cool cat in the hat - Marc Jacobs a/w 2012

When all the fashion world is a stage, Marc Jacobs will use that stage to drag us down an Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole and into a Puritan winter acid trip. Do you follow? Me neither.




Influenced by Cat in the Hat  meets Kurt Cobain in the midst of Marie Antoinette style ruins, Marc Jacobs  oversaw an encyclopaedic marriage of historic and pop-culture references that were misfitting but somehow still manageable.

Large fur Dr Seuss hats were at the absolute forefront of the collection and seemingly added an element of fantasy that was inaccessible, creating a real fashion show rather than  just a catwalk presentation. But this was actually more of a pretence as the exaggerated hats obscured a collection that was really quite conventional and fashionable when stripped down.

What Jacobs actually presented was an elegant line of winter coats with padded hips to make them Dickensian in shape. This matched his array of vastly coloured, rhinestone buckled pilgrim shoes both flat and with a stacked heel.  The coats sat over textured, sparkly woollen jumpers, bell-shaped skirts, cropped trousers and paisley neckerchiefs. Then they were given an extra layer with knitted and crocheted stoles held together with enormous safety pins.

Embellishment made the oversized clothes even weightier with plastic on top of tweed on top of tinsel. Yet, like I said, as separates everything was attainable and wearable, maybe even beautiful. But that's the job of the enigmatic, eccentric designer; to create and realise the most imaginative show on earth - so that the clothes appear completely different in the catalogue and in the store.

From the musical Oliver, three different versions of 'Who will buy?' rang throughout The Armory at Lexington Avenue. I think the song was more of a demand than a question because, let's face it, Marc Jacobs already knows the answer.