Marc Jacobs jumpstarts NYFW with 40th-anniversary collection

Not many New York designers (or anywhere) are still around and working to celebrate 40 years at the brands they founded.

Notable exceptions are Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Anna Sui, and, of course, Marc Jacobs, who at 60 is the youngest in the line-up. On Friday, a week before the official start of New York Fashion Week, Jacobs showed his latest collection, marking the brand’s 40th anniversary. Rather than throw a big splashy affair, the designer kept the outing subdued and focused squarely on the clothes themselves; a rather refreshing take, compared to mega fashion shows of late with crazy amounts of celebrities, influencers, complex sets and installations, and even far-flung locations all tailored to satiate today’s digital appetite.
 
While plenty of that has existed in the past at a Marc Jacobs show (including his Louis Vuitton-era shows), today, he seems to have transcended the need for accolades and paparazzi frenzy. The vast space of the Park Avenue Armory—a favorite of the designer’s along with the Lexington Avenue National Guard Armory—was set up with two single rows of chairs for the guests—that included the stunning larger-than-life Debbie Harry—for a staging he has used in previous shows, but this one played with a theme of the show: proportion.
 
At the top of the runway was a classic design folding card table and four chairs, a 2006 artwork by Robert Therrien called ‘No Title (Folding Table and Chairs, Beige)’, which was supersized to accommodate approximately a 30-foot person. However banal and efficient the game table design is, it took on a new interest in the large dimensions.
 
In the notes for the show entitled ‘Wonder’, Jacobs offered a glimpse of his collection inspiration in the following passage.

“My love for the commonplace is a constant and meaningful lifelong affair. Through the unavoidable lens of time, my glass remains full of wonder and reflection. By examining the memorable and the mundane, we abstract and exaggerate with a disorienting familiarity in our desire to express something naïve and elegant,” said Jacobs.

 
As the first look appeared, an oversized fifties-era pencil skirt paired with a boxy take on a fitted bodice top, the artwork helped to punctuate enormous silhouettes. Gargantuan to the point that the clothes seem to rest off the body rather than on. It was an effect some guests likened to paper dolls, whose ready-made looks expressed a similar appearance; they never quite looked as natural as the permanent undergarments the flat cut-out dolls bore.
 
The genius of overgrowing these clothes, which could use memorable, elegant, mundane, and naïve descriptors, was indeed abstracted and exaggerated. A pair of dress shorts was pinned both front and back to stay on, a tweed jacket protruded off the back with lapels jutting off in the front, shoulder seam stitching created a vertical seam, Mary Jane pumps, plastic combat boots were misshapen and caricatured while lace-up oxford-style shoes flopped in front being many sizes too big and handbags big enough for small children to hide in easily.

The clothes weren’t simply too big; they didn’t fit the body proportionately to the figure but somehow looked size appropriate. Little blazers and shrunken hoodies balanced out exaggerated bottoms such as skirts and track pants. Another tracksuit style riffed on terry cloth sports shorts in the form of panties that sat away from the leg rather than cupped it. Other proportion plays included sleeves that jutted forward from narrow shoulders, giving the look of limp arms, or in contrast, a few styles appeared both shrunken and jumbo, such as a black mini dress with big buttons or an exaggerated bustier dress that skimmed one model’s bottom.
 

Great covetable chunky knit sweaters, a structured pea coat, a trompe l’oeil black bikini on a cream knit shell with smart Bermuda shorts, a bralette and skirt, and mirrored gowns each had the look of commercial success. Exquisiteness was witnessed in a sheer pale white flesh tone that was bejeweled with a bevy of multi-colored gemstones.
 
The hair was whipped up like cotton candy in massive retro-teased hairstyles ( apropos in light of the hairstyles on the buzzy ‘Feud: Capote Vs.The Swans’) to balance out the look. In a way, the oversized collection flipped the notion of being ‘Instagram-able’ as these looks probably shine better IRL. It cemented the fashion moment feeling of it all, which seemed to purposely border on the absurd. Perhaps that thought crossed Jacobs’ mind. Maybe this faux, almost cartoon idea of who we are was examined through Jacobs’s gigantic-sized collection.
 
The world is pretty absurd right now; glimpses of that absurdity were just outside the Armory, where PETA showed up once again to protest the low-key show from the designer (never primarily known for furs, FYI) and another protest outside of the Americas Society/Council of the Americas, aka AS/COA, on Park Avenue was forming. Right now, who couldn’t use this escape into the ludicrous fantasy of fashion?