The King (or Queen) of the Catwalk Blessed My Brand - And My Life
A love letter to J. Alexander, known to the world as Miss J
A personal tribute to J. Alexander - Miss J - the iconic runway coach from America's Next Top Model, and his extraordinary friendship with Melissa Meister, founder of SEYMOURE.
A few days ago, my Instagram feed stopped me in my tracks. Miss J - post after post, story after story - our friend Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel, all very reminiscent of America's Next Top Model. I messaged Jay immediately: You went on TV? Can I see the link? I'm seeing you everywhere. Very cool. Crickets. Because if you know Miss J, you already know - darling, figure it out yourself. So, I did. What I found was how had “come out” which moved me to write this true story.
The world is only just now learning that J. Alexander - Miss J, the King (or Queen) of the Catwalk, the iconic runway coach from America's Next Top Model - suffered a stroke in December of 2022. He was found alone in his West Village apartment by his niece. He spent over a year in the hospital and is now home with part-time care, fighting his way back. Fighting to speak. Fighting to move. Fighting to walk again.
This is why it is so exciting to see him on social media, in clips with his peers, looking fabulous and exuding his trademark fierceness on TV.
The irony is not lost on anyone who knows him. This is the man who taught America how to walk - who taught Tyra Banks how to walk. For a time, he could not walk at all.
This is not a story about loss. This is a story about love, about loyalty, and about what happens when someone famous turns out to be genuinely, beautifully, unexpectedly good.
How It Began - A Hand Traced in Los Angeles
It was July of 2021. We were just crawling out of COVID. I was in Los Angeles, in my home off Melrose, when I received a message from a SEYMOURE team member - Jay Alexander was a lover of gloves, and in Los Angeles, and he wanted a pair from SEYMOURE.
I have to tell you what this meant to me. Growing up as a young woman who originally dreamed of becoming a model, I watched America's Next Top Model religiously. Miss J was everything. From way over the top to effortlessly cool, there is no single way to describe Miss J's style. He dresses chic. He dresses feminine. He dresses fabulously. He dresses like he's ready for a runway show. He knew who he was very early on, and his aesthetic is unprecedented - unlike anyone any of us know.
To receive the message that Miss J wanted SEYMOURE gloves was simply - of course. Anything that he wants.
Here is what actually happened. Miss J didn't just place an order. He came to my house off Melrose in Los Angeles. He came by himself - no handlers, no assistance, no entourage. Just Jay. He sat with me and my son Arrow, looked at the SEYMOURE collection, and decided he wanted custom gloves. So I did what you do - I traced his hand and took his measurements. The King (or Queen) of the Catwalk and the founder of SEYMOURE, sitting together, creating a pattern like two artists in a studio. It was easy, funny, and of course he and Arrow hit it off immediately.
We parted and I got to work on his bespoke SEYMOURE gloves.
The Nordstrom Aisle
November 2021. SEYMOURE had just been offered an exciting opportunity - our first fall pop-up event at Nordstrom NYC. We had launched a small spring collection with them earlier that year, but this was our first in-store event. A model to showcase the product. A table. Some gloves. A view of 57th Street. A big day for the brand.
Then Miss J decided to come by the SEYMOURE Nordstrom pop-up.
What this did for the attention of my brand was unexpected and big. I get chills just thinking about it.
He walked in wearing his custom SEYMOURE runway gloves. He said hello, looked around, and without missing a beat he owned the room. He walked the floor like the King (or Queen) of the Catwalk he is - piercing eyes, strong turns, that gliding walk that has stopped rooms for decades. Once was apparently not enough, as he performed a second run alongside Kelly, the model. A dual walk executed purely for SEYMOURE. Back and forth they went.
Eyes were on SEYMOURE. Eyes were on him. Eyes were on SEYMOURE. Eyes were on him. Eyes were on SEYMOURE.
If you love fashion and you were in that store, it was thrilling. He didn't owe me anything. He came because he saw the beauty in the gloves, the passion behind the brand, the artistry, the connection. Without anyone asking him to, he elevated SEYMOURE completely.
The Patricia Field x SEYMOURE Launch at NueuHouse
December 8th, 2021. SEYMOURE hosted an intimate dinner at NueuHouse, the private social club in the Flatiron District of Manhattan. We were launching the Patricia Field x SEYMOURE collection - a relationship that had begun when the legendary Patricia Field asked me to produce gloves for Lily Collins for her revolutionary TV show, Emily in Paris. The collaboration went so beautifully that Patricia agreed to host the brand launch for SEYMOURE during NYFW at Soho House. Now we were celebrating the co-created EMILY Glove with 21 of fashion's finest - editors and influential tastemakers from Vanity Fair, People Magazine, and Marie Claire, all of whom understood that Patricia Field does not attach her name to anything less than exceptional.
