marc jacobs has set himself up as the new york answer to the milan collection of miuccia prada. they dress the same demographic of women, they jump from inspiration point to inspiration point without looking back, they both pride themselves on taking cues from the art world, and they both have worldwide empires and legions of loyal fans. in that way, the marc jacobs customer knows that no matter what, a marc jacobs skirt, a marc jacobs dress, a marc jacobs shoe, a marc jacobs top will always stun and surprise, but will always go on with ease and flatter to a fault.
while i see all of the reference points here, from the perforation we just saw at cynthia rowley by way of prada, to the architecture of balenciaga, to the japanese influence (that some say he borrowed from in spring/summer 2008), to the polka dots we've seen all over fashion, one must get one thing clear: marc jacobs revels in the mash up. he loves getting under the skin of everyone who takes fashion so seriously that they hold the canons of particular designers as sacrosanct as if those self-same designers don't borrow and re-work the wares of others. scroll back to the prada fall/winter 2008 lace collection, you'll find people comparing it to *shock/awe* louis vuitton, boudicca, christian dior, giambattista valli, anne valerie hash, and helmut lang. and when you saw the lace pieces in the stella mccartney collection and the dolce and gabbana collection, people said they saw the prada collection in it. but let's face it: NONE OF THESE DESIGNERS INVENTED LACE. no one these designers originally thought up to cut a dress out of it!
the genius of this collection remains that it flies in the face of every sacred cow we have in fashion right now. it's not minimal. it's not seventies. there's no hint of austerity or studio 54 or the amish or the yves saint laurent retrospective. and for that reason alone, it's fresh. find one big city woman who can't use an attention grabbing pencil skirt, a perfect pair of fashion pants, or any other number of the genius staples he put forward here. the only thing slightly off key were those boots, but they remain so out of step with the rest of fashion i'm sure they'll become must have in their own right.
