Quickie this week, but I think the Marc Jacobs show makes up for that.
I had an another identity crisis this week, wrote a piece about developing personal style, interviewed Randy Luna, who is a very cool, sustainable designer based in NYC, and also had lunch with my besties! How was your week?
Anyway, let’s get into it.
“Joy, period,” wrote Marc Jacobs in the show notes of his Fall 2024 collection. This season took the paper dolls of the last and transported them to Toontown. The looks started in all white before turning technicolor and featured characters like Minnie Mouse, Olive Oil, Marilyn Monroe a la The Seven Year Itch, and a Disney Princess or two. About the collection Marc wrote, “we use fashion to embrace bold and courageous self-expression to articulate and showcase our inner selves, allowing us to freely explore and display our thoughts, desires, and identities in a deeper pursuit of joy, beauty and personal transformation,” also adding, “while the future remains unwritten, I am steadfast in my practice of choosing love over hate, faith over fear, and finding pause in reflection.”
About a month or so ago, I wrote a piece on the rise of cowboy-inspired fashion, and how when there is uncertainty within the economy, consumers look to stability wherever they can find it. For example, looking to the past and nostalgia. Here, with references to 1960s mod styles and 1950s bell shapes, the same way western style reminisces over a “better time,” Marc seems to be commenting on this idea of a rise in conservatism and traditional values. On the other hand, he subverts these traditional, feminine styles and mainstream narratives to create visibility and redefine identity. As Roland Barthes writes in The Fashion System, “Clothing is a system of signs, an array of symbols that communicate social status, identity, and cultural meaning.”
While adding this playful to the prim and proper, Marc reveals the unseriousness that truly runs through the worst kinds of people, and feels quite pointed in today’s economy and political climate. The clothes are also all a little bit off. A hem blown up, a waist too big, a shoe two sizes too big, a shoulder rounding forward. Not only does it feel like it takes you back to an easier time when you are a child just playing dress up in your mothers clothes, but also maybe touches on the fact that the people in power, and really just a majority of people in general, are all dressing up and putting on the proper forward facing persona, when in reality we are all that inner child, still figuring it out, still not knowing exactly what is going on and what to do about it.
It might all feel frivolous, but it also feels very intentional, and as for the clothing itself, this is Marc Jacobs after all, so it’s obviously a hit.
- Emma Corrin for GQ Hype; I know this is quite simple in terms of styling, but it is so very GQ and so very Emma, and honestly so very me. Maybe I’m biased, but I enjoy this very much. Styled by Sam Ranger.
- Suki Waterhouse for British Vogue; I really enjoy seeing Chioma Nnadi continue to highlight British talent and London based brands, since her appointment at British Vogue. In terms of creative direction, this is probably the simplest cover we’ve seen, but I don’t hate it. I think it’s very Suki in the way that it isn’t incredibly avant garde and out there, but still a little quirky. Styled by Julia Sarr-Jamois.
- God I love when Nensi Dojaka works outside of her normal color palette. Always so good. The layering of the fabrics and the intermingling of the two textures works really nicely to add extra dimension to the fully monochrome moment. It fits beautifully, and the strappyness of it all is very signature Nensi.
- How yummy?! Prada has been doing a lot of fringe recently, so this sequined fringe makes sense, as does the little collar (they even did a trompe l’oeil fringe collar a couple of seasons ago). I think this done in a very smart way, and although the fringe is very heavy and you’d assume it’d be shapeless, there’s still a really lovely definition on the waist.
- I’ve made it no secret that I really enjoy Emma Corrin’s style, and I do like this Saint Laurent moment. Do I wish they’d worn the little head wrap? Of course! You know I love a headpiece. However, I believe they playa villain in the latest Deadpool movie, and this feels a bit more edgy than it did on the runway— perhaps playing into that. I like that the mini is incorporated into the garter, and it’s just very chic. This was the collection that was almost entirely made of hosiery, which I had a lot to say about, but.
- Cardi Be wearing this meant very much to me. I feel like a lot of people didn’t enjoy Spring 2020, but it made me so happy. I do wish the flowers looked a little less deflated, but still a very fun time.
So that was this week, I’ve been holding my pee and told myself I could go to the bathroom as a reward for finishing this, so.
TTYL!!!
xx