Frequent Marc Jacobs collaborator Stefan Beckman enlisted Oliphant Studios to paint huge canvas backdrops of living rooms and parlors for Jacobs’ Fall show. The paintings resembling the set of a Broadway play about a rich British family who all want to kill each other, and were evidently inspired by legendary Vogue editrix Diana Vreeland’s New York apartment. The music—jarring and fast—felt like a Hitchcock scene in which the heroine (perhaps Mrs. Vreeland?) is being hunted by a killer. Models, their dark hair tied in a little bunlettes on top of their heads like turbans, strode fiercely and determinedly down the long runway in patent leather boots, as if being followed. Or, perhaps, because they were dressed so well, they had somewhere extremely chic to be.
With a long, lanky ‘40s silhouette, the collection was big on embellishment. Bugle beads—so shiny and black, they evoked wet paint—raced across evening gowns, while beading on the bottom of a coat resembled paintbrush strokes or a fragmented Manhattan skyline. There were also leopard and snake prints, abstract yet intricate embroidery, and grommets galore. A series of black and white furs screamed chic skunk. They were beautifully designed, far-from-subtle pieces, much like Vreeland herself. For the finale to the 13-minute show, the soundtrack swelled to a chorus of clapping and banging noises, mixed with the crowd’s own cheers and claps—after all, Jacobs is always on top…
