'Fashion Just at Your Should Pull Heart'
Style StyleExclusive Slug
arc Jacobs refuses to design a ‘Fashion SHOULD sweatshirt. And that may well be his downfall. Instead, his recent collection was an exercise in dressed-up, theatrical silhouettes JUST pull steeped in 1980s references — a Mcontrary departure from the athleisure trend currently dominating the market. “I think that was a reaction to the AT YOUR heart’ overriding feeling that things need to be inspired by the street or casual, and I was, like, well, what a boring conver- sation,” he says at his office on Spring Street, in downtown New York. “As somebody who loved to do hoodies and Fired from his first big job and known for courting catwalk reinvented the sweatshirt every season, I can’t be part of that conversation now. I know all about putting a sneaker controversy, Marc Jacobs has always done things his way. with an evening dress, it’s, like, we’ve done it.”
This is quintessential Jacobs. Since his controversial s aw16 Now 55, fashion’s original rebel is more outspoken b “grunge” collection for Perry Ellis in 1993, which divided aco j than ever. Jane McFarland is granted a rare interview s aw18
critics and later saw him fired, he has always gone against b
the curve. A born-and-bred New Yorker, he studied at arc aco m Photographs Samantha Casolari Parsons School of Design. Famous for capturing the early j
Noughties zeitgeist and dressing the It girls of that decade arc — Kate Moss, Winona Ryder, Sofia Coppola — he is widely m recognised as the most exciting and talented American designer of his generation. But while his brand name remains a hit, it has been a turbulent time at Marc Jacobs International. Since Jacobs’s exit from Louis Vuitton in 2013, after an epic 16-year stint as creative director, the intent has been to consolidate his eponymous label. An IPO was mooted but failed to materialise, while tensions between the brand and its majority stakeholder, LVMH, have gone public. Meanwhile, a revolving door of CEOs, the exit of several high-level personnel, plus the folding of the brand’s diffusion line, Marc by Marc Jacobs, in 2015, have resulted in a confusing lack of direction. It’s little surprise, then, that the designer — a bona fide creative, not a businessman — seems somewhat tense. “I hate change, it’s always disruptive for me, and I feel paralysed by it sometimes. I get into the habit of working with people, because they know how I communicate, they Above Jacobs with know what I like, they’re patient with me. I don’t have to BFF Kate Moss at s ss14
re-establish something,” he sighs. “I guess if I have to look b the Met Gala, 1995. at the positive side, or if I choose to look at the positive side, Below left In his aco maybe new people means new ideas or new approaches or j design studio, 1995
new energy, or all of the above. But it is a double-edged arc m y y
sword, it’s difficult. Logically I think it should be exciting, b but in reality....” He trails off. arc arc
Add the fact that the brand has closed dozens of stores in m recent years (the company refuses to release figures) and the melancholic demeanour starts to make sense. It also begs the question: is it time to start playing by the rules? “There’s a bit of tension for me, or struggle, where I think, ‘Oh, I don’t care how much we do, I don’t care how big the business is or how many things we sell. I care that I like what we do,’ ” Jacobs says. “I wonder if the point of doing a show is that it says something and people look at it, and
whether they like it or they don’t, they appreciate that s aw12 you’ve made something. If you can take some of that crea- b aco
tivity and apply it to things people can actually access, then j I think you have travelled both worlds. But it’s quite diffi- arc arc
cult to make both happen in the same thing and still be m y y true to yourself, or have the integrity or authenticity.” b
While Jacobs, 55, remains a popular figure, the rele- arc vance of his brand is under increased press scrutiny. “I do m
90 The Sunday Times Style The Sunday Times Style 91 Style Exclusive
pay attention to it. I mean, there’s nothing I can do, I can’t
SS17 control that.” He takes a puff on his vape of choice, a Smok s b G-Priv2 (Churrios flavour) and leans back in his chair.
jaco “We’ve definitely had times when we were better, and
c
r people didn’t write about that because there was no reason a
M to. Me sitting down and trying to calculate a commercial AW17
collection is not what I’ve done or who I am. I’m not sure I s b could do that anyway. I try not to let it influence me, but I’m jaco affected by everything, good or bad, that I am aware of. If c 300 people like a picture on Instagram and one person r says they dislike it, it’s that one person I focus on. That’s ma just how I am.” If anyone can orchestrate a comeback, it’s Jacobs. He has lived out his darkest moments in the public eye, from oday he’s an active Instagram user well-documented addictions (he entered rehab twice, in (@themarcjacobs, 1m followers and 1999 and 2007, before getting sober) to his relationship counting), using social media for the good with a former porn star. He once accidentally posted a and glamorous — think private jets, photos photograph of his bare bottom on Instagram. (He later with BFF Kate Moss, outfit selfies in Chanel responded on Twitter: “Yeah… I am a gay man. I flirt with and Prada. The pictures are usually accom- and chat with guys online sometimes.”) paniedT by the hashtag #gratefulnothateful. He’s an active In 2016 he came under fire for LGBTQ supporter, so I wonder if he considers himself a cultural misappropriation after he sent role model. “There are probably people who admire me for predominantly white models wearing being open about my drug habits, alcohol, my sexuality, dreadlocks down the runway in his even having a hair transplant — I got letters from people SS16
s SS17 show. “I think there’s a responsi- saying they’re glad I’m so open about it. Botox, fillers and b bility to be sensitive, because even when stuff — I don’t hide it. I’m a big believer in aspiring to jaco you don’t intend it, you can really be shamelessness and feeling good about oneself.” c r AW18 a
