MAPC Jacobs Isn’t a Typo. It's a Long Time Coming (EXCLUSIVE)
It's nice to have friends. Especially in fashion, where friends in high places are necessary to get you where you want to go. And if you want to go somewhere together, that's typically the genesis of unexpected fashion partnerships like Marc Jacobs x A.P.C.
Marc Jacobs and A.P.C.'s Jean Touitou have been close friends for the past 30-plus years. Their "MAPC Jacobs" collection isn't a typo but a symbol of a relationship long deserving of a tangible axis.
"While we didn't meet until the late '90s, I've long admired Marc's covert cynicism and his genius for capturing the zeitgeist," Touitou tells Highsnobiety. "I often wondered what would have happened if, back in 1996, I had knocked on his door and said, 'Hey, Marc, we're not doing the same thing, but we dig each other, so let's do something.'" Finally doing that 'something' now has been about crystallizing a moment from the '90s when we were simultaneously, from across the Atlantic, authoring a new mode of dressing."
That new mode of dressing falls in between the two brands' typical practices. Jacobs usually falls into the more editorial side of the biz, though his Heaven imprint is famously tapped in to Gen Z. And A.P.C. leans more towards fashion's sober side, having offered gently retooled classics for literal decades.
But these two pals share a sense of collaborative aptitude, making their debut partnership feel impressively organic.
The Marc Jacobs x A.P.C. collection is rich with collegiate-style clothes and accessories, not quite as kitschy as some of Jacobs' more out-there fare but not quite as classic as A.P.C.'s signature items.
"I think Marc and I have always seen ourselves as students, even as we've become the teachers," says Touitou. "I borrowed the sentiment from the University of California, Berkeley's motto, which my brother-in-law introduced me to: the idea of perpetual learning. But there's also a shared, sardonic sensibility in reviving these preppy signifiers, an irony in pretending to be normal in a world where you don't really belong, which has been a part of A.P.C. from the very beginning."
Available from October 2 on Marc Jacobs and A.P.C.'s websites, the joint offering encompasses a host of readily wearable goods that include a wool and cowhide varsity jacket, striped rugby shirt, canvas barn jacket, and cotton tees stamped with "MAPC Jacobs" branding that really give the entire affair a back-to-school feel.
The crown jewel, arguably, is Marc Jacobs' red-hot "The Tote Bag," which becomes The APC Tote bag in a new creamy brown leather make. But it's equaled in pure desirability by preppy penny loafers that wear buttons printed with profiles of the two designers in the style of Roman Empire busts.
For some stylish individuals, Marc Jacobs x APC may well be their Roman Empire. At least, for Touitou, it certainly is.
"The piece that best symbolizes our transatlantic exchange and friendship is the zip-up jacket," he says. "When it's closed, it connects the imagined insignia of the universities of New York and Paris. It perfectly embodies our dialogue: two different worlds coming together to create something that is at once nostalgic and new."
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