Marc Jacobs’ Hip-Hop Influenced Runway Show
The Cool Kids Take Over the Park Avenue Armory
We definitely have NOT forgotten about the Marc Jacobs collection from last season that took cultural appropriation to another level with Caucasian models strutting the runway in multicolored faux locks. Immediately after the social media storm, Jacobs began defending himself and his statements only made the situation worse! Aside from that, he listed over 10 inspirations including Harajuku girls, London in the 80’s, Boy George, Ravers, House music and more, yet there was just one very important inspiration that was conveniently excluded! The issue he truly faced was not the fact that he used locks in his show, but that it was overwhelmingly white (models) AND he and his hair and makeup team refused to acknowledge that their show’s influence was from Black or Rastafarian culture. He didn’t give credit where it was due! Period.
Fast forward to New York Fashion Week 2017! The new Marc Jacobs collection is literally based on hip-hop music and culture and this time, he makes a clear statement that he was inspired by a documentary called Hip-Hop Evolution. Additionally, the models were significantly more diverse in race and feature than the previous season and gave us all types of 80’s LL Cool J realness. See what he did there?
Guests were not allowed to use cell phones to take photos/video during the show; however at the end of the presentations, models sat “live mannequin” style and used cell phones to photograph the guests. There were a few nice pieces, but unfortunately I did not love this collection. Plus I can’t say I felt nostalgic, given the disrespect and lack of apology for his actions in the previous season.
Video and Photo Credit(s): Umberto Fratini / Indigital.tv for Vogue Runway
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