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  • ddohnggo
    Senior Member
    • Oct 2006
    • 4477

    NY Times: Marc Jacobs



    Loving and Hating Marc Jacobs




    "Despite whatever rumors you may have heard, I'm not out of my mind."







    METAMORPHOSIS For 20 years, Marc Jacobs says: ?I was
    appalled by the way I looked. The big glasses, the greasy long hair,
    the oversized clothes.? From left to right: Marc Jacobs in 2001, 2002,
    2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006.









    Suzy Menkes, in The International Herald Tribune, said, ?The entire event was a parody of fashion now.?




    And Women?s Wear Daily noted, ?There were those who accepted it with stoicism and those who thought the designer was obnoxious.?




    Had
    the critics been speaking strictly about his clothes, and not also
    reacting to the two-hour delay of his fashion show in September, Marc
    Jacobs might not still be asking, as he did outside the Mercer Hotel in
    SoHo two months later, ?Why are people so bitter and jealous and being
    so horrible to me??




    Had no one accused him of being remorseless
    for that delay, or mocked him for other perceived sins against fashion,
    he might not feel as if he is experiencing a personal backlash, just
    when he is producing some of the most thrilling collections of his
    career.




    The litany of personal attacks aimed at Mr. Jacobs is
    head-spinning. The tabloids accuse him of narcissism for shedding his
    pudgy, asexual image for a deep tan and a gym body (which he showed off
    by appearing half-naked in several magazines). Gossips charge him with
    the ultimate star indulgence: plastic surgery. He is chided because his
    boyfriend, whom Mr. Jacobs places front and center at his fashion
    shows, has a dodgy past. Bloggers compare his brand to Starbucks
    because he opened a third store on Bleecker Street in the West Village,
    which has contributed to driving up rents and changing the
    neighborhood.




    Page Six even issued a vendetta against him
    because he confirmed to Women?s Wear Daily that he was in rehab this
    spring before he told The Post.




    His sanity was questioned because he stuck his tongue out at a fashion show.





    ?I?m starting to get very paranoid as to why it feels like so many
    people are against me, personally, at this point,? Mr. Jacobs said.
    ?Despite whatever rumors you may have heard, I?m not out of my mind.?




    On
    the other hand, had none of this happened ? if people hadn?t reacted in
    the way that they did ? he wouldn?t be having the time of his life.




    For
    the last two years, beginning with his fall 2005 neo-grunge collection
    of voluminous clownlike smocks, no designer has generated more
    controversy by the mere act of a fashion show. Nor has a designer
    seemed more vital to the perception of what is American fashion now.
    The vividly emotional reactions to his shows ? the love it or hate it
    debates they have inspired ? seem to have heightened Mr. Jacobs?s
    appetite to create, and court, more controversy, as if he is sticking
    his finger in the eye of fashion.




    But what is most captivating
    about his recent collections is that they are informed by all of the
    above. Mr. Jacobs is drawing from his own tabloid existence in creating
    clothes, as he did with his spring collection with underwear hanging
    out of undone dresses, that reflect the disjointedness and randomness
    of the contemporary culture of celebrity worship. He has held up a
    mirror to the styles of the Olsen twins, Victoria Beckham, Britney Spears
    and Lindsay Lohan in rehab, as they are displayed candidly in the pages
    of Us Weekly or Star, as women he views, in their imperfect ways, as
    modern. He also talks openly of allowing himself to be influenced by
    the work of designers and artists whom he admires.




    Controversial, to say the least.




    ?The
    difference between a good designer and a real designer is to be in tune
    to what is there in the moment and define it before anyone else,? said
    Fabien Baron, the art director, who has observed Mr. Jacobs since the
    beginning of his career. ?It is really a rare thing to see. He puts his
    soul and his entire self into creating these shows.?




    The
    metamorphosis of Marc Jacobs, however, seems to be the work of a
    brilliant performance artist making a literal spectacle of himself. Six
    years ago, the city was plastered with billboards and advertisements
    zooming by atop taxis that declared ?Girls love Marc Jacobs? and ?Boys
    love Marc Jacobs,? slogans coined by Barneys New York. It was at a
    moment when Barneys, the Council of Fashion Designers of America
    and seemingly every fashion publication extant had jointly anointed Mr.
    Jacobs, after 15 years of struggling, as the paramount figure in
    American fashion.




    Yet as his company, with an infusion of
    financial support from LVMH, was slowly becoming successful, Mr.
    Jacobs, as a personality, was becoming more reserved, awkward and, like
    his signature ballet-slipper designs, kind of mousy.




