Marc Jacobs Doesn’t Need Instagram or Music To Put On a Good Show

New York Fashion Week came to a close on Thursday in total silence. It was a social media-free moment of zen after a politically-charged marathon of shows, and all thanks to Marc Jacobs. Known as the showman of the week, Jacobs pulled a total 180 from his traditional theatrics. The set for his Fall 2017 collection was not a set but rather a seemingly endless line of folding chairs down the middle of a completely sparse Lexington Avenue Armory. “He’s not making a big deal about it, but Marc just doesn’t want people staring at their phones the whole time,” said a Marc Jacobs employee to an editor. And since this is Jacobs after-all, the crowd largely obliged. Inspired by his recent viewing of the documentary Hip-Hop Evolution, Jacobs sent out a parade of looks that the designer described in his show notes as a love letter of sorts to New York. The collection was heavy on cool, layered separates in relaxed silhouettes and hues of brown, modeled by Slick Woods, Kendall Jenner, Winnie Harlow, Adwoa Aboah, and Alek Wek, among others, as well as transgender models Avie Acosta and Casil McArthur. After Jacobs took his final bow, attendees stepped out from silence and onto the bustling Park Avenue, where towers of speakers blasted music behind two model formations lounging and, in a cathartic turning of the tables, snapping pictures of the guests coming out. How’s that for an Instagram moment.