Marc Jacobs / Andy Warhol

Photographs by fashionartedit

Marc Jacobs. By Glenn O'Brien. Interview. June / July 2008. 

excerpted text:

"His collaborations with Stephen Sprouse, Takashi Murakami, and Richard Prince have shaken things up in both the fashion and art worlds. Not to mention advertising that looks like art and boutiques that feel like clubs. Andy Warhol used to talk about the best art being business art. And it would be hard to find someone who has done more to apply to an artist's thinking of running a creative big business than Marc Jacobs." (Glenn O'Brien)

"It's not my fault! I just have interests outside the superficial world of fashion" (Marc Jacobs)

"I started to thinking in romantic terms, and I always thought back to the time of Schiaparelli and Chanel and Cocteau, when all these creative people seemed to be doing things together. They where influenced by Pablo Picasso or Salvador Dali, and fashion and art had a chance, you know?" (Marc Jacobs)

"And what I wanted to do, in the same way as Serge [Gainsbourg] had done, was deface it. The way that Duchamp had done with L.H.O.O.Q., by putting this moustache on [the Mona Lisa] and making it something hipper, a little bit anarchic, and just cooler". 

"Takashi was so pleased with what we had done that he then had a show at Marianne Boesky Gallery where he showed his paintings, which were inspired by the work that we had done together. He had an actual art show of work that he had done after seeing the fashion show". 

"Whether you like it or not, there's a validity to it. For all the critics who made fun of the installation of a Vuitton shop within Takashi's MOCA exhibition...I saw it like Martin Kippenberger's subway grate, you know? It Challenged this sort of categorizing. Like, what is teh art here? Is it what's on the bag? Is it the action of buying the bag - that's the art? Is it watching the people buying the art? Because it's installed in an exhibition in a museum, it it some kind of conceptual performance piece? It operates on so many levels that it's hard to categorize." (Marc Jacobs)

Is the art world still in fashion?

"Is the art world still fashion?". Vanessa Friedman. Financial Times. 03.15.08.

excerpted text:

"Now, on the surface, this might not strike a layperson as strange. Aren't artists all about their art? And aren't fashion people supposed to look good? Well, yes, but when Ms Lambert started her list back in 1940 there had been a conscious decision to exclude fashion people due to the fact that they have a clear advantage over others thanks to their levels of access and experience. This is doubly true when it comes to models, who not only have access and experience but youth and the genetic lottery on their side, and whose professional success is predicated on their ability to wear anything and make it look fabulous. Yet suddenly an exception had been made, and the top three best-dressed women (Agyness Deyn, Kate Moss, and Natalia Vodianova) were - yes - models, and they squished those painters and photographers and performance artists right out of the picture.

Surprising, really, when you consider that, ever since the millennium, fashion has been enjoying a love affair with the art world not seen since Elsa Schiaparelli got up close and personal with the surrealists. At Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs has made a quasi-fetish out of collaborating with artists such as Takashi Murakami, Stephen Sprouse and Richard Prince; fashion brands vie to underwrite the big art parties of the year, such as the Serpentine's Summer gala; and artists such as Sam Taylor-Wood and Tracey Emin are routinely photographed in the latest Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney (who made Tatler's BDL), and Vivienne Westwood. Art events such as Frieze and the Venice Biennale have turned into the fifth stops on the annual ready-to-wear calendar and, this season, the romance has extended to the clothes, with Dolce & Gabbana offering floral hand-painted confections (pictured), Chloé splashing Rothko-like swathes of paint on to chiffon, and Prada going all art nouveau and swirly."

"As for the art world, forensic evidence indicates it is still in fashion. Dries van Noten showed a collection for next season replete with spin, splash, and pointillist prints, while a mere three days after the Paris shows drew to a close in London, Tod's sponsored the Whitechapel gallery's annual Art Plus Film fundraiser, complete with invitation by designer Henry Holland, customised Tod's D-Bag by artist Jim Lambie (who is represented by Sadie Coles, who is herself often in magazines such as Vogue and Tatler), and a much-publicised star appearance by ... Agyness Deyn. Who wore plaid, if anyone wants to know."