So, turns out "The Hills" star Lauren "LC" Conrad only "helped out" backstage at the Marc Jacobs show, not walk in the show as been rumored. But she probably foreshadowed the bitchery and drama that would ensue for our favorite little former chubbie nerd turned muscly machoman superdesigner.
OVERALL, New York fashion week was a - how do you say it -underwhelming, repetitive, and uninspiring this season (as has been for many seasons actually). The show me and the rest of fashionland was anticipating - Marc Jacobs- totally deflated my...er, fashion boner. As crass as I may sound, I thought Marc would blow la Wintour and Menkes away with a sumptious collection, since the show did start 2 HOURS LATE. But critics have
lambasted the delay which overshadowed the actual collection.
Fashion editor of the International Herald Tribune Suzy Menkes even said she would like to "murder [Marc] with her bare hands and never see another Marc Jacobs show as long as I live. " She also blasphemed Jacobs in her review, calling the collection "a freak's costume party", and accuses him of copycatting Rei Kawakubo, Martin Margiela, and John Galliano.
Village Voice's Lynn Yaeger said, "Only when I got to the front door at 9 [did I find out it was late]. I am livid. I don't know what to do. On the one hand, I feel like it's the most special night in fashion, on the other hand, I want to go home. It remains to be seen if he'll get away with it. I can't imagine what excuse you would have."
Elle creative director Joe Zee just wanted to "have more margaritas".
Rumors aswirled that he was at the Mercer, nursing a drink. There were whispers of a coke run.
Marc's fiery defense:
"That is bullshit! That is bullshit!...I was at the f---ing office until the last fitting was over. I came back to the hotel — I hadn't been here in three days! I hadn't showered in three days! I slept on the couch in my office for 20 minutes three nights in a row — anyone at my office will tell you that. I got 20 minutes sleep Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night. The first shower I had was Monday at 8 before the rehearsal of our show. I did not have lunch, I did not have drinks, I did not have tea at the Mercer, I walked through the lobby; I live in this hotel. I hadn't been there — ask the reception at the hotel. When they saw me on Monday, they were like, 'We haven't seen you in days.' I lived in my office for three days in a row....My boyfriend was downstairs having dinner. I wasn't. I was at the rehearsal, I was at the office until the last minute. I took 20 minutes to shower and shave — I stank like a raccoon! I could not go to the show like that."
He also believes the combination of bumping up of fashion week two weeks early during Jewish holidays, with the closure of Italian factories in August, and his other collections (Marc by Marc, Marc by Marc Mens, Vuitton) is validation enough for the delay, and that it was good enough that he even showed at all. The fuming Marc is so "f-ing" mad that he is threatening not to show at NYFW at all and move all the way to Paris - with CFDA prez Diane von Furstenberg
grovelling at at his feet for him to stay. It would be devastating for NY to show without MJ. We Americans would be left with Kimora Lee and Gwen Stefani as our homegrown designing stars. NOOOOO!
Yes, Marc has always been a notoriously late and anticipated show, but are the critics right - did he keep them waiting 2 hours too long? Or is Marc right, that he just was overworked, underappreciated, just didn't want to "stank like a raccoon"? Or maybe as his muscles inflate, so does his ego.
BUT on to what is important - the clothes!
The clothes that followed were, a bit below par, disappointing. This was more like Marc by Marc collection rather than the official eponymous collection. This is only my weak teenage observation, but there was a whole lot of half-assed garments. Jacobs said about the concept: "It's cartoon versions of all the women I know—conservative types, vamps, everybody." But the pastel color scheme and hair were all too remiscent of
Comme des Garçons Fall 07 RTW. In addition, there were longshirts with an iron-on number on them that would probably take the average person mintues to concoct.
Also, a tad too much messy sheer shat.
However, I did find some of the frocks rather lovely
The shoes were insane! Heel coming from the ball of the foot?! A foot fetishist's dream.
The hair and makeup made me think of frazzled haired librarians who get a little on the side, judging from the provocateur aspect of the show.
All in all, I may sound a bit like a Marc-hater, but I am a Marc-o-phile at heart. But I tend to get a bit queasy when I see him design something like this:
