Marc Jacobs Only Goes to the CFDA Because Anna Wintour Makes Him
Marc Jacobs revealed some interesting tidbits at the WWD CEO conference. Marc really hates going to the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards. He has won a number of the awards, but he just doesn't like award shows in general. He doesn't even watch the Oscars, the Tonys or the Golden Globes. In fact, the only reason he goes every year because Anna Wintour makes him.
That partly explains his ambivalence about the Council of Fashion Designers of America and its annual awards. Speculating about why he has not won in the women's wear category for several years, he remarked, "Because they're stupid! No, it's not true. I'm really not this egomaniacal monster that you might think I am. My team and I, we've gone to the CFDA awards year after year after year, and we always feel we've done the best collection. That's not to say there aren't other great collections....I don't believe in these prizes. I don't watch the Academy Awards or the Emmys or the Tonys. I only go to the CFDAs because if I don't go, Anna Wintour calls up and says, 'You have to go because you're part of the American fashion industry, da da da da da,' and you can't say no to her. So you sit through this thing as everyone tells you you're going to get it, and then you don't get it, and then everyone tells you it should have been you. You're like, whatever. You go home empty handed one more time, and it's fine. We have nine of them," including from years when they were perhaps not as well deserved, he said.
That is just too funny. You know that he gets that call every year from Anna making him go to the awards show. Marc also talked about Lindsay Lohan and Victoria Beckham.
Asked to name the next Ralph or Donna, he declined, saying many young people have talent and passion, then mentioned Alexander Wang. When a question about celebrity designers came up, Jacobs noted Lindsay Lohan's failure at Ungaro, but complimented Victoria Beckham. "She is someone who has always wanted to design clothes. She knows the body, she loves it and she's working her ass off," he said. "It's too easy to say nobody who’s celebrated for something else shouldn't do fashion."
As for the CFDA, Marc said that it is different now that it was when he was much younger when he had problems with the organization. Now it gives grants to young designers who would never get a chance to show their talents in the current economic climate.
