Marc Jacobs Was The Only Fat Heroin Addict Robert Duffy Ever Knew

By Jenna Sauers  |  August 30, 2011 | 5:20pm
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Robert Duffy and Marc Jacobs talked about their enduring business relationship with WSJ. magazine. Duffy said of Jacobs, with whom he’s worked since 1984, “I don’t know if you’ve ever known a heroin addict. He would eat cake, a whole wedding cake from a pastry shop. I would be like, ‘You’re the only fat heroin addict I know.'”

The fact that he so clearly means that affectionately makes it pretty adorable. Duffy also shares his high opinion of Jacobs’ talents: “When he’s pushed against a wall and he really believes in something, he’ll come back fighting. I think it’s something he’s learned from me. I guess that’s how I’ve seen him change. He’s more confident about what he has the right to say. He’s definitely learned his craft and become an amazing technician. He could do a couture line.” Which could be a veiled reference to a certain LVMH-owned fashion house in Paris that hasn’t had a creative director since March. Jacobssays of Duffy, “He literally saved my life. As soon as he realized [my heroin addiction in 1999] he said, ‘I’m not going to sit back and watch you kill yourself.’ He took the bull by the horns and went to Mr. Arnault [CEO of LVMH] and said, ‘Marc needs to get help.’ He did a press release. He called Bridget Foley at Women’s Wear Daily to do a story. He and I philosophically agreed that it was not about hiding a problem. I’ve never avoided any kind of discussion about my personal life or rehab. I could probably afford to be that way because I have Robert’s support.” Jacobs also says their relationship is different than other fashion partnerships. “We’ve never been lovers, like Bergé and Saint Laurent and Giammetti and Valentino, although people always thought we were. But it’s a difficult job, both sides of this job. That’s why I say it’s not about what I do and what Robert does. The two of us together are Marc Jacobs. The two of us together are Vuitton. I don’t think without him or without me we could achieve all that we’ve achieved.” [WSJ.]
In other news, Marc Jacobs postponed his fashion show from Monday to Thursday night of New York fashion week, because during Hurricane Irene and the unprecedented total shutdown of the city’s mass transit system, sample room employees couldn’t get to work for the weekend. Duffy says that last week’s earthquake also cost the company time, because “the building was evacuated and no one came back to work,” which is kind of unusual. London fashion week starts Friday morning, so Thursday night is traditionally when editors and buyers are en route to JFK. So maybe now the rest of us fashion writers will get a shot at a Marc Jacobs show invitation? Ha ha, we kid. Sigh. [WWD]

Harper’s Bazaar‘s Glenda Bailey says of her all-time favorite shoots, the Simpsons-inspired spread with various fashion designers is “definitely up there. Marc Jacobs liked the cartoon picture of himself so much that he got it tattooed on his arm, which was of course the ultimate compliment.” [The Cut]

Portuguese model Sara Sampaio is gearing up for her first season doing the fashion shows. She says of her job, “The worst is when you read things on the Internet blogs, because people don’t hold back. Sometimes you read wonderful things, but sometimes it’s really awful stuff. Like on the Fashion Spot, for example, people always comment on you. They forget that we might read that stuff.” [WWD]

Stella Tennant, a very large nose ring, and a very small corset star on Steven Meisel’s latest Vogue Italia cover. [FGR]

Naomi Campbell got tied up to pose for a story and a cover of V Spain that is notionally about Pedro Almodovar. “I’m sure some have wanted to ‘tie me up and tie me down’ and perhaps others wanted to tape my mouth shut! But this is something I would only permit for this issue dedicated to Pedro as he always does everything ‘tongue-in-cheek,'” said Campbell. [V Spain, via Fashionista]

Crystal Renn nabbed a cover of Vogue Japan’s Beauty supplement. [Models.com]

A ghostly Abbey Lee Kershaw touches her face in this new Versace perfume ad. [FGR]

This architects’ rendering of the planned Uniqlo Fifth Avenue store makes it look like a silver spaceship that flies directly to planet cheap cashmere. [WWD]

Vogue‘s Mark Holgate mentions in passing what the Internet already knew in his profile of Vogue Paris editor Emmanuelle Alt, whom he describes as picking “up a copy of her June/July issue, with Isabeli Fontana styled to look like Linda Evangelista circa 1991.” [Vogue]

