American designer Marc Jacobs provided a dazzling finale to New York Fashion Week on Thursday with a collection of severe but eccentric elegance that followed cashmere cool from Ralph Lauren and urban eroticism from Calvin Klein. Jacobs invited film director Sofia Coppola, Blondie frontwoman Deborah Harry and actress Christina Ricci to an intimate show staged to look like a boudoir with a painted couch as a backdrop and hanging ropes. The designer, considered perhaps the most innovative of his generation, was reportedly inspired by Diana Vreeland, the late fashion editor, who was also an American debutante and who trained once as a ballet dancer. Earlier in the day, rapper Kanye West sat front row at Ralph Lauren chewing gum in a bomber jacket as the 75-year-old designer crafted his classic American look in sophisticated, elegant browns and grays.
