Jason Bolden Talks JCPenney Collaboration And the Hollywood Strikes
The fashion stylist is teaming with the retailer to create a men's and women's collection for the fall season.
Jason Bolden is bringing his styling expertise to JCPenney with a new partnership.
The celebrity fashion stylist is teaming with the retailer to help create two collections for the upcoming fall season. The collections are for JCPenney's private label brands: a men's collection under J.Ferrar and a women's line under Worthington.
“For me, [fashion] is what I grew up on,” said Bolden, who works with celebrities like Cynthia Erivo, Michael B. Jordan and Vanessa Hudgens. “This was my magic north star growing up, shopping with my parents and my grandmother and JCPenney was my go-to. It was my first experience with fashion. It was my first experience with trends.”
Bolden's J.Ferrar men's collection offers 20 styles across shirts, trousers, suiting and other categories, while the Worthington women's collection includes 26 styles such as knitwear, outerwear and separates. The J.Ferrar collection ranges in price from $44 to $169 and the Worthington line ranges in price from $44 to $199. Both collections offer inclusive sizing and will be available to purchase starting Sept. 7.
“The process was actually super fun,” Bolden said about putting the collections together. “In my business sometimes you get so locked up in the stress of it all that you forget about the fun. But I got to actually really have fun and I got to reimagine what everyday luxury fashion looks like with JCPenney. It really helped in rebooting and re-sparking my love of design and fashion.”
Bolden explained that for the J.Ferrar collection, he wanted to create a collection that gave a nod to traditional menswear and named men's style icons like Sidney Poitier and James Dean as sources of inspiration. The stylist noted his favorite piece in the men's collection is an oversize blue suit.
For the Worthington collection, Bolden leveraged his experience working with female clients to create a lineup that focused on ease and fit. He described the collection as “super cool, super fresh and super easy,” noting it offers staples that can work for a range of occasions. He highlighted the collection's cropped cardigan as one of his favorite styles.
“Strategic partnerships are crucial to our vision to deliver accessible, fresh and relevant fashion to our customers,” said Michelle Wlazlo, the chief merchandising officer at JCPenney. “We're proud to have partnered with several talented people over the years, but this is our first stylist collaboration. Many people don't have access to luxury fashion because it's too expensive or doesn't come in their size, but we're making everyday luxury available for every size, shape and body, all at an affordable price.”
Bolden's partnership with JCPenney comes at an uncertain time for many stylists as the ongoing Hollywood strikes have meant no red carpets and minimal public appearances for actors and actresses.
The stylist, however, explained he's in a fortunate position where he's not too affected by the strikes as he has a diversified portfolio of clients that includes musicians and athletes in addition to actors.
Bolden explained that once a resolution has been made and the red carpets start up again, he thinks stars will be going all out with their looks, playing into the bolder and couture-like trends that have dominated the carpet post-pandemic.
“I just always want to make a massive impact,” Bolden said about his styling strategy. “A fashion profile is very important for me, so with COVID[-19], without COVID[-19], with the strikes, without the strikes — I think it's just always important to create such an impactful, explosive fashion profile. As you can see with my body of work, it's pretty consistent. I like to have fun. I like to blow things out of the water. I like to think outside of the box and a lot of my moments have been super playful, so I'm going to stay consistent.”