Cheryl Shops

Marc goes postal
I think we can safely say that the criticism struck Marc Jacobs particularly hard this time; today's WWD featured an expletive-laden tirade from Mr. Jacobs himself in response to all the critics who bitched about his show being late (Suzy Menkes, in particular, ripped him a new one)--this article alone was worth the price of my yearly WWD subscription.

In response to allegations that he was having cocktails at the Mercer before the show:

"That is bullshit! That is bullshit!" he retorted. "I was at the f---ing office until the last fitting was over. I came back to the hotel — I hadn't been here in three days! I hadn't showered in three days! I slept on the couch in my office for 20 minutes three nights in a row — anyone at my office will tell you that. I got 20 minutes sleep Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday night. The first shower I had was Monday at 8 before the rehearsal of our show. I did not have lunch, I did not have drinks, I did not have tea at the Mercer, I walked through the lobby; I live in this hotel. I hadn't been there — ask the reception at the hotel. When they saw me on Monday, they were like, 'We haven't seen you in days.' I lived in my office for three days in a row....My boyfriend was downstairs having dinner. I wasn't. I was at the rehearsal, I was at the office until the last minute. I took 20 minutes to shower and shave — I stank like a raccoon! I could not go to the show like that."

On how he's "sorry":

"I'm very sorry that I inconvenienced anyone by having a show two hours late," he continued. "I really, really am, and so is Robert. We're all very upset that people got their noses bent out of joint. But I think this is so unfair. We do a huge production show, we try to give fashion and do a major fashion show in New York. I have no say in the show schedule, the show schedule has been moved up a week, and another week, and as far as I'm concerned we showed two weeks early not two hours late.

"Another thing, everybody talks about these families they have to go home to. I mean, every person who works in every factory in Italy, and every person who works in our sample room, they didn't see their families for six weeks so that we could do this show two weeks early. So I'm really appalled that people have absolutely no perception of what it takes to do things. And when we complain about the show schedule our voice is not heard, nobody does anything about it, the CFDA does me absolutely no service whatsoever as an American fashion designer."

On perhaps ditching NYC for Paris:

"I don't really feel a part of the American fashion community," he said. "I really feel like an outsider, I think we all do, and we feel unloved here, so we want to go somewhere else."

On his inspiration:

"I've never denied how influenced I am by Margiela, by Rei Kawakubo, those are people that inspire my work; I don't hide that. For her to turn this into this hate fest for me and my collection I think is ridiculous....I expect people, whether we're two hours late or two hours early or we don't show at all, to look at what they see: the clothes. Of course there are comparisons to other things. I'm a designer living in this world who loves fashion...I'm attentive to what's going on in fashion, I'm influenced by fashion, that's the way it is. I have never ever hidden it. I have never insisted on my own creativity, as Chanel would say. I have my interpretation of ideas I find very strong. Jil Sander is influenced by Comme des Garçons, Miuccia Prada is influenced by Comme des Garçons, everyone is influenced by Comme des Garçons, Martin Margiela. Anybody who's aware of what life is in a contemporary world is influenced by those designers. She [Menkes] wants to observe a Jewish holiday, but I start a show two hours late [and] she gets her nose bent out of shape."

On his work ethic:

"I work my ass off," he said. "I don't take vacations, I don't have homes all over the world, I don't ride horses: I f---ing work for a living. Again, like this idea, you have a family? OK, well that's nice, I don't, and I work. So leave me alone and don't come to the show next time."

On his show:

"I'm actually as happy as I could possibly be," Jacobs said. "I think I did a great job. I love what I did."

I think referencing Jews' noses probably wasn't the best idea, but otherwise you have to admire Jacobs' fire--better he deal with his emotions than drown his sorrows in a glass of Scotch. Then again, he needs to grow up and start his show on time--everyone else does, so why can't he? Jacobs' work is strong and important enough that he shouldn't have to resort to hijinks like this to get attention.