Simply Abu Dhabi XI

1 9 2 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I F or Autumn/Winter 2013, Marc Jacobs has gone glossy. Every look in the collection is a glorious ensemble of tactile fabrics, fluid lines, old-school elegance and sizzling appeal. "What I prefer is that even if someone feels hedonistic, they don't look it,” Jacobs once said. This is the proof. The collection was launched to the rapturous approval of the fashion pack at a show in New York earlier this year. Instead of a runway, a circus-style ring took centre stage, around which models wearing cropped black wigs strutted like prancing show fillies. A giant sun was suspended from the ceiling – a deliberate reference to ‘The Weather Project’ artwork by Olafur Eliasson at the Tate Modern in London – turning everyone in the audience an alarming shade of yellow but giving everything on the concrete stage an almost sepia tone. This served a purpose. With diffused light in gentle tones, the rich textures and patterns of the clothes could be more clearly seen. Simple shirt dresses made of microplaid, metallic fabrics, mohair snug tops, lame skirts, fox fur coats, flashes of sequins, glossy silks. When at the end the lights were steadily turned up enough to see colours and models were sent out for another circuit, the burgundy, sapphire, ruby, rose quartz, navy, champagne, mauve, cobalt, teal, forest green, ivory and gold glowed out of the gloom. It was otherworldly. The collection was born out of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy when Jacobs’ West Village house was badly damaged and had to be rebuilt. Winter StormNemo then added to the drama, delaying work on his collection, unsettling the designer. “I’ve felt out of sorts, and I wanted to see things sort of dismal and then still show the optimistic side,” he says. As you’d expect from a man who fills his days so unequivocally – he is the head designer for Marc Jacobs as well as his diffusion line Marc by Marc Jacobs, and he has been the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton since 1997. Autumn/Winter 2013 shows a ‘somewhere over the rainbow’, Kansas sort of despair and optimism. A will that won’t be bowed. A determination to continue. This is reflected in the setting too, which appeared apocalyptic. Some models appeared half-dressed, as if about to flee a disaster. Some were clutching accessories as if they were their last worldly possessions. In that vein, clothes were stripped down to basics. Simple, understated, uncomplicated but exquisitely made. Cable-knit sweaters, smart blazers and vests, silk pyjamas, high-waisted briefs, mid-calf palazzo pants, cropped jackets, fur shrugs and shaggy stoles, dangerously short hot pants. Beautifully cut boxy coats with large collars showing an influence of menswear, neat sweaters for the office and column pencil skirts. Silhouettes were wide-shouldered but faded to liquid lines and high- gleam skirts. The pyjamas were unexpected, but they hint at the comfort of the familiar and a reassuring beauty that Jacobs was seeking to convey. For nighttime, Jacobs went to town on sequins and glossy, floor- skimming gowns teamed with shaggy furs and masculine jackets. A sequined, mid-calf, flared jump suit in deep blue was a surprising but altogether effective twist. On their feet, models wore high-heeled T- strap sandals and carried chain-handled bags or delicate clutches. Skinny belts added definition to slender hips. It’s almost prohibition New York under siege, which is fitting for the American designer who hails from the capital of cool. Raised by his grandmother there after his father died and mother couldn’t cope due to mental illness, New York’s history and style seems to have seeped into his bones. His life story, the background to this collection and the show itself all attest to Marc Jacobs’ resilience. Long may it continue.