The glory of grunge: Perry Ellis Spring 1993

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by Shreya S

In 1992 when Parsons graduate Marc Jacobs was working as the creative director/ vice president for Perry Ellis, he created a revolutionary collection, commonly known as the Grunge collection.

He created thrifty-looking clothes with luxurious fabrics and textures. 29-year-old Marc Jacobs was the first one to bring the new ‘real’ aesthetic to the runway, trying to blend the street/music/rugged aesthetic into luxury fashion which was much more centralized back then. Flannel shirts, beanies, granny dresses, colorful tacky-ish prints, and beautiful neutral shades. Models like Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss, Christy Turlington walked this brilliant show

“Grunge is ghastly,” fashion critic Suzy Menkes declared after the show. “A typical outfit looks as if it were put together with the eyes closed in a very dark room,” The New York Times printed. “Grunge is anathema to fashion,” said Cathy Horyn. He certainly didn’t impress critics and later got fired which is honestly quite short-sighted of Perry Ellis and the industry as a whole. I mean the fact was simply that Marc was way ahead of his time, what he introduced on the runway is still a staple today and still entices consumption. The inclusion of streetwear into High fashion was seamlessly and probably the beginning of the street style we see today at every corner. Even if the fashion world gets over its 90s nostalgia, my obsession with this collection is here to stay.

“I had no idea I’d be fired [for that show],” Jacobs told the New York Times. “But it’s still my favorite collection because it marked a time when I went with my instincts against instructions, and I turned out to be right. It came out of a genuine feeling for what I saw on the streets and all around me.”

In 1997, Louis Vuitton hired Jacobs as the creative director and he successfully brought the company back to life and created some of the most iconic LV pieces. He launched LV’s first-ever ready-to-wear collection and directed the accessories to new heights. After years of expansion for both Louis Vuitton and his namesake brand, Jacobs stepped down from LV in 2013 to focus primarily on his company.

“It wasn’t about that. It was about a sensibility and also about the dismissal of everything that one was told was beautiful, correct, glamorous, sexy. I loved that it represented a newness. I think that’s how people dress now. I think that moment hasn’t passed. It’s morphed into different things but it really hasn’t passed.” Marc Jacobs. He brought back his Grunge collection in November 2018. With the approval of Perry Ellis, Jacobs relaunched 26 key looks from the collection. The clothes, shoes, and accessories were redone with original fabrics, prints and seams.