Fashion
February 20 2026
Luxury has always been sold on aspiration. But the brands that endure — the ones that outlast trend cycles and economic headwinds — are the ones that make customers feel something. That’s the thesis Abraham Maslavi has been quietly executing at Jovani for over four decades, and it’s what he and Arthur dig into on this week’s episode of Street
Cass Spencer
Luxury has always been sold on aspiration. But the brands that endure — the ones that outlast trend cycles and economic headwinds — are the ones that make customers feel something. That’s the thesis Abraham Maslavi has been quietly executing at Jovani for over four decades, and it’s what he and Arthur dig into on this week’s episode of Street Talk.
Maslavi is Co-owner, CFO, and Vice President of Jovani Fashions — the New York-based evening and formalwear house his father Jacob founded in 1983, now distributed through more than 2,000 retailers worldwide, including Neiman Marcus and Harrods, with annual retail sales north of $125 million. The brand has dressed Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Miranda Lambert. It’s the official fashion partner of Miss America. In 2024, it launched its first sustainable bridal collection — gowns made from fabrics derived from ocean-bound plastics — at the Empire State Building during NYFW Bridal.
None of that happened by accident.
In this conversation, Maslavi traces Jovani’s evolution from a mother-of-the-bride specialist into a full-spectrum luxury brand — one that stretches from prom to couture, from size 00 to 24, and from Neiman Marcus to TikTok. He’s candid about what that expansion required: a willingness to redefine what accessibility means in a luxury context, an early bet on technology and AI-driven design processes, and an organisational commitment to sustainability before it became an industry talking point.
What emerges is a portrait of a family-owned brand navigating the exact tension that defines modern luxury — the need to be aspirational and inclusive at once. Maslavi’s answer is deceptively simple: the emotional connection comes first. Price point, platform, and product follow.
The conversation also covers AI’s growing role in compressing the design-to-market timeline, how retail partnerships have evolved in the post-wholesale era, and what Jovani’s next chapter looks like as it pushes further into beauty and lifestyle.
Key Takeaways
- Jovani’s evolution from a single-occasion brand to a multi-collection, multi-channel house — and the strategic decisions that drove it
- Why making couture accessible is not a contradiction in terms
- The emotional logic behind Jovani’s retail strategy — and why customer connection drives distribution decisions
- How AI is reshaping design speed without displacing craftsmanship
- Jovani’s sustainability commitment: from ocean-bound plastics in bridal to fabric-first thinking across collections
- What a family-owned brand does differently — and why that matters more now than it did ten years ago
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