Defining a new woman and a new generation : Marc Jacobs

Description

Marc Jacobs is one of the few designers that the fashion press, buyers, and diffusionary markets pay close attention to each season for the direction and focus of the season. With the innate ability to tap into the mood and style of a generation, Jacobs delivers what people want to wear and has become of one of the most influential designers of our age.

Sujets

• Marc Jacobs
• Mode

Informations

• Publié par: anna-mode
• Publié le: 12 février 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 91
• Langue: English

Extrait

64 D E F I N I N GA N DWO M A NE WA NG E N E R AT I O NE WA N

Marc Jacobs is one of the few designers that the fashion press, buyers, and diffusionary markets pay close attention to each season for the direction and focus of the season.With the innate ability to tap into the mood and style of a generation, Jacobs delivers what people want to wear and has become of one of the most influential designers of our age.

INFLUENCED BY

KEY fashion designer ● ◆ fashion house ■  ar tmovement ❖ cultural influence

◆ Comme des Garçons Rei Kawakubo’s influence could be felt in Jacobs’ Fall 06 collections for Louis Vuitton and in Fall 06 and Spring 08 Marc Jacobs’ shows in the abstraction of form, silhouette, and relationship of clothing to the body.

◆ Halston Halston represents the essence of New York chic which Jacobs has emulated in his use of long languid shapes in his Fall 2007 collection.

● André Courreges In Fall 2003 for Marc Jacobs as well as Louis Vuitton Spring 2000, Jacobs referenced the shor tcrisp looks that Courreges was famous for in the 1960s. A typically sharp 1960s Courreges design, left.

MARC JACOBS American (1963 NewYork) Attends ParsonsReceives two Gold Thimble Awards, PerryStarts designing collections under his ownReceives Council of Fashion Designers of School of Design inEllis and Chester Weinburg as well asname, backed by Onward Kashiyama USAAmerica, Perry Ellis Award for New Talent. At New York.Designer of the Year. Begins designing forInc with favorable responses from thethe time was the youngest designer to Ruben Thomas Inc. While still in school hefashion press and buyers.receive this prestigious award. sells a handknit collection of sweaters. 1981–84 19841986 1987 CHRONOLOGY ➜ INSPIRED BruceChristopher Baily4. 3.1. Phillip Lim ●● ● Designers Nicole Noselli for Burberry Prorsum Like Jacobs, Lim often and Daphne GutierrezBaily has been influenceduses multiple vintage of fashion label Bruceby Jacobs’ use ofreferences (as seen, left). understand and decodeutilitarian clothing as style the type of New Yorkbasics adding luxury to downtown chic that iscreate a desirable and omnipresent in all offresh approach. Marc by Marc Jacobs’ shows.

“I like romantic allusions to the past: what the babysitter wore, what the ar tteacher wore, what I wore during my experimental days in fashion when I was going to the Mudd Club and wanted to be a New Wave kid or a punk kid but was really a poseur. It’s the awkwardness of posing and feeling like I was in, but I never was in.Awkwardness gives me great comfort.”

Marc Jacobs

Marc Jacobs is a creative force that extends beyond any traditional limitation such as market or price point, translating and synthesizing style impulses into a fresh perspective. As the creative director of Louis Vuitton based in Paris, his eponymous line Marc Jacobs in NewYork, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Marc Jacobs Men, Stinky Rat, Little Marc, and countless licensees all of which are sold internationally, Marc Jacobs has an overwhelming influence on the fashion industry. His harshest critics have accused Jacobs of copying, styling, and generally not being original.The fact remains however that a simple copyist could not set the tone for an entire season by pulling together style impulses, mood, color, and silhouette in a consistently fresh way that is heralded by the fashion press and consumers alike.Jacobs combines esoteric, intellectual, philosophical concepts from art, design, and culture and translates them in an original way into something that is

Tres chic Utilizing a broad spectrum of influences, Marc Jacobs combines a quintessential Parisian chic with American style icons to create collections that are influential in their silhouettes, fabric, and color direction.

66 D E F I N I N GA NE WWO M A NA N DA NE WG E N E R AT I O N

INFLUENCED BY

KEY fashion designer ● ◆ fashion house ■  ar tmovement ❖ cultural influence

● Claude Montana The strong shoulders and bold shapes that were signature styles of Claude Montana’s work from the 80s were present in both the Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs collections for Fall 08.

MARC JACOBS CONTINUED

Becomes Vicepresident and Design Director of Perry Ellis with business partner Robert Duffy serving as President.

