J. Mendel Spring 2016

J. Mendel showed for the second season in Cadillac’s headquarters on Hudson street this season—a rather convenient location for editors and buyers jetting over post-show from Ralph Lauren. “It’s a great partnership,” said Gilles Mendel backstage. “We’ve been very fortunate to work with Cadillac and there new headquarters are in a location that is amazing for us because our time slot is between two major shows so collaborating with them has been really a dream. It’s great to be able to partner with such a prestigious brand.” The stark concrete environs of the building also played well to the clothing this season, which were influenced by Japanese patterns.

“I came back from a trip to Japan and I was inspired by traditional fabrics from Japan and also the wood block prints,” said Gilles. “I translated that into the prints on the clothes. I wanted to work on finding the right balance between being very rigorous and very precise and femininity. The lines are very precise but the clothes are still flowy. I did micro pleating on the dresses where the pleats are very rigorous, but those pleats will start to open up throughout the evening as you wear it and they’ll open up like petals.” Indeed the prints were geometric in that very precise Japanese way and skirts even had a sort of origami-like feel on some of the mini dresses.

There were some beautiful ombre ruffle dress in pale yellow and grey as well, but the pleated pieces were the standouts of the show. They were also a favorite of Mendel’s. His favorite look? I love the ombre chevron dress in jade and black,” said Mendel. “It really showed off the pleating and then the delicate aspect of this incredible traditional Japanese print.” We do agree and we expect to see it in editorials and red carpets alike.