Marc Jacobs served up 10am kink to put an authoritative stamp at the end of Paris Fashion Week
What is Marc Jacobs saying when he now sends both his own show and his show for Louis Vuitton bang on time? That we all need to make that extra bit of effort because his shows are ultimately worth that extra bit of effort? That he’s so on the ball that everything is prepped without fault and over 50 looks can be sent out in meticulous fashion? It's probably a bit of both but today in particular the rigorous nature of Jacobs’ fashion shows was especially highlighted at Louis Vuitton as guests gathered up in the wee hours of 9ish to enter the venue with French maids trussed up in Louis Vuitton monogrammed tights dusting around a faux hotel foyer complete with a set of four metal wrought lifts with LV insignia. The leather tassel attached to the invite was the other clue to the presentation of this particular ‘Feti-Chic’ collection we were going to get, with the word 'fetish' explained in the notes as something not merely attached to sex but to the act of worship and devotion in general. In the case of LVMH, devotion to product is of paramount importance.
The good news is that the ‘Feti-Chic’ collection had plenty of product that many would look upon with fetishistic desire. Despite the French maids, the theatrical lifts and the accompanying porters who opened the gates revealing each model, there was nothing camp or literal about the clothes save for pieces like the transparent monogrammed trench, organza skirts revealing thigh high stockings, and the hotel night porter caps which affirmed the origin of this seductive and cheeky turn. Instead, Jacobs warped this season's theme of chic retroisms and turned out clothes that explored surface detail in a varied and fascinating way. The attention to detail was noticeable even in the plainer portion of the collection, where there were military jackets with almost cartoonishly big buttons and leather patch pockets and knitted bodies with white pvc peter pan collars that were pink-sheared at the edges.
From there on end it was an onslaught of surface detailing that would have most fashion lovers freaking out over the array of textures – waxed and matted down furs, lacquered and plasticized checks, luxurious python, coated lace, rectangular cut-pailettes running in chevron direction and other numerous fabric treatments that would pick up shine on the motifs. The consistency lay in those chic shapes of yesteryear that were not in any way retro looking given the amount of fabrication warping and contemporary application detailing that we saw. Jacobs’ grasping of a more internalized meaning of fetishism was well and truly demonstrated here. Even modelling greats like Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss making her turn around the corner with a post-coital cigarette in the end, didn’t distract from the clothes at hand which seemed to have put down a final and authoritative say in this season’s preoccupation with notions of elegance and chic and it was by way of clever subversion evident in the fabrication that this was achieved.
