Marc Jacobs always has the last laugh, and for Fall 2025, the designer was back with a tongue-in-cheek stance on what constitutes beauty in fashion. Presenting just 19 looks — his tightest collection since returning to in-person runway shows — on his go-to muses such as Alex Consani, Sascha Alexandra, and Agel Akol — Jacobs challenged expected norms around proportion and scale.

A crowd including Anna Wintour, Julia Fox, Nicky Hilton, Ego Nwodim, Anna Sui, Jessica Wang, Tina Leung, June Ambrose, and Amy Sherald gathered promptly at the New York Public Library on Monday evening, many looking right at home wearing the designer’s exaggerated silhouettes.

A Marc Jacobs show is not the time to be fashionably late, as the once always-tardy designer has become militant about sticking to schedule. Taking their seats ahead of the proposed kick off, attendees parsed over his brief show notes. “Beauty: A quality or combination of qualities that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is often associated with properties such as harmony of form or color, proportion, and authenticity,” the designer offered.

In a mere five minute parade, Jacobs held a magnifying glass up to that accepted definition. Defaulting to his now signature puffed-up, enlarged, and padded shapes, his models appeared both doll-like yet strong and confident in this unconventional clothing.

Despite the initially eyebrow-raising — and almost comical — scale of outfits, at their core, they were familiar and tried-and-true. It was just that Jacobs offered a new lens to view pieces through. Think: slouchy army green cargo pants, albeit his are bubble-like and with many more pockets. As for a going out top and jeans combo? Alas, his bustier is seemingly inflated with air and comes with a lacy bra on top, teamed with XXXXL jeans that jut out angularly at the hips and puddle at the hems.

Similarly, the type of lace and sequin gowns that have become rote on the red carpet were given a fresh spin by Jacobs, souped up with plastic overlays, a top layer of dramatic bows, and huge leg of mutton sleeves.

The result was a reminder that oftentimes our ingrained perception of beauty — particularly in fashion and what’s deemed pleasing to the eye — is merely a continuation of what’s been spoon fed to society for decades.

As ever, Jacobs is one to take glee in challenging the status quo.