A Spritz Of Decadence

The Marc Jacobs woman is always ready to play. Her next role? Seductress. Her costume? Just a spritz of decadence, says Maggie Bullock.

- Maggie Bullock

Adriana Lima is not the kind of woman who tends to be kept waiting. Particularly when she’s wearing a mere whisper of sheer black net and 27.26 carats of Chopard diamonds, her eyes half closed, her feline form arched in what looks like ecstasy, just waiting for the arrival of her paramour, who is... here! Yes. There he is! With the glossed hair of Rudolph Valentino and the post-bender professionalism of Don Draper (suit crisp, jaw unshorn, mood stormy), Marc Jacobs steps onto set, sidles behind his new muse, glances at the camera, and — click! — he’s done. And on to the next thing. This is how America’s most famous fashion designer operates these days. In the two years since Jacobs left the helm of Louis Vuitton, he has been hyper-focused on his own company, which is moving fast: There’s a new CEO in place (Givenchy vet Sebastian Suhl), an IPO (initial public offering) said to be down the pike, a spate of internal shake-ups (like shuttering Marc by Marc Jacobs as a freestanding entity and integrating it into the main collection), a makeup line launched, and now, right on cue, the birth of a fragrance. The new spritz boasts notes of Italian plum, Bulgarian rose and liquid amber, with a name, Decadence, that in itself seems to herald a 180 for the Maison Jacobs. The designer, having done his photo duty and extracted a pack of Marlboro Lights from a glossy black Hermes Birkin, was happy to discuss.

ELLE: Earlier this year, you joined Instagram after saying that you weren’t interested. Is this a change of heart?

MARC JACOBS: I’ve been saying “I’m not into it and I don’t want to know about it,” for so long that one day I was just like, “You know what, maybe I will.” It was very arbitrary.

ELLE: You’re a bit contrarian like that.