Fall 2006 Marc By Marc Jacobs

The runway was a cement sidewalk, and the boys and girls who marched up and down it were the urban magpies that Marc Jacobs always imagines in the clothes he makes for his second collection. A little vintage, a little military, a little grunge—they pick and choose across a gamut of thrifty options, then layer it all together. That’s how a gray flannel pajama shirt ends up as the partner for a worn suit in a deep brown, or how an officer’s coat gets thrown over a herringbone waistcoat over a Henley over a pair of air-force-blue trousers.

In the end though, it wasn’t about the dressed-down student that other designers seem to have in mind with their second collections. His target customer is way more adventurous than your average college boy. For instance, Jacobs injected a healthy whack of the volume he’s been toying with in his signature collection, so his trousers were as floor-sweeping as the skirts the girls were wearing. There was also a new sophistication in outerwear. A paisley shirt worn with high-waisted trousers, meanwhile, had a dandy edge, but don’t say we didn’t warn you that wearing this combo will label you “fug” and rightly so. And, to top it off, there was even a satin-lapelled tuxedo.