Only Nicole Phelps, the director of Vogue Runway, could get the high-flying designer Marc Jacobs into a podcast studio—and for this week’s episode, she did just that. It’s a momentous time for Marc, who is celebrating the 40th anniversary of his brand, launched just after he left Parsons School of Design in 1984. Just last Friday, he also preempted New York Fashion Week with his fabulous spring 2024 ready-to-wear collection, presented at the Park Avenue Armory.
Nicole and Marc began by discussing his recent show—from the general sense of wonder permeating the clothes, to the exaggerated silhouettes of the doll-like models who walked down the runway. Then, they backtracked to Marc’s teenage years and his early days in fashion; a time when he dyed his hair orange, wore futuristic, Mugler-inspired jumpsuits, and worked at the now-defunct cult boutique Charivari. He shared a few wild stories from that era, one of which involved planning a party for Kansai Yamamoto in a fish market. (It was chicer than it sounds!)
They also talked about the ubiquitous Marc Jacobs tote, an item he never dreamed would have such a hold on the American consumer. The “It bag” might be a disappearing phenomenon, but from the Venetia bag—which made an appearance in The Devil Wears Prada—to The Tote Bag, Marc has produced his fair share. Indeed, themes of relevance and aging recurred during the hour-and-a-half-long chat, but Marc, happily, doesn’t seem to be going anywhere: “I’m not done—like, I still want to tell stories, and I still want to work in fashion.”
But before all of that, at the top of the show Chioma and Chloe reflected on this week’s fashion news, which included the recent appointment of Zac Posen as creative director of Gap—or, as Chioma cheekily put it, “from wedding dresses to white T-shirts.” Then, they discussed their favorite fashion-forward looks from the Mexico premiere of Dune: Part 2, where Zendaya and Florence Pugh stunted in Bottega Veneta and Standing Ground, respectively. Sorry, Timothée, but the girlies outshone you this time.