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Just after presenting what was possibly his most commercial collection to date in New York, Marc Jacobs sits down with Suzy Menkes to talk about everything from the current state of fashion to what he misses about working in Paris. In the interview, Menkes finds Jacobs, like pretty much everyone else, a little fed up with fashion right now. "I look at young fashion and it seems like it's all the same—the idea of what is edgy or cool," Jacobs says. "It's style with no substance; it doesn't really seem born of anything." Then, he inserts a jab that could only be directed at Alexander Wang. "I don't see the rebellion or edge in it," says Jacobs. "It just looks like a cliche: salad oil in the hair, Frankenstein shoes and the trappings of punk and all these other things."
Since inspiration from a 'street' or punk attitude didn't feel original or fresh to the designer, Jacobs instead focused on Diana Vreeland for his current collection because she "found an allure in the past but was curious about the future."
The collection was, as usual, a complete departure from his past shows. It's a fact that Jacobs takes pride in: "I have often been criticised for doing an about-face from one season to the next—as has my wonderfully inspiring lady designer whom I love so much, Miuccia Prada—but that is what I love about fashion," Jacobs explained. "I love that kind of dedication, devotion—obsession with what looks so amazing that you have to have it now. And then saying next season, 'Well I wouldn't be caught dead in it.' I love the obscenity and the perversity of that."