off a shop rail.

The house has a long history for a label whose name many readers may not know. J. Mendel traces its roots to imperial Russia in the 1870s. It moved to New York in the 1980s under Gilles Mendel, a fifth-generation member of the founding family.

The business has changed hands several times since. In 2015 the company Stallion Inc. bought a stake in J. Mendel from the investment firm Gores Group. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2018. Designer Dennis Basso then took the business under his own company's umbrella.

For a brand that has passed through several owners, the new appointment is the next chapter. Cohen's first collection is the clearest public sign so far of the direction he will take the label. What it means for the business over the longer term has not yet been set out.