Marc by Marc Jacobs Spring/Summer 2015 was a fun, joyous, irreverent fashion romp of a show, a highlight of NY Fashion Week, and the second MBMJ collection guided by British design dynamos, Luella Bartley and Katie Hillier. This season, the duo looked to the international club scene of the past twenty years or so for their design inspirations.
This Spring/Summer collection, though mainly black and white, is spiced with a few barely there pastels and the occasional brilliant pop of neon in yellow, blue, and pink. You can safely bet your last energy drink that these glow like an induced religious experience under a black light.
To the thumpa thump of proto-jungle-jitsu, faux-hawked models in slick PVC sleeves and leggings walked the runway wearing norm core style utility coats, suits and harnesses paired with chunky leather ankle boots. Molded plastic kettle bell shaped clutch bags and platform Mary Janes accessorized asymmetric dresses and skirts, and shirts worn under dotted bandeau bikini tops. Slogan and graphic T shirts were shown, as well as the thematic over-sized blurred dots and plaids printed on sheets of plastic, then formed into jackets and skirts.
Some of the pieces in the collection feature artful fabric origami creations that seem to add interest to skirts and tops with little to no excess volume. Other pieces are more reminiscent of architectural cutaways with many different fabrics and techniques assembled one on top of the other into a multi-layered asymmetry.
Some of these short asymmetric layered dresses are among the strongest pieces in the collection, somehow perfectly capturing both the edgy, DIY costume-play aspects of club life and the movements associated with rave dancing. The brilliance of the collection is there, where form meets function to tell us the story of how it became. There may be no better definition of what makes design, not only good design, but high art.
