Creative partnerships in fashion come and go. Some
are tremendously short-lived, whereas others last so long that the two members
of the partnership become almost impossible to separate (imagine, for example,
Chanel without Karl Lagerfeld.) The collaboration between Marc Jacobs and Louis
Vuitton is, for me at least, one of the finest examples of the latter category.
Since being appointed Creative Director of Louis Vuitton in 1997, the New York
designer has helped catapult the luxury house into the mainstream and produced
some of its finest moments. So, it is with great sadness that I read the news
that Jacobs would be leaving the company to focus completely on his own line.
Jacobs made this news crystal clear in his
bittersweet S/S 2014 collection for Vuitton – a presentation so beautiful yet
so melancholic that I actually cried (only a bit, I promise). The set comprised
of set pieces from some of his greatest collections for the house covered –
from S/S 2012’s glorious carousel through to A/W 13’s hotel corridors and S/S 13’s
escalators, the set itself served as a retrospective of Jacobs’ finest moments.
By way of farewell, the entire show was covered from top-to-toe in black paint,
more befitting of a showgirl’s funeral than a runway show. The mood was sombre,
the audience was silent and, as usual, the clothes were stunning.
