Marc Jacobs Brings Emotion and Self-Reflection to Surprise Runway

The designer got the fashion crowd fired up for another season.

Much has been lamented about how New York Fashion Week has all but lost its headliners, the ones that made this city the fashion capital of the U.S. Save for Michael Kors and, this season, Thom Browne, many of those longstanding big names — Ralph Lauren! Tommy Hilfiger! Tom Ford! — have left the calendar, either for elsewhere or for nowhere. Instead, the energy and spirit of fashion week are sustained by emerging talent. Which is exciting! They're the future, after all! But it would be disingenuous to say it didn't feel like something was missing, or that we didn't miss the flash, the glamour and the anticipation of a big-ticket show.

So when, two weeks ago, Marc Jacobs announced that he would be showing a new collection at his favorite venue, the Park Avenue Armory, on Feb. 2 — seven days out from the start of New York Fashion Week —  the fashion crowd got that jolt of electricity to get it fired up for another season. (Maya was onto something...) And the collection on display reminds us that the designer not only marches to the beat of his own drum, but that he made the drum the rest of us are marching to himself.

The line revisits the designer's grunge roots and marries the aesthetic with an uptown sensibility (down to the Mikimoto pearls — a Jacobs signature) and styling that reflects dressing in an urban environment: lots of layers, sweaters draped inventively, cargo pockets everywhere, jackets manually closed tightly shut.

Against the dark, bare armory (save for a row of 135 numbered fold-up chairs lined up against the wall, lit by spotlights), models emerged to the tune of violinist Jennifer Koh playing "Knee Play 2" from Philip Glass' "Einstein on the Beach" — a frenetic soundtrack enhanced by the clacking of the vertiginous platform boots against the wooden floor, every step feeling as purposeful as it seemed fraught.

The self-reflection continued in the show notes (titled "Heroes"), in which Jacobs writes: "With the turn of another season, in our endless search for value, importance and possibilities, it is through these collections that we continue our ever-expanding notions of beauty and craft. With a controlled abandon and driving frenetic energy, we reflect on life beyond the studio. To all our heroes past, and young heroes present."

He then cites a quote from the late Vivienne Westwood, whose influence could also be felt in the draping of the dresses, the platforms and the underlying rebellious feeling of the clothes: "Fashion is life-enhancing, and I think it's a lovely, generous thing to do for other people."

What better sentiment to start a new fashion week on?

See the Marc Jacobs 2023 runway collection below.

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