CHRONOLOGY 1988 ➜ INSPIRED

Sexy sophistication Jacobs learned from Yves Saint Laurent, and in his collection for Louis Vuitton, Jacobs connected to the sense of sexual frivolity that Yves Saint Laurent perfected in the 1980s, but gave it an ironic self conscience slant as seen in this catwalk piece from the Louis Vuitton show, Fall 2009.

Elsa Schiaperelli ● The 1930s designer’s influence can be seen in the whimsy and sense of humor that Marc Jacobs routinely infuses into his shows.

Marc Jacobs and RobertReceives Council of Fashion Designers Jacobs resumesAppointed Creative Director to Duffy become Vice President of America’s Women’s wear Designerdesigning under hisLouis Vuitton by LMVH. Receives and President of Tristenof the Year Award. Introduces the nowown name in NewCouncil of Fashion Designers of Russo as well as overseeinginfamous “Grunge Collection” whichYork City. America’s Womenswear Designer the accessories collections.leads Perry Ellis Inc to fire him. of the Year Award. 1989 19931994 1997

● Derek Lam Lam uses cute silhouettes in luxury fabrications (left) and is often influenced by trends that Marc Jacobs helps to set.

Behnaz Sarafpour ● Sarafpour pulls together an amalgamation of historically referenced looks to create a new and contemporary look.

Mui Mui / Prada ● Similar to Jacobs, Muiccia Prada uses fabric, color, and shape to add emphasis and meaning to the deeper philosophical commentaries on image and sexuality.

approachable for women. As influential NewYork Times style columnist Kathy Horyn states:“[In Jacobs’ work] you see a fashion that increasingly has its own identity...what Jacobs has really done is not to exclude any method or idea that might be vital to him.” In the Loïc Prigent documentaryMarc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton, Jacobs has a rather blithe attitude about elucidating his concept or philosophy of creation and design as evidenced of his explanation that he “just likes things fucked up.” At the same time it is clear that a primary focus of his work is to make clothing wearable and approachable to all women:“I like to think that the clothes have a life after the show is over. I love it when I see strangers wearing my clothes…”

Antonio Marras ● for Kenzo Marras has experimented with cultural references in conjunction with silhouette shapes (left) that suggest a modern idea of dress.

XGENERATION Marc Jacobs, a member of the Xgeneration, has always been influenced by growing up in NewYork City in the 1970s, his love of the dance clubs, parties, and nightlife of the 1980s and his mature appreciation of art and design. Music is always an important component of his creativity, from bands such as Sonic Youthto classical music such as Pachelbel’s Canon, Jacobs is said to listen to the same music repeatedly throughout the design process.An early example of music’s influence on Jacob’s work is the grunge collection that he created for Perry Ellis in 1993. Although the collection ultimately got him dismissed from his post as Design Director, Marc Jacobs established himself as a translator of cool. Marc Jacobs seems to travel through fashion phases, focusing on an idea or a set of style problems that he needs to solve and then moves on.There are some designers that approach

The art of transparency Marc Jacob’s Spring 08 show started with the finale first and then literally was shown backward as the collection was about varying stages of being undressed to dressed.The emphasis on transparency and layers, (right) seemed to be a philosophical statement about how women use clothing in their manipulation of image, style, or—more importantly—their sexuality.

❖ Pop culture Everything from films, music, style, and literature to high school marching bands and Japanese Anime have influenced Marc Jacobs which helps him to translate a generational aesthetic.

Receives Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Accessories Designer of the Year Award.

1999

A model walks the runway at a 2009 Proenza Schouler show.

■ Contemporary art Marc Jacobs is an avid ar tcollector and close friends with many artists. The philosophical or aesthetic concepts that he is attracted to in art often are expressed in his fashion collections.

Jacobs checks into rehab for substance abuse.  Afashion documentaryMarc Jacobs & Louis Vuittonby Loïc Prigent is filmed during the creation of both the Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton collections. 2007

Fabrications and infatuations Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler have been influenced not only by Marc Jacobs’ infatuation with the 70s and 80s but his ability to define a generation’s sense of style and aesthetic. The design team and Marc Jacobs have similarly experimented with alternative uses of fabrications; ignoring the traditional concepts of seasonably correct fabric.

the process of design in a consistent aesthetic, while Marc Jacobs has no problem moving from one idea to the next.To fur therconfuse the path of inspiration, Jacobs blends several different style snapshots into one collection.Throughout his career he has approached historical references from a 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s point of view, sometimes combining them with a quintessential NewYork or Parisian chic only to shift completely to a Japanese focus on abstraction and philosophy. Jacobs, similar to many of his generation, has a sentimental view of style symbols that he grew up with; since the look of the times are incidental in conveying a larger mood or feeling. Marc Jacobs’ interpretations of these fleeting impressions of an entire generation become universal and therefore essential to the design dialogue of our century.