Marc Jacobs and the dedication to gratitude for SS27 Buoyed by his departure from the LVMH group, the American designer blends past references and irreverence in a lightning-fast show

Marc Jacobs has always been a voice apart. Even in New York, where his name is revered among the greats of American fashion, the designer has always made himself known for his elusive originality. We say elusive because, despite being loved equally by insiders and enthusiasts alike, he has never conformed to the system: he shows off-schedule, doesn't follow passing trends (personal Labubu collection aside), and has little interest in holding a prominent role at a luxury maison that doesn't bear his name. Or at least, that's how it seems. 

What does interest him is made clear by SS27, the new collection presented just last night at the New York Public Library with a very brief show of just four minutes and a string of hypercolourful looks with no finale. Only intelligent pieces, designed to be layered and swapped from one look to the next, while retaining the irreverence that has always made us love Jacobs's taste. At a rather sensitive moment for the brand, which has just been sold by the LVMH group to WHP Global (Vera Wang, Rag & Bone and G-Star) and G-III Apparel Group (DKNY, Karl Lagerfeld, Donna Karan), Marc Jacobs chooses to have fun with Gratitude, as the show's title suggests. 

The references, front and centre

Could the inspiration behind this collection have been the maximalists of the '80s, with their matte PVC tops and dresses; the '70s, with a palette drawing on the deepest shades of autumnal earth tones; or perhaps the '60s, with fluorescent tights worn as trousers? Marc Jacobs puts all doubt to rest in writing, listing every collection that influenced the new one: from Yves Saint Laurent of the '70s to Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel of the '90s, from Junya Watanabe SS96 to the more recent Prada SS07 and Louis Vuitton SS09 (which he himself had designed). Among the references are also Marc Jacobs SS98 and SS 2000. 

In these four minutes of show, all the references become clear: the richness of the accessories Saint Laurent used on the runway after his travels to Morocco, reflected by Marc Jacobs in the abundance of layered necklaces and jewellery piled one on top of another; Karl Lagerfeld's contrast between old and young for Chanel, in the pairing of conventional womenswear staples such as cocktail dresses and blouses with lingerie on full display. The stockings are shimmering, the shorts are very short or absent altogether, the long-sleeved nylon fitted tops are worn beneath completely transparent dresses as an act of defiance. The most striking looks take orange-red and splash it across trousers, tops, tights and pencil skirts, letting the PVC plastic add even more colour to the ensemble. 

Plastic extravaganza  

In Gratitude, a collection that is nothing short of eccentric, Marc Jacobs's style paradoxically becomes more precise and, insofar as the word can apply, minimalist. While on one hand we find the same "dolls" as ever on the runway - that is, a type of manufactured femininity that Jacobs has been playing with for years (think of the Louis Vuitton SS08 nurses or more recent shows such as FW23, in which the models walked with the same haircut and the same vacant expression), this time the result was still commercial, but freer. Perhaps precisely because, returning to America, Jacobs must have shed the heavy elegance imposed on him by the French at LVMH. 

Setting Jacobs's feelings aside, SS27 is packed with pieces that we are certain will be seen everywhere in the coming months, in fashion editorials as well as on the streets of Paris and New York, such as the Officer Jackets covered in rhinestones and the plasticky polka-dot skirts, the matte bralettes and the miniskirts that, paired with a colour-block bandeau top, rise stiffly over the hips like a toy's outfit. There were truly so many ideas in this Gratitude: perhaps proof that all Jacobs needed was a little more room to let some light in.