Jean Genie

American denim culture meets Italian craftsmanship in the new Jacob Cohën by Matthew Adams Dolan collection

- By Jack Moss

Having spent three seasons reinvigorating the fashion-focused womenswear line at Jacob Cohën – the Italian luxury denim label founded in 1985 – artistic director and president Jennifer Tommasi Bardelle was insistent on the need for ‘freshness’. ‘Jacob Cohën is a very elegant brand, but it required that kick to move into the fashion world,’ she says. ‘And in order to do this, I needed someone younger than me.’

So Tommasi Bardelle – who began her role after the death of her husband Nicola Bardelle, the son of Jacob Cohën founder Tato Bardelle, in 2012 – asked her team to find ten emerging designers for a then-undefined project. Location or credentials were unimportant; Tommasi Bardelle simply desired a fresh voice that chimed with her own vision for the label. Only one stood out: American designer Matthew Adams Dolan, who rose to prominence with his eponymous New York label before collaborating with Rihanna on her LVMH-backed fashion house Fenty.

‘I knew immediately, without even talking to him,’ says Tommasi Bardelle, ‘just from what I saw in his portfolio, and his personal history. I loved what he had done for his own brand. The shapes were very elegant but contemporary at the same time. This is what I wanted for Jacob Cohën.’