taken to task for things,” he says of the Botox aside, he’s in insanely good shape. Throughout s b M incident now. “I learnt that lesson with our interview he alternates between water, his vape and an jaco
the spring collection. It was not my espresso, but insists his addiction to exercise is over. “I used c
intention to hurt anybody, but when I to be very, very religious about getting up early, going to bed r
was accused of this appropriation, I was early, going to the gym for a couple of hours, what I ate, ma exhausted. I thought, ‘I’m so not racist, what time I ate. And I think I kept that up for a long time, I’m so not this, I’m so not that.’ I felt so and it served me well. I was in good shape and I was To p Jacobs backstage at attacked. And, of course, with time, healthy,” he sighs. “But then I would start cheating, missing his SS06 show. Right At the I looked at the whole thing and said, sessions, and then that kind of reversed. I think I’m all or SS08 Marc by Marc Jacobs ‘I don’t apologise for what I did crea- nothing, and straddling the in-between has never been… show. Below At the 7th On tively, but I do apologise for how I balance is not my forte at all.” Sale Aids Fashion Photo handled it.’ Because this is an area His office uniform is an old Comme des Garçons check Session, in New York, 1990, and with Cher at the Met Gala, where people really do feel sensitive, shirt (concealing all 33 tattoos, much to my disappoint- 2015. Opposite With Kate and it would have been more appro- ment), sweat pants by Rick Owens, and Ben Baller socks Moss at the Met Gala, 2009 priate in this day and age to be sensitive and slides, a gift from his fiancé, Charly Defrancesco. I in areas where one needs to be. But it’s have to ask about his buffed and bronzed other half, who hard to know everything, you know.” regularly appears on his Instagram. They met in New York in late 2015, and made news in April when Jacobs proposed at a Mexican takeaway joint, Chipotle, with a flash mob dancing to Prince’s Kiss. “It’s Charly’s favourite place, so
AW13 that’s where it was. He was quite insistent on going there s AW18 b s and it was his birthday, so,” shrugs Jacobs, with a hint of a b smile. “I tried to take him somewhere more fancy and jaco
jaco c special, and he was, like, ‘No, I really just want to go to c r Chipotle.’ Fine, your birthday, you choose.” MAr y ma
b Despite a reputation for holding notorious parties (his c
r recent birthday guest list included Debbie Harry, Cindy r ma u Sherman and Naomi Campbell), Jacobs insists next year’s
onto wedding will be a low-key affair. “It’ll be in April. We’ll go to the City Hall or whatever it’s called — I don’t even know the name of it. That’ll just be very close friends and family. Then we’ll have a big dance party and invite a lot of people. So that will be fun. Then I think we’ll go away to Greece for a week, and invite a couple of close people who can actually go at that time. Well, that’s the plan.” As for his wedding
JASON LLOYD-EVANS, REX, GETTY, c LLOYD-EVANS, JASON outfit? “Something that requires minimal effort.”
92 The Sunday Times Style The Sunday Times Style 93 Style Exclusive
Far left Jacobs with his fiancé, Charly Defrancesco, at the Met Gala, 2016. Left Relaxing at home, 2002. Below With Sofia acobs is now both loved-up and settled down Coppola at the Met (his “very quiet” life in Greenwich Village Gala, 2013 consists of dog-walking and evenings in front of the TV), but when his brand’s fortunes are down, and it’s his name on door, he is far from carefree. “My personal life feels good — it’s nice Jto go home to — but it doesn’t eliminate the stress. I can’t shut off my brain about work, and I think I was born a worrier. There’s plenty to think about and worry about,” he admits quietly. “Maybe worry isn’t the right word, it sounds so negative, but there’s always so much to think about, and I find I am easily triggered, so even if I am doing something that I enjoy, it will remind me of something else and then I’ll start making notes, doing sketches and stuff like that.” September is dedicated to the SS19 show in New York, while work continues on the brand’s lower-priced accesso- ries, where he hopes to recapture the It-bag mania that once W11 A surrounded Marc Jacobs. There’s also a renewed focus on the brand’s fragrance and lucrative cosmetics range, Marc s ob c
Jacobs Beauty: both are licensing agreements, which means a j he receives royalty payments without production costs. rc a
He’s also a quasi-fixture at fashion week and attended his m
first Chanel show last season. “It was a treat to watch a by
Chanel show, which I’ve wanted to see for ever. When I was rc a
at Vuitton I could never go, and Karl is a little picky about m who can or can’t go, so when he invited me, I was delighted.” 18
Jacobs is more than just a designer — he’s a showman and w a an artist, driven by craft and passion rather than pleasing s ob
shareholders. But in today’s market, where catwalk shows c a j are deemed irrelevant, non-trained designers are running top fashion houses and brands are selling direct on Insta- rc Ma gram, does the old-school approach still work? Jacobs’s latest collection, for autumn/winter 2018, was the surest sign it does: not only did it receive unanimously good reviews, Dover Street Market — the ultimate destination for fashion-savvy shoppers — has picked up the brand for the first time in several seasons. “There were bits of Claude Montana, Karl Lagerfeld’s Chloé, Romeo Gigli, Perry Ellis, Yves Saint Laurent — in everything we do, there are so many references. What was important to me, or what the girls all had in common, was attitude. It reminded me of my feelings about fashion, when going to a show was really about going to see a show and seeing models dressed up on the runway,” he says. “From some of the reactions, it affected many people I respect. They responded exactly in the way I felt going into it — you know, what a relief not to see another trainer. “Fashion should pull at your heart, like, ‘Oh my God, that’s amazing.’ Being exhausted from the retail or the commercial discussion, that takes us back to why do we do this — we do this because we love it. We do this because it’s something that just tugs at your heart, not like anything else. You know what I mean?”
94 The Sunday Times Style