Editor’s Note: This year was a big one for Marc Jacobs, who celebrated his 40th anniversary in fashion and became American’s first guest editor. Trend. We’re closing out 2024 by taking an archival look at the designer’s career. This Fall 1997 collection, presented in Soho on April 8, 1997, has been digitized as part of Vogue Runway’s ongoing efforts to document the history of the fashion show.
At first glance, Marc Jacobs’s autumn 1997 collection seemed restrained, even Calvinist (as in Calvin Klein), but if the clothes were of minimalist design they were made of special materials. Waffle knits were made from cashmere, and streetwear hoodies became plush sweaters for Soho yoga moms. In an archive report, Vogue wrote: “With a new shock: Marc Jacobs cuts his hair. It’s a fresh look to go with her clean, no-frills collection of baggy gray flannel pants, an orange cashmere sweatshirt and pointy five-inch heels (trend-setter alert: this is the new downtown uniform). Think of those stilettos as an exclamation mark; These clothes looked cool but they also had oomph.
