Why Marc Jacobs Was 2019’s Ultimate Instagram Fashion Influencer
When it comes to expressing your personal style on Instagram, Marc Jacobs has had a breakout year. I can barely keep my eyes off the designer’s feed—and, of course, his “#OOTDs.” His looks are blindingly bright: There’s leopard, there’s fringe, there’s glitter. The outfits are fun. They have energy. On a wild day, the designer will slip on Rick Owens fun-house mirror platform heels with soles as thick as a club sandwich. (He has a pair in both red and black.) One of my personal favorite snaps sees him standing with his arms crossed in a bubblegum pink tweed blazer from Chanel, an elegant print silk scarf tied around his neck, a pair of cuffed jeans, a peekaboo of yellow socks at his ankles, and those huge red platforms. It’s just him in front of a white background—clearly, he wants you to take in the outrageous, darling outfit in all its glory.
While many designers almost exclusively wear their own designs—Victoria Beckham in her peep-toe boots, for example, or Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen in their artfully tailored garb from The Row—Jacobs is an anomaly. He loves the brightest and most wild of offerings from other brands, supporting them with plenty of tags and mentions; in 2018, he even happily ’grammed his time attending both the Chanel and Balenciaga shows in Paris. This past year, Jacobs has continued his stellar fashion streak with some true standouts. He dressed up in a yellow zebra-print Celine coat a number of times; and back in early December, two members of his team donned matching coats, making for a trifecta of animal-can’t-miss-it print. In November, Jacobs took a fierce mirror selfie in what he described as an “oil slick” patent leather trench by Givenchy, also tagging the label’s designer, Clare Waight Keller. He’s also become a fully-fledged Gucci-head, having worn several of Alessandro Michele’s fantastical creations, including a royal blue blazer this past June and one of the house’s viral silk babushka scarves. He paired that item with a pink sequin–slathered coat and a pair of Loewe sunglasses and captioned the image with “Today’s fit. Pretty pinks. Well, maybe not so pretty, but very pink. Off to work now. Just left my shrink’s office; he loved my outfit. Good session.” You have to love his honesty.
Jacobs’s new Insta-era personal style has led him to slowly include his own designs into his #OOTD. Over the past few weeks, he’s been showing off his holiday collection in collaboration with Magda Archer, seamlessly combining a lime green knit that read Stay away from toxic people across the front with a Balenciaga coat. Before that, he sported another Celine leopard-print coat and a tartan kilt with an I hate art sweater from the same capsule collection, offering a perfect tongue-in-cheek contrast. The results are a kaleidoscope of joyful colors and prints complete with Jacobs’s signature wink. It’s a perfect way for the designer to market his own creations. Just call him the year’s most haute fashion influencer—and don’t forget to double-tap.
Originally Appeared on Vogue
