Marc Jacobs: Unseen

Entering fashion history in 1993 with his notorious ‘grunge’ collection for Perry Ellis, Marc Jacobs would soon be hailed by American Vogue as ‘the dauphin of grungy, understated cool’. He quickly rose to become one of the most influential designers of his generation, both at the helm of his own label and as creative director of Louis Vuitton from 1998 to 2014. Known for his collaborations with prominent artists, musicians and muses – from Stephen Sprouse to Sonic Youth, Debbie Harry, Sofia Coppola and Chloë Sevigny, Marc Jacobs ‘changed what it means to be a fashion designer, just as once upon a time Andy Warhol changed what it meant to be an artist’, according to fashion historian Valerie Steele. Opening with an essay on the designer’s work, Marc Jacobs: Unseen unfolds chronologically, revisiting the designer’s most iconic creations and revealing previously unseen behind-the-scenes moments of models, hairdressers, stylists, make-up artists and Marc Jacobs himself at their most creative. Robert Fairer’s stunning and highenergy photographs capture the youth, glamour and spirit that defined Jacobs’s shows.

'Marc Jacobs: Unseen is a real revelation' - Vogue, 'Robert's expansive archive of backstage images offers us a window into a different era' - i-D, 'Take a look at [Marc Jacobs’s] game-changing garms in the early 00s as you've never seen them before' - Hunger, 'A rare insight' - Observer, 'Glossy, glamorous, often irreverent and always compelling' - .Cent

British photographer Robert Fairer worked exclusively for American Vogue behind the scenes for over a decade. Beginning his career at British Elle in the mid 1990s, then Harpers Bazaar USA and finally at American Vogue, he covered the fashion zeitgeist of supermodel, designer and fashion excess from 1993-2011.His backstage archive has been published in three monographs, Alexander McQueen Unseen, John Galliano Unseen, and Marc Jacobs Unseen by Thames & Hudson, Yale University Press, Schirmer Mosel and Abrams. Robert’s work is published in The New York Times, Vogue, Harpers Bazaar, i-D Magazine, and Visionaire, as well as fashion, portrait and lifestyle books, and anthologies. Robert continues to document the fashionable elite and collaborate with his editors and clients in uncharted fashion domains. Iain R Webb is a fashion writer, curator and academic. He is the Author of Marc Jacobs: Unseen published by Thames & Hudson.