Dolls are having a moment right now. If it’s not with Daniel Roseberry at Schiaparelli, where the Texan designer sent model Maggie Maurer down the runway clutching a baby made from obsolete tech like ancient cell phones, floppy discs, and defunct charging cables, then it’s John Galliano causing an internet meltdown with his broken dollies, who wobbled and jerked their way around an underground Parisian club decked out in the kind of Margiela couture that could make your heart break clean in two. 

Now, three makes a fully-fledged trend, as Marc Jacobs debuts his 2024 collection in New York. Showing off-schedule just a few days ahead of the new-season fashion circus kicking off in the city next week, the designer invited a small, intimate crowd to celebrate his 40(!) years in the game. Weaving their way around enormous beige folding tables and chairs, the models appeared to have been shrunken down to diminutive Barbie proportions, with their clothes evocative of the kind of paper dolls many of us played with as kids. 

Sweaters came in chunky, pumped-up knits, skirts were stiff and cartoon-like, while prim leather pea coats sat awkwardly on their wearers’ bodies. Sequined and rich silk brocade ‘Sunday best’ dresses came matched with too-big shoes, while little playsuits with high-cut hotpant shorts were so rigid they almost appeared made from plastic. 

The whole collection came in a palette that felt like it had been swiped from a packet of felt-tip pens, with the restrictiveness of the pieces rendering the models further doll-like by pinning their arms to their sides. For the first time, there was a handful of Heaven looks in the mix. Hair, meanwhile, was teased and tangled and piled high on the head, with Duffy – aka the stylist behind those not-too-dissimilar Margiela up-dos – using over 100 wigs to create the look. 

So what does fashion’s fixation on dolls mean, exactly? There’s surely a lot to unpack when it comes to why male designers are intent on dressing grown women up as dollies right now, but Jacobs legged it out of the back door before reporters could squeeze a quote out of him. His shownotes, however, alluded to the fact that, despite having spent 40 years working in an industry that will chew you up and spit you out again in a heartbeat, it hasn’t left him jaded or cynical: “Through the unavoidable lens of time, my glass remains full of wonder and reflection,” he wrote. The collection was naive and elegant, sweet and silly, and, actually, so much fun. Sometimes it’s not that serious.