Marc Jacobs’ fall collection centers around old-lady chic: looking eccentric in big coats, big hats, and big hips. But now it seems that his collection for next spring – which will debut during New York Fashion Week in September – will be about showing some skin.
In a conversation with the artist John Currin for the upcoming issue of Garage Magazine (which hits newsstands on September 10th), Marc Jacobs opined on taking his collection sexier, buying an erotic painting by John Currin, and why “perfection is a sin.”
On Going Sexier This Season: “After last season, when everything was wrapped and layered, I’m thinking, how am I going to make this sexier?”
On Eccentric Personal Style: “I’d be really happy if people believed they were in their own movie and dressed the part. I love it when you see a woman like L’Wren Scott or Rachel [Feinstein]. It’s fantastic when people wardrobe themselves and express themselves that way.”
On Casting Models: “It’s not like there’s a master plan for casting… I love a long face, but I also love a super-round face. I love shapes. Even if I write in my notes that this season it’s going to be all about this, some girls walks in and something happens. I had a plan, but it’s fine to break and interrupt and change that plan.”
On His Playlist: “These days I’m very happy listening to just classical music. I’m not that into popular music, as I was once upon a time.”
On Finishing A Collection: “It’s never perfect, built it’s as good as I could get within the time. I let it go, and I’m okay with what I’ve let go of…. Perfection is a sin.”
On Collecting Art: “[My new house is] physically built and finished, but it’s going to be about 10 years of collecting now. I bought an Ellsworth Kelly from the 1960s and I bought one Urs Fisher piece, and then I’m going to have this painting of yours [John Currin’s], Gold Coast.”
On The Risk of Starting A Collection Too Early: “There is all this pressure to start earlier so that we will finish earlier, but my partner Robert Duffy says, ‘Please don’t start early, because the earlier you start the more we throw away.’”
On Last Minute Decisions: “Usually it’s the last-minute decisions that are the best. That’s the heart-breaking thing. I can’t tell everybody we’re going throw out everything that we’ve been working on for three months because this would be a much better show if I only showed the last 12 pieces.”
On Finishing A Collection Down To The Wire: “I always say it, like clockwork, every season – if we only have two more weeks. Everyone just looks at me, raises and eyebrow and rolls their eyes. “If we had two more weeks, you would be starting over, you wouldn’t be perfecting these things, you’d find fault with everything.”
On Pulling All Nighters Before A Show: I was working crazy hours and eating junk food at all times of day and making myself sicker and sicker. Now, even though I still work a lot, it’s moderated. I work better under pressure. I hate it, I wish I didn’t. I’ll work seven days and late nights before a show, but then I need to balance out again.
