Usually when something is that thought out, that detail-oriented, it all serves an overall purpose, idea, unifier for the collection. According to Nicole Phelps--the fashion blurb/summary/review writer for style.com--"his sublime performance was about sex." To Cathy Horyn of the New York Times Jacob's collection also experimented with sexuality on the runway, as an art: "Many people who follow fashion have been waiting for a designer to deal openly and imaginatively with sexuality without exploiting it, to find shapes more in concert with women’s lives than another humdrum bustier. With his cutaway dresses, seductive capes and sly color-block tops, including a varsity jersey, Mr. Jacobs convinces us that it is possible." Grace Coddington, the creative director of Vogue praised the show, explaining "There were so many layers, and I don’t mean clothes." But how do all these layers point to sex as the overarching idea?
Everyone in the Art world knows that High Art, more subtle art, always has layers that all contribute to the overall vision/concept/coherence of the spectacle. But Jacob's collection might have had too many:
-The show ran in opposite order with the designer's bow at the beginning followed by the models' finale, and then a backwards procession starting with eveningwear.
-The show was two hours late (debatable whether this was deliberate or not)
-A new level of ridiculousness achieved in set design--brilliant, though.
-Shoes that were made to look "too small" or with the heel at the arch of the foot--again, remarkable feat of engineering.
-Clothes that were made to look unfinished.
-Dish gloves?
The point is, there were so many elements that the "sex" of the Jacobs' collection was lost--on me, at least. With the backwards show, the too-small heels, the "unfinished" garments, fragmented set design, and tardy start time, all I got was chaos; not sex.
And it is absolutely possible to do chaos well, coherently, even (ironic, I know).
Comme Des Garcons Spring 2008 show was a spectacle, to say the least, and brilliant. Designer Rei Kawakubo went exactly as far as Jacobs should have gone. It featured garments made to look constructed out of dyed coffee filters, skirts that looked cut right down the middle and replaced with a different pattern and fabric, and several looks that seemed in danger of disintegration on the runway. Yet, the elements that made up her show--"A projection of naïve anime cartoons was playing on the floor; a jerky soundtrack of circus whizbangs, rock 'n' roll, the theme from the James Bond films, and traditional Japanese tunes"--created the necessary environment for chaos. Jacob's collection screamed so many different things that it melted into chaos.
Some highlights from CDG (The whole show was amazing):
Obviously fashion is going in the direction to where the show, as entire spectacle carries great weight on designers' minds in order to achieve a vision. However, if designers choose to make such a to-do about their shows, they must take Tim Gunn's famous "editing eye" to their shows, and ask themselves, "are all these elements producing my coherent vision?"
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