On Monday night (June 30), Marc Jacobs returned to the New York Public Library for an off-schedule 2show (rather simply) titled, ‘Beauty’. “A quality or combination of qualities that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is often associated with properties such as harmony of form or colour, proportion and authenticity,” read the show notes. Starting promptly at 7.30PM, what followed was a show that was bulbous and beautiful. There were 19 striking, signature larger-than-life doll silhouettes sweeping down the marble corridor, proving once again that no one stages a fashion fantasy quite like Jacobs.

In February, his SS25 show in the same building lasted all of six minutes. This year, Jacobs managed to trim that time to five minutes. Here’s everything that went down.

EXPLODING, BULGING DOLL SHAPES

Jacobs has been playing around with doll-esque proportions for several seasons at this point. But if SS25 Marc Jacobs dolls were Polly Pockets with clip-on clothing, tonight his dolls were exploding. The clothes were still highly spherical, with exaggerated proportions throughout, but they were no longer hanging from the models. Instead, they were spilling out from the models as bulging fabric and curvaceous shapes (although, notably, there were no curve models on the runway), including tight bras over misshapen bust pieces and balloon pants. Even the music, Nick Cave’s “Song for Jesse”, felt like it could be part of the score for a film on a haunted doll’s house. 

SHOES AS STILTS

At first glance, it would be easy to assume that the models were sweeping down the marble corridor on stilts. Their steps were short and their platform shoes, with two tight and curved bottom blocks, were so high that they far transcended being called “heels”.  Kiki? Practically a flat in comparison.

A FRONT ROW DEBUT

On the runway, models held puff-bags hanging from wrist straps with chains. In the front row, Jacobs took the off-schedule moment to debut a brand-new handbag, The Cristina. The scrunched, U-shaped bag is already available in ivory, dark plum and black on the Marc Jacobs website.

BOWS ARE HERE TO STAY

I would say ‘bows are back’, but they never left. The fashion industry may have been awash with bows for years at this point, but just when it feels like the ribbon trend has reached a saturation point, another designer makes the case for them to stay. Jacobs’ take on bows was enlarged and in black or white. The designer placed them on the back of skirts, dresses and on the sides of models’ heads.