    The
    explanation, he said, was that he was suffering from extreme
    insecurities, resulting from his longtime struggle with sobriety, and
    the onset around that time of severe, sometimes crippling intestinal
    pains, which he would later find out were a result of ulcerative
    colitis. He was miserable, and it showed.




    ?For 20 years, I
    wouldn?t even look in the mirror,? Mr. Jacobs said. ?I was appalled by
    the way I looked. The big glasses, the greasy long hair, the oversized
    clothes, the math professor sweater ? all of that wasn?t composed
    because I loved the way I looked.?







    (Page 2 of 2)




    Now Mr.
    Jacobs, at 44, looks quite different, and younger, with his gym-toned
    body, clear skin and diamond studs from Harry Winston in his ears. His
    arms are lined with tattoos of cartoon characters, including a gleeful
    SpongeBob SquarePants and, on his right wrist, the word ?PERFECT.?
    Three weeks ago, he dyed his hair a shade of blue so electrifying that
    it has been described, from the online peanut gallery, as indigo,
    cerulean or Smurf.







    More and more, there seems to be an
    important correlation between Mr. Jacobs?s physical appearance and his
    work, as he has pushed harder in recent seasons to create collections
    that reflect the pace of contemporary culture in ways that are extreme,
    exposed and cartoonish.




    ?Ever since that fall collection, the one
    everyone flipped out about, I felt more like I love fashion, and that?s
    why I?m doing this,? he said. ?The more people responded, the more I
    got into it.?




    When he was 20 pounds heavier, the clothes were
    more discreet and ladylike, almost a version of classic Chanel. Now,
    for spring, they include glimpses of underthings showing through sheer
    panels of dresses and skirts (at the same time Mr. Jacobs is posing
    naked for the covers of Out and Arena Hommes Plus) and oblique
    references to the phenomenon of reality television shows like that of
    Ms. Beckham, which are partly scripted (at the same time he made a
    cameo appearance on ?The Hills,? the MTV reality show centered on a Teen Vogue intern).




    ?People
    don?t really want reality,? he said. ?They want surgically enhanced,
    scripted reality. The perversity of life today is so thrilling to me.
    It?s like a circus out there. It?s cartoon land.?




    AND Mr. Jacobs
    recognizes his place there. He spends at least two hours each day with
    a personal trainer and eats an entirely organic diet.




    At the
    Mercer, his New York residence since 1998, he sat before a plate of
    skinned chicken breasts and steamed spinach, rejecting, when asked, an
    invitation to complain about it. He was again in physical pain, now a
    result of an operation two days earlier for a hernia caused by
    overexercising. Despite doctors? orders to remain in bed, Mr. Jacobs
    said he had too much energy to sit still, and several times he walked
    outside to have another cigarette, a last vice.




    He was recognized almost instantly, by a group of young tourists from Stockholm who appeared star struck.




    ?Jag alskar svenska flickor,? Mr. Jacobs said to them, meaning, ?I love Swedish girls.?




    ?It?s the only thing I know how to say in Swedish.?




    They
    took pictures with Mr. Jacobs, as did a much older French couple who
    spotted him a few moments later. There were a couple of paparazzi
    across the street as well, waiting to capture the moment two hours
    later when Jason Preston, Mr. Jacobs?s boyfriend, returned from the gym
    and plopped his bag down on the street with a heavy sigh. The on-again,
    off-again relationship with Mr. Preston, a former male escort, slim and
    boyish, with sleepy eyes, has made for constant snippy items in the
    news media.




    ?I don?t mind,? Mr. Jacobs said to a hotel manager, who pointed out the photographers.




    ?In
    the most basic way I can say it,? he said, relighting a cigarette,
    ?coming from a psychological place, what I love more than anything is
    attention. That is about as honest of a statement that I could possibly
    make. I want a reaction, because I want the attention.?




    Whether
    everyone in the fashion world still loves Mr. Jacobs has become an open
    question. Bridget Foley, the executive editor of Women?s Wear Daily and
    W, suggested that the backlash has more to do with Mr. Jacobs?s
    crossover from young, cool designer to a major fashion force ? who
    still seems young and cool ? that has made some people uncomfortable.




    ?Maybe
    Marc?s growth in confidence has occurred later than it does in a lot of
    people, and maybe that?s what is startling,? she said.




    Mr. Jacobs
    denied that his actions were purposefully calculated to provoke. He
    said he thought he was giving the audience what they wanted with bigger
    shows, more fashion and complicated sets.