Shauna Taylor, the 23-year-old London-based illustrator who got Damien Hirst‘s butterfly permanently tattooed on her ladyparts for the cover of Dasha Zhukova‘s Garage magazine, says of her decision, “I love it. I would have been stupid not to be part of this project. I have a piece of art on my vagina. Not one single person can ever say they gave birth through a Damien Hirst piece of art.” The artist did not sign the work, which was carried out by tattoo artist Mo Coppoletta. But Taylor did show the piece to him when it was done, and threw a garden party with her friends to celebrate. [P6]

  • Michael Kors says that when he announced he would no longer book models under 16 for his runway show, all the models who came to his studio magically became 16-year-olds. Almost as though someone at, say, an agency had told them to lie about their true ages to get jobs! “The 14-year-olds are really tricky,” Kors says. “I mean, they’re children. I said two years ago, No models under 16. Well, of course, right after I said that, we started seeing all of these girls from Eastern Europe, and every girl who’d walk in, you’d say, ‘Hi. What’s your name?’ And she’d be like, ‘I’m Svetlana.’ I’m like, ‘Svetlana, where are you from?’ ‘Ukraine.’ ‘Svetlana, how old are you?’ ’16.’ Next girl walks in — she’s from Eastern Europe and 16. Next one? Eastern European and 16. I was like, ‘Was there a bus?’” [Interview]
  • Lady Gaga — who is not engaged, nor even to our knowledge rumored to be — is already the subject of designer wedding dress odds-making. [WWD]
  • This item isn’t so much blind as blinking, slightly, in the bright sun: “This B- list model is not used to actually having to do anything for the money she is paid. Oh, not for modeling, but for being a girlfriend. See, our model previously was the girlfriend for an A list rapper and he only wanted her by his side to look pretty so people would think he liked women. She loved the role. He finally got tired of paying though so she moved on to another rapper who did not have as much money or fame, but it beat trying to audition for modeling jobs. The thing is though her latest guy is straight and expects way more from the model other than to look pretty. At this point she cannot stand the guy but has no other options. Plus, she thinks she can get a reality show out of this.” Amber Rose dated Kanye West, then Wiz Khalifa. And has been talking about a proposed reality show for the better part of a year (which VH1 reportedly turned down). [CDAN]
  • Elle editor Joe Zee taught himself the violin in high school. And the cello. And the bass. And the viola. “I was good at everything,” he says. “I was like Tracy Flick, sitting in the front row and raising my hand for everything. English, math — anything with a textbook. I was good at consuming knowledge. And I was great at home ec! I wasn’t so good at phys ed.” [NYTimes]
  • Karl Lagerfeld filmed some kind of a music video with Snoop Dogg at 7 a.m. in St. Tropez. Dressed in white from head to toe, naturally. [WWD]
  • Daria Strokous earned a role as a model who dies of the disease outbreak in Steven Soderbergh‘s new film Contagion. [Fashionologie]
  • Iris Apfel: “I’m a geriatric starlet, my dear, don’t you know? All of a sudden, I’m hot; I’m cool; I have a ‘fan base.'” Albert Maysles, who with his late brother directed such classics as Grey Gardens and Gimme Shelter, is, as had been reported earlier this summer, at work on a documentary about Apfel. [BarRefaeli]
  • Zales has bought the rights to license a collection of diamond jewelry under Jessica Simpson‘s name. Related: Zales’ C.E.O. is named Theo Killion, which sounds like he should be a Douglas Adams character. [WWD]
  • In other signs of the impending apocalypse, Annie Leibovitz is throwing the Kardashians a party to launch their Sears kollection. It’s at the photographer’s Greenwich Village townhouse, the very contentious renovations of which cost Leibovitz dearly. [Elle]
  • Remember Dr. Robert Rey? The Beverly Hills plastic surgeon with the trophy wife and the reality show? He launched a line of “LingeREY.” At a show in Johannesburg he told the crowd he was “bringing sexy back” to South Africa, a country where the female population had been in a “sexy struggle” for too long. (Apparently Dr. Rey is really big in South Africa.) The audience was very angry. [WWD]
  • H&M delayed its planned U.S. e-commerce site until 2012, but from today, you can buy a select list of about 20 H&M items on the website of U.S. Elle. [WWD]
  • Wal-Mart is reportedly considering starting a Hard Candy juniors’ line. [WWD]
  • Desigual is opening a store in Santa Monica, and as per the chain’s traditional opening gimmick, the first 100 people who show up in their underwear will get a free outfit. [WWD]

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