NYLON Magazine - September 2007 - (Page 132) THE LITTLE FLOWER THAT COULD Marc Jacob’s spirit has always been steeped in childhood. It’s a youthful charisma most clearly evidenced in his designs. And from the time he sent waifish, moon-eyed models down the runway at the height of the grunge movement wearing flannel shirts and droopy beanies, I and countless others have been enchanted. Despite achieving international fame as the designer at the helm of not only his own eponymous brands, but also French luxury house Louis Vuitton, Jacobs hasn’t lost his ability to tap into the young—his fall show even saw a few model’s hair dyed midnight blue. Though Jacobs may look vastly different nowadays—when I meet him in his NYC showroom, he is trim and tan with closely shorn hair, a far cry from the ghostly pallor and ponytail that were once his signature—he speaks of his inspirations, specifically those that led him to create his newest fragrance Daisy, with the vigor of a more novice designer. “With the perfume I just thought Daisy was a nice name because really it’s a flower with no scent yet it has such a connotation,” explains Jacobs between drags on the first of what would be many cigarettes. “Such a beautiful and young and free-spirited sort of pretty girl connotation. So I thought it was the perfect blank canvas for making something that evoked all those things. It’s great to reference a flower that has no scent when making a perfume…I like the irony of it.” Ironic, yes, but also incredibly challenging to sum up the spirit of a flower about which people already have such specific associations. When I first heard about Daisy, a myriad of images came to my mind—my favorite photograph taken by Loomis Dean of Angelica Huston in the ’60s, her center-parted hair swimming with daisies; Drew Barrymore in the ’90s with a daisy perennially tucked behind her ear; the famous moment when a Vietnam war protester silently placed daisies in the barrels of National Guardsmen’s guns. And, of course, there is Jacobs’ own favorite reference, Daisy Buchanan, the bewitching Great Gatsby character his own dog is named after. “But this wasn’t about a Fitzgerald moment or anything,” Jacobs says smiling. “Daisy has always been a great name and a wonderful character, and of course it’s such a symbol especially through periods of time I have always loved. And while it does represent this sort of hippie aesthetic, that wasn’t its intention. But whatever people see in it is fine, there is no right or wrong. Perception is perception.” The fragrance itself also has a chameleon-like quality that seems to fit with each and every preconceived notion. The blend of elegant violet with sweet strawberry and jasmine, plus classic gardenia, has a sparkling bright quality that smells natural and fresh on the skin. As you imagine a daisy would if it had a scent. Jacobs relied on longtime collaborator Juergen Teller—the ad the pair first worked on together featured Kim Gordon wearing one of his lavender tulle dresses playing guitar on stage with Sonic Youth—to capture Daisy’s personality with pictures. “You know what Juergen gets from everybody is a very intimate moment,” says Jacobs. “It’s a very raw state of an individual. And it’s not a high production crazy fashion shoot, not at all like what I do at Vuitton just a different, very spontaneous, process with instant integrity.” And though Teller has altered popular perceptions of everyone from Meg White to Dakota Fanning with his legendary lens, for Daisy he chose instead to work with unfamiliar faces, four upand-coming models (Johanna Jonsson, Irena K., Alex Sandor, Johanna Stickland). Why? “Well Daisy can be any girl,” Jacobs explains. “And I don’t think it’s even necessarily any girl so much as it is a girl that exists within every young woman.” FIORELLA VALDESOLO MUSE CONTROL Kate Moss, Sofia Coppola, Lil’ Kim, Winona Ryder: a few of the women who have served as inspiration (and hangers) for Jacobs over the years.
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