    When it came time to
    show in September, a dozen dresses were still under construction, and
    to start without them would have ruined the effect of a video
    projection that simultaneously showed the models in just their
    underwear.




    He pointed to the tattoo on his wrist. ?I really do
    feel that everything was perfect,? he said. ?If one thing was
    different, if one piece of the puzzle was missing, it wouldn?t be the
    same.?




    As with the collection, as with his life.




    ?You know they are expecting a show,? he said.










    pretty sad that he's more known for his exploits than his clothing designs.


    Did you get and like the larger dick?
  • Faust
    kitsch killer
    • Sep 2006
    • 37852

    #2
    Re: NY Times: Marc Jacobs



    But what is most captivating
    about his recent collections is that they are informed by all of the
    above. Mr. Jacobs is drawing from his own tabloid existence in creating
    clothes, as he did with his spring collection with underwear hanging
    out of undone dresses, that reflect the disjointedness and randomness
    of the contemporary culture of celebrity worship.



    What the fuck is that? Blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. Eric Wilson is nothing but a socialite bitch - why does NYTimes waste space on his scribbling? He talks about underwear showing like it's the most creative thing in fashion since the bias cut, and invented by Jacobs. I wonder if he's ever seen an A.F. Vandevorst collection?

    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

    StyleZeitgeist Magazine

    Comment

    • bakla
      Senior Member
      • Oct 2006
      • 902

      #3
      Re: NY Times: Marc Jacobs

      [quote user="Faust"]

      But what is most captivating
      about his recent collections is that they are informed by all of the
      above. Mr. Jacobs is drawing from his own tabloid existence in creating
      clothes, as he did with his spring collection with underwear hanging
      out of undone dresses, that reflect the disjointedness and randomness
      of the contemporary culture of celebrity worship.



      What the fuck is that? Blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. Eric Wilson is nothing but a socialite bitch - why does NYTimes waste space on his scribbling? He talks about underwear showing like it's the most creative thing in fashion since the bias cut, and invented by Jacobs. I wonder if he's ever seen an A.F. Vandevorst collection?



      [/quote]



      It's not a reference to being sartorially provocative, I believe it's a reference to pantyless tabloid stars Lindsay Lohan and her ilk, purportedly the same statement Margiela made showing uncovered cameltoes in his most recent women's collection.



      I'm the first one to acknowledge that, love him or hate him, believe it or not, Marc is the show and premiere brand in the NY pantheon as far as fashion at large (never mind the more rarified tastes of Style Zeitgeisters). But I'm so tired of his personal antics and what seems to be an over-publicized midlife crisis. Put some clothes on already - we know your body's worked out, you look good, great, we get it. Basta!

      Comment

      • nqth
        Senior Member
        • Sep 2006
        • 350

        #4
        Re: NY Times: Marc Jacobs



        I'd like to say that I used the word "random"at tFSquite a some time before itbecame "in" in NYT:-P




        Maybe MJ did want to reflect the time, who knows? (I am glad the models did wear some underwear:-P) But it's up to us to say if we like it or not.

        Comment

        • Faust
          kitsch killer
          • Sep 2006
          • 37852

          #5
          Re: NY Times: Marc Jacobs

          [quote user="bakla"][quote user="Faust"]

          But what is most captivating
          about his recent collections is that they are informed by all of the
          above. Mr. Jacobs is drawing from his own tabloid existence in creating
          clothes, as he did with his spring collection with underwear hanging
          out of undone dresses, that reflect the disjointedness and randomness
          of the contemporary culture of celebrity worship.



          What the fuck is that? Blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada. Eric Wilson is nothing but a socialite bitch - why does NYTimes waste space on his scribbling? He talks about underwear showing like it's the most creative thing in fashion since the bias cut, and invented by Jacobs. I wonder if he's ever seen an A.F. Vandevorst collection?



          [/quote]



          It's not a reference to being sartorially provocative, I believe it's a reference to pantyless tabloid stars Lindsay Lohan and her ilk, purportedly the same statement Margiela made showing uncovered cameltoes in his most recent women's collection.



          I'm the first one to acknowledge that, love him or hate him, believe it or not, Marc is the show and premiere brand in the NY pantheon as far as fashion at large (never mind the more rarified tastes of Style Zeitgeisters). But I'm so tired of his personal antics and what seems to be an over-publicized midlife crisis. Put some clothes on already - we know your body's worked out, you look good, great, we get it. Basta!



          [/quote]



          I know, hence my unbridled rage.[75] Just like Prada is the premier brand in Milan, and Chanel is the premier brand in Paris...

          Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

          StyleZeitgeist Magazine

          Comment

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