Few campaigns have been as anticipated this season as Marc Jacobs' starring Victoria Beckham. The first image, which broke in the February issue of W, partially let the cat out of the bag — it shows a giant Marc Jacobs shopping bag with Beckham's legs peeking out, with no signs of her much-photographed face.
"There was a lot of discussion about Victoria being in our ads and tons of blogs on the Internet about 'Should she or shouldn't she?,' 'What's going on with Marc Jacobs?,' and 'Has he lost his mind?'," Jacobs explained. "We thought the funniest thing would be to show the Victoria Beckham ads that don't show Victoria Beckham, but just to see those legs coming out of the bag."
Those who think they were duped after all that buzz shouldn't worry: there are many more images on their way, in February issues of Vogue and Interview.
In the Juergen Teller photos slated to appear in fashion books over the next few months, Beckham is popping her head out of the shopping bag, stepping out of a gift box, or simply posing with her best signature pout.
"The images are humorous and ironic," Beckham said. "You can't be afraid to experiment with fashion, especially when working with Marc and Juergen — you have to push the envelope and show a different side.
"Marc is a genius," she added. "I completely trusted his vision and the opportunity to work with Juergen again after so many years was a privilege."
Jacobs recalled his first meeting with Posh — a fashion designer herself — in her hotel room at the Ritz in Paris. "I told her, 'People will think it's an odd choice for me to have made, and people will think it's odd for you to do. I mean, you're not really my girl,' although I never think that I have one," he said.
"And I said, 'I like the idea of you being this product, and you being this product that Marc Jacobs producing, like a doll or something," he added. "I explained it to Juergen and he made the big shopping bag and a big box and had Victoria dressed in our clothes."
And Jacobs couldn't care less that his muse just topped Mr. Blackwell's worst-dressed list.
"Mr. Blackwell to me is this fictitious thing," he said. "I know there is a Mr. Blackwell, but it means absolutely nothing to me. It's like saying, 'What do you think of Santa Claus' list? I stopped believing in Santa Claus when I was a little kid. The idea of best-dressed and worst-dressed is so subjective. To me, the best-dressed people are the ones happiest with the way they look and how much they enjoy getting dressed. I am sure there are people on that list that have appalling taste, but it doesn't matter if it makes them happy."
Plus, he added, "Getting attention for being well-dressed or poorly dressed is great, because it is attention."
As for Beckham, she was hard-pressed to pick a favorite image from the campaign.
"Truth be told, I love them all," she said. "If I have to pick favorites, it's the package series: me coming out of the box in the gray knit dress shot with the hat, as well as the image of the oversize shopping bag. Certainly, if you can't get locked inside a Marc Jacobs store, then trapped inside a Marc bag has got to be the next best thing."