NEW YORK, Feb 13, 2001/ --- Marc by Marc Jacobs is quickly turning into a fun-loving party-girl companion line to the designer's main collection.

While last season's debut Marc collection took a turn toward the prom in subversively bright colors, Marc's girl this season has decided to hang with the modern rock crowd and listen to The Cure.

For fall, Jacobs showed a range of punky looks that mixed military coats heavy on the buttons with multi-tiered skirts, pink and yellow striped jeans and graffiti sweatshirts.

To get in touch with her tomboy nature, Marc's girl will run around town with slim cropped varsity jackets, rugby shirts, bomber jackets and felt school blazers trying hard to look rebellious.

Among Jacobs' many talents is his gift for appropriating streetwear for a fashion audience - cleaning up the fabric and silhouette along the way - and this collection doesn't disappoint.

One can almost imagine the beeline these clothes will make from their grittier vintage originals off the kids in the East Village today, straight to the tony West Village where his newest store is, and where the affluent downtown set can snap them up.

With lots to choose from - from the coats to denim jackets and skirts - the collection will probably find its way not only to magazine editorial pages, but on to the backs of fashion flaks.

But even with such seemingly uncontroversial fashions, a protester managed to sneak on to the runway, throwing fake maggots at the models and into the audience before promptly being escorted offstage.

The only thing was, with the fashion crowd inured to the point of boredom with such tactics, many didn't even care who was responsible, nor what the point of the protest was.

Marc by Marc Jacobs

Marc by Marc Jacobs

Marc by Marc Jacobs

Marc by Marc Jacobs