Marc Jacobs Gives Insight Into The Ever-Changing Fashion Industry

Filed Under: Fashion Smashion Marc Jacobs Rachel Zoe

Marc Jacobs took a little time from his busy schedule to chitchat with WWD.

In the interview, he weighs in on the way the fashion industry has changed since celebrities, reality TV, and the internet have opened a window into the fashion world, shedding light on the way the sausage is made. Some highlights:

On whether or not the new exposure the fashion industry has enjoyed in recent years is a good thing:
"Good or bad thing is a judgment — and I just think it’s unnecessary to do that. I read this article about the Standard Hotel and how people were lining up all around the Meatpacking District because they could watch people undressing, having sex [through the windows] and all this stuff. And you know what? The hotel is full; people want to stay there. So a voyeur doesn’t mean anything without an exhibitionist. It takes all kinds.

Rachel Zoe is a good friend of mine. The reality show wouldn’t have been renewed for another season if people didn’t want to know that Rachel Zoe was this crazy stylist. So it is what it is…. We’re in a period where people are entertained by what they consider to be the real lives of people in different professions, etc. And fashion has also reached this kind of proportion like football or sport, you know — a spectator sport. So just like you had Joe Namath back in the Seventies promoting stockings, or shaving cream or whatever, you now have designers promoting life jackets and whatever else they do."

On whether this exposure "kills the mystique":
'I don’t know. To me, as a working designer, I think fashion has great mystique. I mean, I have no idea what we’re going to be showing in two weeks [at Louis Vuitton]. So for me the mystery remains the same. What people’s reaction to it will be remains the same — I have no idea. So, there’s always the possibility of surprise. It just may not come in the same form as it did before.

You know, if we talked about the days of couture, and when Orbach bought rights to reproduce things from the couture — you can’t compare 2009 to 1950. Everybody has instant access to information, and everybody gets to see the shows, and Zara is not buying rights from Christian Dior. That’s the way of the world. And, again, to qualify or to judge whether it is good or bad is, in a spiritual sense, really futile."

On whether or not the exposure makes the fashion more egalitarian:
"I don’t know if it makes the actual product more egalitarian; it demystifies the experience. Any behind-the-scenes look is always telling of the fact that these are all real people doing real jobs and who work really hard. Again, I don’t know that that makes the end result more accessible. It just makes the ideas more accessible."

Well put! We always love us some Marc, he's so eloquent and insightful!

Check out the rest of the interview at WWD.com.

[Image via WENN.]

Posted: October 12, 2009 at 6:26 pm