Marc Jacobs Collection
NEW YORK, September 10, 2007
At 11 p.m., precisely two hours after his official starting time, Marc Jacobs surprised his audience by running out onto his Stefan Beckman-designed set for a quick bow. Next came the music, Ravel's Boléro, and out filed the models in finale formation. Then here was the first girl (or rather the last, because by now it was clear this extraordinary show was unspooling backward, starting with look 56 and running down to one). She wore a "silly-string guipure gown," her satin under-things peeking out and her heels perched on top of her "too-small pumps." Behind her, an image of the model in nothing but the bra and panties she wore underneath her outfit was projected on two large screens.
Jacobs collaborated with the video artist Charles Atlas to create the film that played simultaneously with the show. They shot the piece Sunday evening, and Atlas spent the whole night in the editing booth finishing it. As for the clothes and accessories, they were just as off-kilter and knock-your-socks-off as the production, with a bonkers surrealist streak. Trompe l'oeil underwear decorated georgette slipdresses, the heels of pumps protruded not from the heel at all but from the ball of the foot, and three-dimensional quilted leather bags were grafted onto square totes. Transparency was a key theme, too: Cashmere sweaters were inset with sheer panels at the waist, and reconstructed black bugle-bead evening dresses came suspended from their nude linings. Gimmicky? You bet. But also fascinating. If you want normal or tame, you're going to have to look on a different runway. Even the suits came with hip-high slits—though, this being Jacobs, the effect was just as often gawky and awkward as it was provocative.So what was it all about? With most of the models in varying stages of dishabille, Jacobs appeared to be saying something conceptual about the process of getting dressed—or getting undressed—but he was typically vague backstage. "It's cartoon versions of all the women I know—conservative types, vamps, everybody," he allowed. From the looks of two number-emblazoned team-jersey T-shirt dresses that appeared on his runway, there are footballers' wives in the designer's inner circle along with all of those rockers and artists. One thing's for certain: He's moved on from last season's bourgeois austerity. This sublime performance was about sex, which is one of the reasons why we couldn't look away.
– Nicole Phelps , style.com
Marc by Marc Jacobs
NEW YORK, September 11, 2007
It's always a challenge to pull out the theme from a Marc by Marc Jacobs show, what with all the layers and the mad piles of accessories. But if you had to peg his collection of shirtdresses, corduroy pantsuits, and color-blocked coats and jackets—much of it decorated in shiny gold buttons and hardware—to something, it could easily be Pan Am stewardesses, by way of Mary Tyler Moore. OK, that's two things. See? Put simply, the show was studiously retro, from the air-hostess hats right down to the two-tone patent-leather loafers.The thing that saved it from seeming like a trip to Screaming Mimi's was the way Jacobs integrated elements of his signature collection, shown the previous evening. Those deconstructed suits and evening dresses with superfluous appendages were translated here into, say, a trench with an extra front panel in a contrasting color, or a jersey-knit dress with one long sleeve and the other not only short but also in a clashing quilted-cotton fabric. All that is not to say there weren't plenty of pieces you could actually see yourself wearing, like an olive cotton-drill shirtdress or a polka-dot dress with voluminous skirts. Then there were the groovy accessories: The Lego belt buckles were a clever idea, but it's the patent lady bags and square clutches that will make the bucks.
– Nicole Phelps , Style.com
