At the Mexico City premiere of Black 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.
