Wednesday October 2, 2013 – Cour Carree du Louvre
The Louis Vuitton show, always the highlight of Paris Fashion Week, took a turn that many had predicted and even expected. The man who elevated Louis Vuitton to an unparalleled status in the fashion world took his final bow this morning. Every season for the past 16 years, Marc Jacobs has told a new story, reinventing the house’s codes by combining tradition and modernity while still keeping everything relevant. Through his collaboration with artists such as Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince and Yayoi Kusama, Marc Jacobs became a trailblazer for marrying fashion and art. But the notion that the two could somehow work as one was still foreign when MJ started.
Back in 2001 Jacobs had a clause in his contract forbidding any modification to the Monogram canvas. Yet after one season where he showed no bags at all on the runway, he shocked editors and Vuitton alike when he sent bags and trunks spray-painted in Stephen Spouse’s Graffiti art. Ironically, that same Graffiti is now a core element of the Vuitton DNA and gives contextual meaning for the show’s first model; the show was a celebration of the past
Jacobs united his most glorious sets, such as the fountain, the hotel hallway, the stairs, the elevator, the train station clock and the carrousel, creating an extraordinary backdrop for the collection. Combining best-of his works over the strata of nearly two decades, one comes to understand that Marc’s final word on the matter was simple: he was celebrating the women that always inspired him.
“This collection is dedicated to the women who inspire me and to the showgirl in every one of them, Emmanuelle Alt, Jane Birkin, Betty Catroux, Carlyne Cerf De Dudzeele, Coco Chanel, Cher, Grace Coddington, Sofia Coppola, Victoire de Castellane, Catherine Deneuve, Claude Lalanne, Julie de Libran, Lady Gaga, Judy Garland, Katie Grand, Juliette Gréco, Françoise Hardy, Zizi Jeanmaire, Rei Kawakubo, Madonna, Liza Minnelli, Kate Moss, Louise Nevelson, Edith Piaf, Miuccia Prada, Lee Radziwill, Millicent Rogers, Sonia Rykiel, Carla Sozzani, Elsa Schiaparelli, Barbra Streisand, Diana Vreeland, Vivienne Westwood, Anna Wintour.
Whether extrovert or esoteric, they are the figures that keep visual language vital. Their style, imagination, creativity, talent, vision and voice have changed our landscape.
When I look around Paris it isn’t the depth of the city that takes my breath away. It’s the decoration and the applied ornamentation that dazzles. It is not about thinking, it is about feeling. There may be no deeper sensation than this when it hits. While designing this collection the same instinct gathered momentum. I take pleasure from things for exactly what they are, revelling in the pure adornment of beauty for beauty’s sake. Connecting with something on a superficial level is as honest as connecting with it on an intellectual level.
To the showgirl in all of us.Marc.”
Jacobs changed the definition of a fashion designer; it’s not about designing clothes but about having a vision. But a vision without execution is nothing short of a dreamer’s dream. But for every season and every opportunity therein between, Marc has somehow virtuously threaded every element of that dream into the fibers of his work. If artists are eternalized through their artwork, then it stands to reason that the name Marc Jacobs will fondly stand the test of time.
See all the photos below:
Photos and video by Stylerumor.com
Hair by Guido Palau for Redken
Makeup by Pat McGrath with Marc Jacobs Beauty