Marc Jacobs Spring 2017

NEW YORK — Firstly, thank you, Marc Jacobs, for that additional four hours given to all those grinding on the international, four-city ready-to-wear circuit, by moving up the runway show start time to 2 PM from the customary 6 PM. Call it the quirk of a season in which Calvin Klein kept its powder dry this Thursday afternoon (when it normally shows) with a firm commitment to go bang next season when its new maestro Raf Simons debuts his first collection for the iconic label. In practical terms, this temporary hiatus freed up the afternoon for Marc Jacobs to stage a matinée that still had people talking through airport security, inflight meals, and onto the rainy streets of London. All that talk? The hair, the boot, and, well, the hair, the boot, oh, and the spirit of mid 1990s rave. The boots were tall last season, but somehow they seemed even more towering this season. At one point backstage the room all of a sudden was a foot taller as the models dressed in their looks including those boots. The result was nothing short of mental as Underworld’s 1996 B-side anthem “Born Slippy .NUXX” pounded through Hammerstein Ballroom’s considerable sound system. Whether the 1990s were anything like that is debatable, but as the period has had a good two decades give or take four hours to gestate, the glow is undeniable. On the afternoon, Next had seven models featuring in the runway show including Marjan Jonkman, Langley Fox, Elizabeth Moore, Grace Hartzel, Lili Sumner, Riley Montana, an