Marc Jacobs Fall 09

For a man who no longer lives in Manhattan Marc Jacobs wrote a love note to the New York of the Eighties with his eponymous fall 09 collection.

We’ve been seeing it all week but now that Marc is in on it we know for sure: the eighties are back. I’ve yet to decide if this is a bad or good thing but for Marc Jacobs it was close to bliss.

Looking away from the outrageous and things that are appealing only on an runway there was a lot here to love. Metallic leather dresses? Yes, please! Cashmere gloves that are so long they need to be slightly scrunched to be shoulder length? I dream of those gloves.

His brightly colored, multi-styled wool coats, hoods, jackets and capes are timeless and sure to be big sellers next fall. Some of the biggest hair, helmet hair you’ve ever seen might be super tacky but the clothes and colors were fun. Outrageous might not sell in dark times but things that make you smile certainly do. An electric yellow velvet cocktail dress isn’t practical or timeless but it is happily innocent of the ills of the world for at least one evening. And I think right now we all need some kind of antidote to reality.

Did I love everything about this collection? No. I would do almost anything for Marc Jacobs but shoulder pads? Sorry, MJ. But your striking colors and luxe fabrics are so beautiful and luscious that they more than make up for the blatant eighties references.

But it’s been the most inspiring one of the season so far. Beautiful, well constructed, quirky, and thoughtful with plenty of pieces to sell out of the stores. 

If Jacobs isn’t feeling pressure about economics he is trying to keep his ladies happy: the show actually started two minutes early.