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Marc Jacobs’s Latest Collection Pays Tribute to Legendary Designer … Marc Jacobs

Just when you thought there was no part of the ’90s left to repackage for a new generation, along comes Marc Jacobs with a sublime Lady Miss Kier meets Ani DiFranco (especially circa her August 1997 Spin magazine cover) collection. While most of the population in the ’90s was layering thermal leggings under ripped jeans and proudly sporting their flannel, another chunk was reliving the ’70s, with bell bottoms, striped socks, and colorful patches.

Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom was decorated with what looked like a million hanging tiny lightbulbs, resembling a starry night, and once that house music started blaring through the speakers and out stepped the first model, with an insane mass of (fake, possibly maybe #problematic) pastel dreadlocks atop her head, a heavily embellished Victorian-inspired silver jacket, satin hot pants and — continuing the height fetish of last season — über-high platform Mary Janes/boots that buckled all the way to the calf, well, it was obvious that last season’s somber mood was no longer in play.

So Marc was clearly in a playful mood, and the number of places he took us throughout the 53 looks was astounding. There was a bit of the Japanese Lolita look, but it was more of a throwback to the then hard-to-find FRUiTS street-style looks than a nod to their modern counterparts. Babydoll dresses in lace, sequins, heavy taffeta, and cotton florals also had a slight kinderwhore vibe without it being too obvious. There were silver leather jackets and trousers, all with pin-thin proportions, meant to hug the body like a second skin. Shiny pastel satin made into hot pants, maxi coats, and bomber jackers would’ve made Cher Horowitz weak at the knees.

But what all this melange of influences and inspirations had in common was the fact that together it captured the essence of that other time Marc reigned supreme, the early 2000s, when he was the golden boy of fashion and had first launched his (now defunct and sorely missed) Marc by Marc Jacobs collection, as well as being the newly appointed creative director of Louis Vuitton.

Yes, we had seen the satin hot pants before, in his Marc Spring 2004 collection, in which models wore with metallic knee-high boots. The patchwork suede pieces are an ode to the iconic Louis Vuitton Spring 2002 collection, which also featured the signature Vuitton monogrammed bags, decorated with appliqués of woodland creatures by the artist Julie Verhoeven. Verhoeven returned this season, and this time her patches covered striped sweatshirts (that also brought to mind that ONE winter when Gap did really amazing striped sweaters that everyone in fashion still remembers, you know the ones), as well as boots and, of course, backpacks.

Only a few designers can get away with being this self-referential, and Marc has certainly earned the right. As such, this really seemed like a collection of his favorite things, but also a bit of an ode to the youthful spirit of Marc by Marc. We saw it in the Army green cotton jackets with big black buttons, in the striped socks worn thigh-high, in the satin bomber jackets, the skinny jeans with kooky patchworks, the florals, the stripes, the fur trims, the oversize green and orange long-sleeve polo shirt with contrasting white collar, the hot pants hot pants hot pants!

The combination of wild and demure, the fact that when this collection hits the stores the tomboys can shop next to the drag queens, next to the ladies who lunch. … Fashion is supposed to be fun, and it’s about escapism, and when watching the news becomes more and more depressing with each passing day, who doesn’t want to throw on a pair of leather boots with tube-sock trompe l’oeil details and dance around the house? Groove is in the heart, baby!

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