How Jonathan Cohen Went From Costuming 'Ugly Betty' to Starting His Eponymous Brand

Watch the full conversation between Jonathan Cohen and our Deputy Editor, Ana Colón, on The Fashionista Network.

When you have the opportunity to dress such esteemed public figures as First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and celebrities like Lupita Nyong'o, absolutely nobody can deny your talent. Add being a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund runner-up to the resume, and it's clear that Jonathan Cohen has the chops.

But as he explained to Ana Colón during a live chat on The Fashionista Network (watch it here!), success didn't happen overnight. After graduating from Parsons School of Design, he didn't immediately go into launching his brand — he freelanced for various designers, including Oscar de la Renta, and assisted costume designer Patricia Field on the set of "Ugly Betty." Fast-forward a couple of years, Cohen and his business partner, Sarah Leff, revisited his senior thesis to explore the possibility of turning the project into an actual business.

"[We] felt the market was oversaturated with a lot of black and white — no color, no print," Cohen said. "So we kind of looked at what the collection items were, which is all print at that time as well, and decided that maybe there's an opportunity for us to bring vibrancy into the market. So we rephotographed my thesis and sent it to like 20 people whom we really admired within the industry. We instantly heard back, which we thought, 'This is great. We're just going to now get all these stores,' and little did we know that was not the case. But it did give us the inspiration to really launch." They started with eight printed dresses. "We were just relentless after that and just kept going."

In fashion, perseverance is the name of the game. Despite having slowly built a retail, runway and red-carpet presence over the years, for every "yes," Cohen and Leff still heard 100 "no's."

"It wasn't an overnight thing for us," he explained. "Our collections weren't reviewed on Vogue Runway until five years in business, which was a really big deal for us because it did give us so much exposure. But it was something we had to work really hard towards [...] Sarah and I were very young when we started. So even dealing with your first bad review, I'm like, 'How do you navigate that one?' It's very shocking... the amount of rejection that you face, it can be very challenging."

Sometimes, all you need is one "yes" to lead to a game-changing moment. For Cohen, it was landing the opportunity to participate in the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund in 2018. Since then, he has experienced a number of career milestones, such as dressing the First Lady for the 2021 Presidential Inauguration.

Today, Cohen's customers can't get enough of his florals. Surprisingly, when starting the brand, the designer tried to stay away from the motif. However, after creating his own interpretation of florals one season, there was no going back. Perhaps what makes Cohen's florals groundbreaking (even beyond spring) is that he physically designs all of his prints.

"We're not buying them from mills, I do all the artwork," he said. "I think that's why people and our customers have that kind of personal reaction to them, because no one has these. They come from me."

Cohen has also been a big advocate for incorporating sustainable practices into his business, from teaching himself how to sketch on Procreate to reduce paper waste to upcycling and reworking pieces made of fabric remnants.

Above all, Cohen feels his success has been rooted in one key thing: an unwavering brand identity. He advises all aspiring designers to know who they are and always stick with it.

"I actually think it's important not to follow trends and just to stay true to your course," he said. "Trends will come and go, but if you don't have a strong identity... that's what will disseminate your brand. I think it's really important to stick to what you do."

This conversation was hosted on The Fashionista Network powered by interactive media platform Fireside, where viewers get the chance to participate and speak directly with industry figures. Learn more about The Fashionista Network here. 

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