BACK ON THE SCENE: For the first time in five years, J.Mendel will be advertising in fall fashion magazines. And nearing its 10th anniversary the company has reason to do so, with handbags and e-commerce launching next month. Photographer Daniel Jackson shot the Dutch model Bette Franke for the new campaign, which will break in the September issues of such U.S. publications as Vogue, W, Harper’s Bazaar and Town & Country. Internationally, the ads will run solely in French Vogue. Creative director Gilles Mendel said, “The strong silhouettes, graphic tones and textural complexity of the collection are underscored in Daniel Jackson’s beautiful images.”
The ads were created under the art direction of Trey Laird and stylist Alastair McKimm. The company declined to comment on the media buy, but president and chief operating officer Susan Sokol said, “Our fall advertising campaign signals how serious the company is about growth.”
Mendel’s seize-the-moment mind-set seems to have carried over to his daughter Chloé Breitman-Mendel, who just introduced her Animal Royalty T-shirt line. The budding designer dropped by the shoot to give Franke one of her T-shirts, gunning for her first celebrity endorsement.
