Post #3: Marc Jacobs Extra Quotes

Due to overwhelming reader response (well, four) here, as promised, are some extra bits from a recent Marc Jacobs interview, conducted on 16/02/07, several hours before his first London show, and several days before he admitted himself to rehab.

THE SCENE: a top floor drawing room in Claridges. A large oak table, set with a large water jug and six glasses at evenly spaced intervals. MARC JACOBS enters, dressed casually in a brown T-shirt and leather jacket, combat pants and sneakers. He orders an espresso and sparks up a Marlboro Light.

On his health
“I had this condition, osteocolitis, bothering me for years, and I treated it with hydrocortisone, and through herbs, and being careful with what I eat, but along with the diet was exercising every day, perspiring every day, cardio, yoga, meditation, sunlight, laughter – all these anti stress kinds of things. I lost 20- something pounds in 8 months. Physically, I’m more fit than ever. If I could get rid of the cigarettes I’d be really healthy."

On Top Shop
"Everybody always asks me that question [whether he has been] but I don’t really see the point of going to the Top Shop" (sic)

On Top Shop being so “inspired” by him
“Well, again I think it’s totally flattering. Robert and I have always thought that if we could do it for the price that they do, we would, but we can’t, so we don’t.”

On success
“I define success by being able to continue doing the things that I love to do. I don’t think success is a completed act. It’s not like the destination. Success isn’t a final thing. I don’t think I am successful, I am more successful than I was 20 years ago. It’s a continuous daily thing”

On his last show (a/w 07)
“I was so happy, and I very rarely say that. I mean, I was happy with the execution of that show.”

On his Marc line
“We’ve over the years established a style and it’s a wardrobe for boys and girls or men and women, its clothes that people actually use every day – in the street, in restaurants… there can be a shift in the style from season to season as there usually is,but they just seem like clothes people actually wear as opposed to a seasonal fashion statement. They’re usable, not just a special occasion thing, people really do use those clothes. Even though it is more affordable we try to maintain some integrity.”

On his favourite bag for this season
“ I loved all the patchwork bags we did – pieces of metallic kangaroo or pieced together in a of degrade crocodile, and they had a funny kind of chain. There were several different shapes,  but I just liked any of the things  that were pieced and seamed.”

On the Stam
They’re always named after someone. I don’t usually name them and I don’t know whose ultimate decision it is to name them as they do, but Jessica’s  very happy that the bag is called the Stam

On the size zero debate
“Well I’ve avoided really contributing to this conversation only because I think its so ridiculous. I think any kind of eating disorder – any kind of addiction or disorder is serious, and it’s not something that’s unique to the fashion industry. And I think when something happens, like when someone is so severely sick like some model dies of an eating disorder, and there’s this ridiculous thunderous response by the fashion industry and I think its all such hypocrisy. Eating disorders are a huge problem but it’s certainly not unique to the fashion industry. And because one or two girls suffer from it that are models, it doesn’t mean all models… some girls are naturally skinny and they’re healthy skinny. I mean I feel like I’m healthy skinny right now.”

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On obesity and addiction
“In the states, obesity seems to be a bigger problem than under eating. How is this helpful? I think of that thing in Bowling for Columbine; that moment where they ask Marilyn Manson what he would have told the kids,  and he said ‘I would have listened to them. I wouldn’t have told them anything’. And having had some experience myself, not with eating disorders but with other things, if you don’t have a parent who is watching or opening up to their kids or allowing them to open up to them, …One can care and one can be open to listen to someone who is trying to say something, but you can’t stop people from doing what they do. So much of what I know about eating disorders is hidden, so I think the best thing to do, from my experience is to listen. Instead of a bunch of people who don’t really understand and maybe can’t really relate on a first hand basis imposing or telling people what to do, like put carrot sticks out for models if they work past eight o clock.”

On blame
“I don’t think we can blame anyone. You can blame their parents, blame their environment… you can’t argue but you can listen. Anybody with any kind of disorder, like with an alcohol problem or a drug problem, needs to talk to other people who have the same thing about overcoming it. There are so many ways to get help when one is ready, and when one is not ready, well, you just cant force anybody to do something they don’t want to do. You just cant. And blaming anyone for anything is pointless.”

Phew! That sent shivers down my back, reading that last bit again. The moral of this story, dear reader, is: you never know what’s round the corner. Or even what’s going on under your nose.

Did you enjoy that? Comments, please. Especially welcome since I typed this all out, didn't save it, lost it all and had to start again...