Marc Jacobs' men's collections, despite their increasing sophistication, are often exercises in camp—albeit exquisitely rendered, made-in-Italy, highbrow camp. It's how Jacobs gets his kicks, while bringing a dose of levity to his adoring fans. Spring was no exception. Nosing through the showroom racks, what at first seemed to be a salmon color story morphed into a fern story and on to a flamingo story—pink flamingos, that fifties icon of lawn kitsch. At first subtle, they soon flocked across shirts in allover prints and landed on the back of a black satiny bowling-style jacket as one big and flamboyant sequined centerpiece.
Aside from his feathery friends, however, Jacobs seemed to rediscover mid-century men's elegance, apparently nostalgic for that halcyon heyday of made-to-measure tailoring, cocktail attire, and vacation wardrobes. Glamorous bachelors would luxuriate in pastel hideaways like Miami's South Beach, Las Vegas, or, if they were feeling especially exotic, the casino resorts of Havana, where they'd foster fantasies of hobnobbing with foppish, well-mannered gangsters. Jacobs deftly tapped into this subtropical noirish scenario with cream-colored linen suits, soft-pink striped polos, crisp white ties on crisp white shirts, diaphanous knits, and that quintessential item of the made man, the vest—with the bottom button undone, as it should be.
