'This is what you want, this is what you get' repeated John Lydon’s acerbic vocals as Public Image Limited’s indelible "Order of Death" played out, providing the soundtrack for Marc Jacob’s latest mens and womenswear collections for his beloved eponymous diffusion line. And the soundtrack said it all really. As we’ve come to expect from arguably the world’s most successful designer traversing the ranks of luxury fashion to youth-driven fare, Jacobs’ knows his consumer and, more importantly, knows instinctively how to cater to them. This season, that resulted in an unassuming and easy-to-wear grungy collection that took the Marc Jacobs guy and gal to military school – where the uniforms were classic, cool and a little subversive (the male model’s partially shaved heads definitely added punk points). For the girls, full-skirted dresses, flippy and pleated skirts and loosely structured belted jackets and overcoats ruled, paired for good measure (and cool cred) with bovver boots and military caps.
For the boys, London came calling in the form of preppy slim-fitting suits conceived in traditional black (complete with non-traditional white sneakers) and mod-rocking plaid, as well as 60s-style striped mohair sweaters, check button-downs, classic structured woolen overcoats and weather-proof macs. It was a revisionist 90s grunge and riot-grrrl moment to embrace – because hey, only Marc Jacobs could throw our high school Doc-Boots-and-yin-yang-filled grunge days in our face, and not make us cringe.
