Melissa Mitchell and Jai Lyle, two Florida A&M University graduates, unveiled a new limited-edition collection on Wednesday, bringing together two Black-owned fashion and art brands for the first time.
Melissa A. Mitchell, founder of Abeille Creations, headlined the HBCU Live panel at the U.S. Open, where she officially unveiled the collaboration with her friend and fellow FAMU Rattler, Jai Lyle, founder of JAI LYLE MCMLXXXII.
Both designers built their brands in Atlanta and have crossed paths for years without formally collaborating until now. Abeille Creations was founded in 2014, and JAI LYLE MCMLXXXII was founded in 2020. Both designers are currently represented at Bloomingdale’s.
Building the Collection
The two designers created the Lady in Bloom Tapestry Set, bringing their design languages together while celebrating the heritage of Hankins Park Tennis Club. Mitchell created her own reimagining of Lyle’s Lady in Bloom character through the lens of Abeille Creations, designing the outfit the character wears and incorporating her signature waves into the clothing, along with subtle homages to FAMU’s orange and green and a Rattler pattern woven throughout. Mitchell said it was important that her contribution felt unmistakably like Abeille Creations while still honoring the visual world and story Lyle had already created.
The collection draws from the legacy of Dr. Sylvester Hankins and the Orlando park named in his honor, connecting Black heritage, community, and sport.
The Collection and Where to Find It
The Lady in Bloom Collection is available now, including a short-sleeve tapestry set in salmon priced at $333, available directly on JAI LYLE MCMLXXXII’s site in sizes S through 3XL.
The collaboration marks the first time Mitchell and Lyle have combined their individual creative journeys into a single collection, following years of building their respective brands independently and, more recently, finding themselves in the same rooms.
More About Melissa A. Mitchell
Mitchell is a Miami-born, Bahamian-bred, self-taught artist who has called Atlanta home for nearly 20 years. She founded Abeille Creations in 2014 and has since produced more than 500 original art pieces and 40 large-scale murals, building the brand into a wearable art and design house spanning apparel, home decor, and custom collaborations.
Mitchell’s client list reads like a cross-section of major American brands. She has completed collaborations with Foot Locker, Spanx, Ford, Hennessy, Peloton, Cadillac, Microsoft, Pepsi, CNN, The Home Depot, MARTA and Jack Daniel’s, among others. She is an inaugural member of Hennessy’s Never Stop, Never Settle Society, an Afropunk and Shopify Black Fashion Accelerator alum, and a TED Talk speaker. Her signature textile headwraps, each named for an influential woman in her life, have been worn by Lupita Nyong’o, Tabitha Brown, Amara La Negra, Yandy Smith, Karen Civil and Rebecca Gross. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Vogue, Essence, Black Enterprise, SHEEN Magazine, Rolling Out and The Huffington Post. She is also the author of two books, the coffee table book “Views from My Kaleidoscope” and the interactive “Color & Manifest.”
Most recently, Mitchell completed her largest project to date, the Trefoil Trail mural on Atlanta’s 17th Street Bridge, a nearly 4,000-square-foot public artwork commissioned by the City of Atlanta ahead of the city hosting eight matches of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, including a semifinal, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The mural, unveiled with more than 100 Girl Scouts of Greater Atlanta who helped paint it, features soccer balls and the flags of 48 countries and was completed as part of the city’s Moving Atlanta Forward initiative. Mitchell is a graduate of Florida A&M University, where she also earned a master’s degree in public management, and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.
Follow Melissa A. Mitchell at @abeillecreations on Instagram and shop her full body of work at melissaamitchell.com.
More About Jai Lyle
Jai Lyle is the designer and founder of JAI LYLE MCMLXXXII, an Atlanta-based luxury heritage brand he launched in 2020, rooted in storytelling, family legacy, and refined luxury. The brand’s work spans knitwear, tapestry, eyewear, and silk accessories, with every piece designed to carry a deeper story.
JAI LYLE MCMLXXXII marked its fifth anniversary in 2025 with a runway debut at Atlanta Fashion Week, where the brand presented three signature collections, including Hankins Park, the collection at the center of this new collaboration. Following that debut, the brand was named the newest designer in Atlanta Fashion Week’s retail incubator program in partnership with Bloomingdale’s, giving JAI LYLE a dedicated retail installation inside Bloomingdale’s Lenox Square in Buckhead. Like Mitchell, Lyle is a graduate of Florida A&M University.
Follow JAI LYLE MCMLXXXII at @jailyle on Instagram and shop the full collection at jailyle.com.
