Like many great things, I sometimes think Marc Jacobs may be "all hype." But it's hard to imagine the world of fashion without him.
This time, the show started on time. After all, a cat has only nine lives, and el MJ was at about 8 1/2 with Anna Wintour. Some of his women appeared as maidens in long, flowing gowns, others went bronze. He "undid" the bowtie tops which have been all the rage, hanging odd fluted objects around the models' necks instead.
Whereas in previous years, Jacobs' collections have been clownish or too self-aware, this one oozed a sense of calm and reserve. Overall, the shapes of his garments owed more to Comme des Garcons and Miyake, leaning more heavily on soft rectangular frames than hourglass figures. And yet retro never seems to leave him. There were revamped mock heroic cowboys, and Jackie Os, My Fair Ladies and Dionne Warwicks, Brooke Shields types and art punks one after the other.
While this collection felt much less pickpocketed from vintage fashions, the way fabrics and textures are paired haphazardly and never seem to fit right, reminds me exactly of being inside a packed Goodwill. I say this without malice. Displaying his ensembles with the "wrong" details, a cowboy hat that appears to have been crushed or a large leaf-like gold pin placed too high on the shoulder, ends up feeling right.
The collection evoked a larger sense of displacement that was ultimately very modern and compelling.