Marc Jacobs Says, 'I Still Have Stories to Tell’

The Business of Fashion Podcast

The Business of Fashion

Fashion & Beauty, Business, Arts

4.6 • 770 Ratings

🗓️ 18 May 2020

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

As American fashion changes rapidly in real-time, Jacobs shared his thoughts on the state of an industry in flux.

Jacobs revisited his last fashion show at the Park Avenue Armory. “I would be very happy if that were my last show,” he said. New York’s role in global fashion is waning, and the future of live fashion shows in the coming months and years remains uncertain. “We don’t know if there will be much of a fashion industry in New York,” said Jacobs. “Will the people that have the skill still be around?”
Furthermore, the waste within the industry, and the flawed system of scheduling and orders has put more of an impetus on designers to slow down. “The idea of being forced to create something and tell a story constantly when it has no soul feels so vacant,” said Jacobs, pointing also to the wasted fabrics and unused products that end up in landfills. “The urge to make things and create things hasn’t gone away… I still have stories to tell,” he added. Maybe how that happens will change.
Digital collections and online shopping aren’t adequate substitutes. “Ordering online in a pair of grubby sweats is not my idea of living life,” said Jacobs, comparing the experience to looking at art online. “I don’t look at a Rothko online and cry.”

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I was horrified by what I was seeing as people's sort of lack of learning collectively to what just happened or is happening.
0:11.0	It's still happening. This hasn't changed yet.
0:14.0	Isn't that interesting that we could be the people that the new artists scandalized?
0:18.0	The idea of being forced to create something and tell a story constantly, when it has
0:22.8	no meaning, it has no soul, it has no authenticity or credibility, just seems so vacant. I have a choice
0:28.8	every morning. I can take care of myself and be of use, or I can lie in bed and contribute to the
0:34.9	garbage.
0:44.6	Hi, this is Imran Ahmed, founder and CEO of the Business of Fashion and welcome to the Bof podcast.
0:45.8	It's Mental Health Awareness Week.
0:47.5	And last week on BOF Live, our editor at large Tim Blank spoke to the celebrated American
0:53.0	designer Mark Jacobs, who touched on a
0:55.7	variety of topics from, you know, working through the coronavirus crisis and maintaining his
1:00.9	creativity, but also on how the crisis is impacting his own mental health at this time of
1:06.1	anxiety and stress for people around the world. Here's Mark Jacobs, Inside Fashion.
1:18.1	Hi, Tim.
1:19.1	Hi, Mark.
1:20.4	Such a pleasure to see you today.
1:22.7	It's always a pleasure to see you, Tim.
1:24.9	And this will have to be our conversation
1:26.7	for the next few seasons, I guess,
1:28.5	because we won't be seeing each other in.
1:32.1	Well, who knows?
	...

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