American fashion designer Marc Jacobs and retail design extraordinaire Peter Marino—he of Zegna, Chanel, and Dior boutiques around the world—sat down at the Architecture Foundation's annual John Edwards Lecture to discuss both the "organic" relationship and the "dance off" between the worlds of architecture, art, and fashion. As dear friends and collaborators, the longtime Louis Vuitton creative director and (leather rocking) architect, had quite a bit to say on the subject—some insightful, some ridiculous, and a lot it a keen reminder that there's is a world populated by the very, very rich. Take a gander at some the best tidbits from the gentlemen's joint interview:
On the relationship between fashion and architecture:
15. "I look to fashion because they're able to express the changes in all of our sentiments much faster than an architect. what I do on the boards doesn't happen for a year, so I'm a lagging indicator. I'm always like, 'want to see what was hip a year ago? Take a look!'" - Peter Marino
14. "there is a—sorry bad word—'organic' thing that happens where if you're a feeling person that is sensitive to change and creatively stimulated, [art and architecture] does affect your work." - Marc Jacobs
13. "This is how we work, this is how we conceive the buildings: I go to fashion shows all the time, I look at designer's products and I take inspiration for what the fashion designer does. I'm trying to get you to see that goes architecture and product and art all go together." - Peter Marino
On designing retail locales:
12. "I love the fact that I became a retail specialist but don't ask me how that happened—I went to college to study architecture! I was brought in because the private homes that I built were of very, very, very high quality, and luxury brands want to convey this [high quality] to the customer. If you're still buying Chanel handbags they are still being made by hand in France—that's what a luxury product is—it's not a Chinese sewing machine knocking it out. Brands want to give the customer the same feeling when they see the shop—which is very luxurious and all hand made with incredible finishes. This never existed before because nobody cared!" - Peter Marino
On architecture's limitations:
11. "In architecture I'm sorry to say your two biggest elements are timing and budgets. What's intimidating to be told is that the architecture budget is by far the biggest line item of the corporations...so don't screw it up." - Peter Marino
On advice to 20-something design students:
10. "There are no mistakes, you just have to go through it. Everything is exactly the way it's supposed to be, it won't go perfectly all the time but it's perfect the way it is. Don't try to avoid the moment,or the experience,or the mistakes." - Marc Jacobs
On architecture's BFF China:
9. "They're incredibly forward thinking compared to the rest of the world" - Peter Marino
On extravagance:
8. "We don't need fashion and we don't need beautiful buildings with amazingly inspired facades and gorgeous marble floors. We need cloth to cover our body, we need bread and water, we need a place to live. But we want so much more and the world would be an awful place if we didn't have so much more, or wouldn't be as interesting of a place! So I think all of these things are part of the art of living." - Marc Jacobs
7. "People had really gotten tired of the 2008 recession…it was 2010 and time to have some fun!"- Peter Marino
6. "About 25% of my work is comprised of [private] homes…obviously not for poor people." -Peter Marino
5. "We actually built a locomotive and a train station [in front of ] the Louvre. It was one of the biggest productions…ever." - Marc Jacobs
On wily hi jinx:
4. "I bought a flannel shirt on St. Mark's Place for $2 and we turned it into a $2K evening gown" - Marc Jacobs
3. "This is a building based on the Chanel No. 5 perfume bottle…I just kept turning it and turning it and turning it. I kind of scammed channel for about 12 free boxes of perfume. - Peter Marino
On personal home furnishing:
2. "I'm an obsessive compulsive collector. I buy photographs, I buy paintings…I buy furniture, I buy rare books, I buy antiques—I have a collecting problem." - Peter Marino
1. "I buy Art Deco furniture." - Marc Jacobs
· Peter Marino and Marc Jacobs Chat about Design, Architecture, and Fashion [Arch Daily]