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Marc Jacobs Takes Louis Vuitton Downtown
By: Godfrey Deeny
Photo by Gruber-FWD
Mar 14, 2002/ FWD/ --- Though the fall-winter 2002 Louis Vuitton women's ready-to-wear
collection ended up near the Arctic, this show was all about creating clothes for affluent
members of the creative downtown.
This is a collection for a woman who doesn't have oodles of time to dress in the morning,
or the inclination to spend hours in front of the mirror.
It's for artistic and aesthetic types who have much more important things on their mind than
fashion.
That's not to say that Jacobs' collection was simply arty -- far from it.
He had some fine and frequently novel ideas, though most of his fabrics had Marc's preferred
already-worn finish.
One of the most admirable things was the way Marc managed to keep a significant distance
between his signature line and what he does for Vuitton.
Where the New York collection was firmly in the grunge-glamour camp, Vuitton inhabits a more
practical terrain.
His strongest ideas were the padded and zipped motorcycle pants in satin or leather.
A lot of women are going to want to ride around in these flattering babies.
Manly ecru parkas with horizontal bands were spot on, in that "I just borrowed my boyfriend's
coat to dash out on an errand" sort of way.
However, Vuitton executives are definitely going to like the selection of small bags,
especially the soft half-moon logo bag with a thin shoulder strap and the stiff gray handbag
with small exterior pockets.
The footwear was also impressive: Spanish riding boots, dark mink boots, and some great
sling-backs of twisted leather.
The only real weak point in the show was the Eskimo-influenced finale.
The colors were fine, as were the silver threading and embroidery, but the cut was wide and
made even some very leggy models look chunky.
And we really wish Marc would rein in his insistence on sending out tiny shorts so baggy
they looked like diapers -- even if they are in alpaca.
That said, the show, staged on a cracked gold catwalk in Marc's traditional venue, a glass
house in Parc Andre Citroen, had a noble and delicate air, which made its memory a striking one.
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