Marc Jacobs

What with one thing and two others I completely forgot to check out the Marc Jacobs ready-to-wear show for Fall 2008. Can you even believe? And I might not have remembered at all, but for the documentary about him and his work at Louis Vuitton I caught yesterday on our cable's On Demand. First: On Demand. My new favorite thing in the world. A seemingly random selection of movies, hundreds of them, ranging from dreck to delight, changed regularly, all free. I tell you, it's enough to make a girl quit her job. The documentary, called "Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton," was made for French TV by a skeleton crew of three guys, and is totally wonderful. The narration is pithy and witty and informative, and watching the creative head of a financial empire as vast as MJ's currently is is totally fascinating. Don't get me wrong: I'd have to be born over and born different to stop falling for the dream of glamor and sophistication that drives fashion and makes me and lots of other people pay crazy amounts for a shot at a piece of it. But when I watch or read about the business angle of it all I am completely absorbed in a different and equally pleasurable way. In terms of charisma Marc himself is no Isaac Mizrahi (see "Unzipped"), but nor is it easy to look away from him as he chain-smokes his way to, as the narration tells us, creating goods that result in an "average spend" of $3000 per customer in LV stores worldwide.

PS—As for the photo at left: the whole collection is still simmering in my mind, and I don't know how I feel about the clothes, but lordy, check out those shoes!