There were surprises aplenty at Marc Jacobs’ spring/summer 2017 collection, but none brought a graphic jolt of playfulness more than his collaboration with artist, Julie Verhoeven.
There were surprises aplenty at Marc Jacobs’ spring/summer 2017 collection, but none brought a graphic jolt of playfulness more than his collaboration with artist, Julie Verhoeven.
One thing you’ll notice from pictures of Julie Verhoeven on her Instagram account (@julieverhoeven) is that she doesn’t seem to keep to one hair colour for long. It’s as if the 47-year-old British illustrator’s eclectic taste in dye jobs, be it a head of bright yellow or streaks of teal mixed with orange, go hand in hand with her quirky art pieces.
Verhoeven’s body of work spans the domains of art, fashion and design. Her installations are often described as witty, but she’s most noted for her visceral drawings, which utilise lots of colour and lines to move the soul. A celebrated alumni of South England’s Kent Institute of Art & Design, she held an illustrator stint at John Galliano, and her eye-catching drawings have decorated collections for Mulberry and Versace. Which makes her the obvious choice to sprinkle some magic dust onto Marc Jacobs’ kaleidoscopic “twisted streetwear” collection for spring/summer 2017.
It’s not the first time the two have worked together. Back in 2002 during his early days as Creative Director at Louis Vuitton, Jacobs famously tapped on Verhoeven’s talent to reimagine the French Maison’s iconic monogram pattern. She promptly stitched up patches of Vuitton’s signature materials into cartoonish scenes and applied them on a range of bags that instantly became collectors’ items.
The new collaboration at Jacobs’ eponymous line carries on the same whimsical vein, but with more pop references thrown into the mix. “I felt we should do something friendlier, kinder, pretty; lots of prints. Except, I did it my way,” explained Jacobs of the high-energy collection, which saw models totter down the set inside New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom on vertiginous platform heels, some spruced up with abstract iconography courtesy of Verhoeven. The artist’s adorable patches—some made in the likeness of hairdryers, castles, animals and New York’s skyline—further bedecked a satin denim jacket and street-worthy oversized sweaters, and crept down python shoulder bags and hardy backpacks for the ultimate rave party wardrobe.
