“I don’t find clothes sexy at all,” Marc Jacobs said in a talk with the deputy director of the Museum at F.I.T., Patricia Mears, “I find people sexy, and I find personalities fascinating and sexy and appealing and charming. So a sexy girl wrapped in a sheet is a sexy girl, and an un-sexy girl in a low-cut dress is still an un-sexy girl.” That thinking surely influenced the famous casting for his fall 2010 Louis Vuitton show, for which he chose voluptuous, recognizable models instead of the typical super-skinny teenage girls.
Jacobs explained that he hadn’t been attempting to make any statements about age or body type. “I believe that these iconic, larger-than-life women are very Vuitton-like. I suggested Elle Macpherson and Laetitia Casta, and [my stylist Katie Grand] suggested Alessandra Ambrosio and Adriana Lima.” Jacobs didn’t get everyone he wanted. “There were plenty of other girls who we wanted to work with who weren’t available. We wanted Daria [Werbowy], but she was booked for a shoot, and Isabeli [Fontana] but she was booked for a shoot.”
He continued: “Even if you had no idea about fashion and had never looked at fashion, you would say, ‘Wow, look how beautiful those women look.’” He knows he succeeded, because straight guys told him so.During the audience Q&A, a young woman asked Jacobs if he prefers boxers or briefs. “Briefs,” answered Jacobs, unfazed. The woman was delighted, and added, “My mother wants me to say that she buys Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.” There was thunderous applause.
