WWD: Louis Vuitton RTW Fall 2012

"How can we outdo ourselves?" That was the question Marc Jacobs posed to himself and his team at the outset of fall's creative process, which commenced as soon as the grand, gilded merry-go-round of his spring show was being disassembled. A deliciously wicked tale of two Belle Epoque archrival divas came to mind. Jacobs had read the story in a Louise J. Esterhazy column from the W magazine of yore, and retold it during a preview with the disclaimer that memory might not serve exactly. The gist: When one lady — was it Sarah Bernhardt? — got wind that the other planned to arrive at an important ball wearing her jewelry collection en totale, she promptly trumped her nemesis by showing up in a plain black dress trailed by her maid, who was bedecked in all her mistresses's bijoux. "I thought, 'No girl will carry a bag this season,'" said Jacobs. "It will be carried for her." For the full review: http://bit.ly/yRoPtb