The evening was special in every way. The napkins read Patricia Field x SEYMOURE. Every guest received a pair an Emily glove and a custom tote bag. The intimate room was curated down to the last detail.
Miss J showed up on time, dressed to the nines, wearing SEYMOURE.
After dinner, when the music lifted just a little, the evening took a turn I will never forget. Miss J rose and took to the floor. Everyone began clapping and cheering - it was like having a front row view at a designer fashion show led by a top runway model. Who decided, nervous as can be, a former model never trained by the King (or Queen) of the Catwalk and with absolutely no business being up there, to join him? Me. Melissa Meister, founder of SEYMOURE, stepping into what I can only call a walk of theater. A walk of dance. Not a dual - you cannot dual Miss J. A moment. A shared moment, in front of some of the most important people in fashion, where Miss J said to the room without saying a word: look at this brand, look at this woman, look at what she is building.
He brought fun. He brought energy. He brought joy. He moved that room for SEYMOURE - and he moved it as a true friend.
LiveRocket Stream Shopping Show
March 2022. I was invited to appear on the LiveRocket Shopping Show alongside influencer Pretty Connected - think Home Shopping Network meets Instagram Live, broadcasting live from downtown New York City. I knew immediately who I wanted beside me. I asked Miss J. Miss J said yes.
Full transparency - Miss J was the entertainment and the reason to tune in. I had been a TV host; I am factual and composed. Miss J is alive.
The show went live and sitting right beside me was Miss J, once again showing up for me and for SEYMOURE. Looking completely cool in his plaid shirt and his custom Patricia Field x SEYMOURE devil-red fingerless gloves, he made the entire night memorable. We had a genuinely great time. Afterward, we went to a wonderful Italian dinner in Southport.
There I was, building a real friendship with someone I had admired for so long - someone I once thought was untouchable, someone I knew only as the King (or Queen) of the Catwalk - who turned out to be a caring, loving person who believes in people, who shows up, who dreams big for others, and who makes dreams come true.
We sat at that table, broke bread, talked, and laughed. He gets every pair of SEYMOURE gloves he asks for. He loves them. He works them. We all win.
Champagne, Oysters and Pearls
SEYMOURE was busy. November 2022 brought the launch of another collection - this time at Champers Social Club on Crosby Street in New York City. It was the debut of SEYMOURE's statement collection: hand adorned, hand embellished, hand studded. Every piece was designed to express elegance, decadence, and beauty. A seamstress from our atelier sewed live hand embroidery on-site. The space was dressed like the Gilded Age - a champagne tower with pearls cascading from it, mirrors with lipstick messages written across them, gloves with crystals catching the light from every direction.
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Every top editor in the city was there. The space was small, intimate, and electric.
At the top of the guest list, of course, was Miss J. He worked the photo booth, shining bright in SEYMOURE's Runway Opera fringe gloves. The King (or Queen) of the Catwalk helped guests get dressed in lavish SEYMOURE statement gloves, styled them, tried on pairs himself, and lit up every corner of that room. There was no room to catwalk that night, but there was certainly room for photo shoot-worthy moves.
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It was New York chic - shoulder to shoulder, champagne in hand, the energy humming with the who's who of the city. Pinch me. Miss J moved that room the way he always does - for SEYMOURE, and by this point, as my genuine friend.
After the event, we went to my all-time favorite, Bar Pitti in the West Village. Of course we did. That is what you do.
It wasn't long after that evening - December of 2022 - that everything changed.
The Hospital
Sometime in December of 2022, Miss J was home alone in his West Village apartment when it happened. He passed out and was not found for quite some time. It was his niece who came and found him unconscious. He had suffered a stroke and was paralyzed on his right side. He remained in a coma for five months.
I didn't learn the full extent of what had happened until early May of 2023. I had been messaging him about a package I sent in February and received no response - so unlike him. I assumed he was busy or perhaps in Paris. It never occurred to me that he had suffered a stroke, fallen into a coma, and was lying paralyzed in a hospital.
We eventually spoke by phone. There were very few words he could manage, but we continued to communicate by text. When I came to New York City in July of 2023, I went to the hospital and signed in at the front desk. Who was I there to see? I said Jay Alexander. The security guard looked up and said, "You mean Miss J?" He let me right up to the fifth floor.
They gave me his room number. I walked through a large open area on the fifth floor. He wasn't in his room. Someone pointed across the space and said he's over there.
