Yahoo Lifestyle Jonathan Cohen Fall 2025: Ladylike Glam, With a Sportif Twist
Picture this: the glamorously dressed Elizabeth Taylor screaming at boxing matches in the ’60s. Turns out, these photographs do exist, and were prevalent on the mood board of Jonathan Cohen’s fall 2025 collection.
“I thought how she looked at the boxing match was amazing,” the designer said, noting that in his research he learned that in 1963, Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) was knocked out after becoming distracted by the ringside, screaming Hollywood starlet.
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“In my head, I came up with this whole story of them meeting and maybe having a night out,” he said of fall’s juxtaposition between the fashionable, ladylike star and the famous athlete.
Throughout the fall collection, designs were inspired by both sides of the rope in artful ways. There were tiny boxing shorts, luxed up in blue velvet or silk satin featuring a smashed gardenia ceramic floral printed (inspired by one of Taylor’s namesake perfumes); sportif striped ladylike dresses, pleated skirts and peplum tops, and knit boxing tanks on the sportiest end of the spectrum. Ditto Cohen’s ultra-fun assortment of matching boxing boots, a part of his larger, ongoing shoe collaboration with Larroudé.
Elsewhere, Taylor’s eyes were woven into a great snow print leopard jacquard topcoat, and her favorite flower turned into embroideries on playful denim layers and a graphic white cotton shirt, or as a 3D floral embroidery on a striking evening look. Throughout the lineup, Cohen melded a strong sense of polish with playfulness, also seen through a lace-inset slashed leather skirt, lady jackets comprised of scrap materials and debut eyewear, designed to resemble singer-songwriter Siouxsie Sioux’s signature strong eyebrow, in partnership with Selima Optique.
“We knew we didn’t want to do our regular presentation format, so we came up with the concept of working with incredible women right in our lives,” Cohen said at his Sunday afternoon presentation, staged as a gallery at Rockefeller Center featuring fall’s campaign imagery, mood board and mannequined looks.
Along the gallery walls, attendees could see a handful of the closest women in Cohen’s and his brand’s life: cofounder Sarah Leff and her mother, Dede Kantorowitz-Leff; Dilone; Sally Singer; Batsheva Hay; Phyllis Kao; Jeauni Cassanova; Kimberly Drew; Marina Larroude; Joanna Gong; Gigi Burris; Mei Zou; Carola Righes; Sophie Conti; Brigitte Conti; Sarah Pidgeon, and his own mother, Elena Kassner.
Launch Gallery: Jonathan Cohen Fall 2025 Ready-to-Wear Collection
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