Marc by Sofia

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

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Marc Jacobs is a fashion designer known for his unusual designs influenced by iconic films, pop art, and Warhol. As a young kid, Jacobs formed a friendship with model and future director Sofia Coppola. Now Coppola has directed a documentary on her friend Jacobs, “Marc by Sofia” a kind of chronicle leading up to a show designed by Marc Jacobs. The film is brisk, full of famous references and colorful if a bit hyperactive and staccato.

Jacobs is fretful and nervous. Pale and dark haired, the designer resembles a Metro Goth. The only thing missing is a velvet cape. He has a free associative mind traveling in a million different directions and one never knows where his ruminations will settle.

The designer got his start at Charivari and then Perry Ellis. He was raised by his grandmother because his mom was irresponsible. He remembers going with his grandmother to many department stores and cafés, which gave him a love for fashion. And in addition, iconic 1940s movies and by extension, the photography of Cindy Sherman who used many classic film stills and symbols in her own work.

Jacobs’s main inspiration however is the late designer Vivienne Westwood, who pushed punk into the mainstream.

Jacobs idolizes anyone who goes against convention or the status quo. After each show, Jacobs admits that he has “Post Art Done Depression” a kind of postpartum depression for artists.

This brief and breezy film is an affectionate visual missive to Jacobs from Coppola. Quirky and vibrant, it is more an impression than a portrait. While some might think of “Zoolander” with its outrageous clothes, its glitz and name dropping, “Marc by Sofia” ably brings a 1990s hip-hop New York well within the aperture of your eye.

Write Ian at ianfree11@yahoo.com