Jonathan Cohen’s polished collections often touch on his affinity for music. For spring, the designer was enthralled by Chromesthesia, a type of Synesthesia of experience seeing music and sound as color. No, Cohen doesn’t experience the hypersensation, although he did try to channel it via a sound bath.
“I was reading about one woman who was describing it as a symphony,” Cohen said during a preview of his Saturday morning presentation; his color story and motifs were designed to encapsulate this journey from white hues into a rainbow supernova.
The looks intertwined this idea most directly via abstract pink and blue floral prints, which he called anemones, but also emulated vibrating speaker “splatters.”
Pretty hand-pin-tucked and fluid ladylike dresses, tailoring and a few evening looks were of course present with an eclectic, arty vibe (see his new specialty melting towel-esq ensembles). But overall, the collection nicely balanced an expansion of casualwear that Cohen said subtly nodded to his Southern California roots.
“It’s taking the concept that everyone loves and bringing it more into the daytime, with a more attainable price, too,” he said of the knotted bow details from fall that now accented a white crop top, which looked fresh with low-slung, scrap fabric “exploding anemone” embroidered jeans and Swarovski crystal necklaces slung around the waist. Ditto hand tie-dyed skirts and great boucle knits paired with an embroidered sheer slip skirt or colorful strapless trapunto mini, to name two.
Held at The Center, a historic New York City community center and safe space for LGBTQIA+ youths and young adults, the presentation also kicked off Cohen and cofounder Sarah Leff’s new long-term mentorship partnership with the organization’s Center Works Program. Ahead of the programming, which will roll out in the coming months, guests were invited to make donations in support of its youth group.