I didn't recognize him.
He was in a wheelchair, in a hospital gown, unable to do much of anything. I sat down beside him, rubbed his hand, prayed with him, and simply sat. Even in his early post-stroke condition, he was still in there. Telling jokes. Bragging about the celebrity friends who had come to visit and the special treatment he was receiving. Even in that hospital, he was recognized as royalty - as the King (or Queen) of the Catwalk - and people wanted to help. The room held flowers and gifts from famous friends.
His attitude is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Not one word of self-pity. Not one word of "why me." No anger, no resentment, no self-loathing. Only gratitude - gratitude that his niece had found him, gratitude to be alive, and absolute certainty that he was going to get better.
Hospital Visit Two
About six months later, in November of 2023, I returned to New York City for a second visit at the hospital. Miss J had many more words, though full sentences were still a struggle. There was little to no movement in his hands and no movement in his legs - perhaps a small flicker in one foot. Yet there he was: present, funny, and entirely himself.
I wanted so badly to help and felt helpless, so I connected him with a healer friend of mine from India who was in New York City at that time - Dr. Deep, an Ayurvedic medicine practitioner who works with water memory. Many of you may recall the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto, the Japanese researcher known for his studies on water consciousness and the theory that human thoughts, emotions, and words can physically affect the molecular structure of water. That same principle guided the healing sessions between Miss J and Dr. Deep, which took place both in person and over the phone.
I later received a text from Miss J letting me know that someone at the hospital had thrown away his blessed bottle of water. I share this with good humor, because the intention to heal was absolutely present - and so was the progress. By November of 2023, he was moving his leg. Miracles were happening.
I sent him what he wanted for Christmas. Then I was gone for an entire year - because this was also a goodbye of sorts. I was moving to Bali.
The Return
Summer 2024. I came back to see Miss J at his apartment. He had been discharged from the hospital and was home.
I could not believe the change in him.
I wanted to bring him something fabulous to eat. He wanted Shrimp Lo Mein - I was thinking Mr. Chow, but I brought exactly what he requested. He showed me funny pictures from his bed. He asked me to help rearrange things in his closet and had very specific opinions about where everything should go. Still directing. Still dictating. Still running things. Sense of humor fully intact, not lost for even a moment.
Full sentences. Full stories. Recalling incidents with detail, color, and laughter. Sharing photos. Generating ideas. Telling me about who had come to visit, what had happened, what he was thinking about next. The speech was incredible. The energy was incredible. He was incredible.
I thought about the first time I walked into that hospital room and didn't recognize him - the wheelchair, the gown, the hand I held while I prayed. Now this. This conversation. This laughter. This undeniable, unbreakable, unmistakable Miss J filling the room.
He never lost it. Not in the hospital. Not at Christmas. Not during the year I was gone. Not for a single moment did he lose who he is. He never cried. He never complained. He never threw a shoe. He maintained the full integrity of who he is, and he kept his hope alive every single day. He even sent me a digital holiday card in December of 2024 - which tells you everything you need to know about his appreciation for life.
What I Want You To Know
The last time I saw Miss J in person was July of 2025. I will see him again when I return from Bali. We text from time to time, but he had never shared his story publicly until now.
J. Alexander - Miss J, the King (or Queen) of the Catwalk, runway coach, style icon, and one of the most influential figures in the history of American fashion television - has made an immeasurable contribution to this industry. To every young woman and man who watched America's Next Top Model and found their power. To every designer he believed in. To every person he dressed, coached, pushed, and celebrated into becoming more than they thought they could be - always with humor, always with sharp commentary that somehow only made you laugh. He is an inspiration and a validation: to me, to SEYMOURE, and to anyone who has ever been told their dream is too much.
Yes, this is a story about a style icon and a luxury glove brand. It is a story about SEYMOURE's Runway Opera Gloves, the EMILY Glove, the Patricia Field x SEYMOURE collection, and the fingerless statement gloves that Miss J wore with the kind of conviction that only he possesses. But beneath all of that, this is a story about love and humanity. About not taking a single gift for granted.
The irony of the King (or Queen) of the Catwalk - the one who taught everyone to walk - losing the ability to walk is a reminder of how unpredictable, how serious, and how precious life truly is.
On every level that matters, J. Alexander is still walking. His spirit is still moving. He is still coaching, still creating, still living. That will never change, because it is simply who he is and who he was always meant to be.
He has blessed so many of us with so many extraordinary memories. I am so moved that he has finally come forward to share his experience and to receive the love and support of everyone who adores him.
I just wanted to say thank you. And write this story.
- Melissa Meister, Founder of SEYMOURE
