Marc by Sofia
Actress/model/director Sofia Coppola met designer Marc Jacobs in New York City where he debuted his infamous 'Grunge' collection for Perry Ellis in 1992, just before he launched his namesake design label. The two shared many similar outlooks and interests, becoming fast friends, so when producers R.J. and Jane Cha Cutler approached him about doing a documentary, Coppola was the obvious choice to direct her first non-fiction film, "Marc by Sofia."
Laura's Review: B
The first documentary about a fashion designer I recall seeing was 1995's "Unzipped" about Isaac Mizrahi. Since then they have become their own subgenre, from "Dior and I" to "Valentino: The Last Emperor," "Yves Saint Laurent: His Life and Times and Yves St. Laurent: 5, Avenue Marceau," "Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist," McQueen" and many more. There is even a prior one about Marc Jacobs' time at Louis Vuitton, a subject discussed here. But unlike all those documentaries, this one is coming from shared experience and has the aesthetic of a scrapbook, memories and cultural signifiers laid out like fabric swatches on a designer's work table.
Coppola doesn't use talking head interviews or even explain things, like just what the Bookmarc storefront is where we see design students asking Jacobs for career advice or that she directed those Daisy perfume ads we see footage from. She jumps about in time as well, flitting from one subject to the next as things come up while Jacobs talks to her in his atelier. While we do learn about Jacobs' career and unconventional childhood (he loved visiting his dad, an entertainment agent, at work, but ended up living with a beloved grandmother whose trips to Bergdorf's instilled an early fashion sense when a subsequent stepfather forbade him from seeing her), the film is as much about New York City's past and Coppola's own dip into fashion (she staged a guerilla fashion show with her ex Spike Jonze on a Soho Street in 1994 for Kim Gordon's X-Girl featuring friends and models like Chloë Sevigny and Padma Lakshmi - see it here).
Everything begins twelve weeks before Marc Jacobs will present his 2024 spring collection. Jacobs, his black bob clipped back with those old-fashioned metal hair clips, his nails a metallic silver, says he doesn't approach a collection as achieving a goal, instead a series of ideas builds into something. He has great admiration for Yves Saint Laurent, something which he shared with Vivienne Westwood, and wishes he could have the type of overnight inspiration that bred YSL's Ballet Russe collection. Coppola uses montages as he talks about his influences - gay icons like Liz, Liza and Diana Ross; Bob Fosse musicals and punk rock. He collaborates with other artists like Pharrell (on sunglasses) and Takashi Murakami, whose rainbow colors influenced Vuitton designs (he attributes his success there to 'not respecting' its traditional monogram logo) and whose flower motifs extend beyond Jacobs' Daisy perfume bottles. He professes to be intimidated meeting people he admires, like Westwood and Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon. Jacobs expresses admiration for such figures as Courtney Love, whose unbrushed hair and smeared makeup becomes her own signature. 'The thing that scares everyone is something natural because you can't affect it,' says the designer whose own look perhaps projects that very fear.
In the shop, we'll be witness to Jacobs discussing such collection details as the color of hosiery and models' nail polish. Looking at wool samples (he prefers Shetland), Jacobs expresses a desire for 'transparency,' perhaps to be accomplished by a more open weave (a flashback to Westwood with Malcolm McLaren at their Sex boutique shows her with just such a sweater). False eyelashes are painted with nail polish to achieve dramatic, pointed constructions, shades of Sally Bowles. Coppola leaps from those twelve weeks to four, then one.
Then the big day finally arrives and Jacobs is adamant that the show start on time. A giant folding table and chairs provide an arch for his models to march from, Coppola focusing more on close-up details that the audience may not see than the procession unfolding in front of us, a decision both illuminating and frustrating. She'll close with an intimate conversation with the designer in his pajamas the next morning, talking about the 'post-art-done' (postpartum) depression of being done with such a huge endeavor. It must be like that for his friend when she wraps a movie he suggests and she agrees. "Marc by Sofia" reflects a uniquely insider perspective of one artist by another, a perspective perhaps narrower in its focus than a more traditional documentary, a NYC 'cool kids' view.
A24 releases "Marc by Sofia" in theaters on 3/27/26.
