A photo of Henri Matisse’s Joy of Life painting was on Gilles Mendel’s Resort 2019 mood board, hanging (temporarily) on the wall in his elegant Madison Avenue store. Alongside that famous painting were stills of Marlene Dietrich and Anna May Wong in the 1932 film Shanghai Express. Do those references have anything in common? Perhaps not. The Matisse preceded the movie by about 30 years, and where Shanghai Express was shot in black and white, Matisse was known for his supercharged colors. Mendel borrowed from both in his Resort 2019 collection though: A floral-embroidered poncho with extra-long fringe nodded to Wong’s costumes, while pieced-together lace dresses in raspberry, blush, and terra-cotta evoked the intensity of Matisse’s oil paints.
Mendel is known for dresses, and lately, he’s been thinking about how to make them feel more relaxed. Those lace numbers had long, bell-shaped sleeves, and a few other “high day” dresses came in the high-necked, mid-length silhouette women are into right now. But even the fancier tulle gowns had an ease to them: Sara Sampaio wore the tiered blush one to the CFDA Awards on Monday night, and from afar, it shimmered a bit, like the tulle was spliced with Lurex. But upon closer inspection, each tier was actually studded with tiny crystals.
To truly appreciate a J. Mendel gown or coat, of course, you have to feel it. His furs are unmatched, and Resort offered plush, stripe-y capes as well a trenchcoat in wavy-textured broadtail. With patch-worked chocolate, raspberry, and ochre panels of fur, it had a slight ’70s vibe, which is mirrored in a lot of Mendel’s daywear. A flippy mustard minidress recalled the grooviness of the decade, and there was a blush fur pullover cut like a vintage tennis sweater.
