For this Spring/Summer season, Marc Jacobs‘ iconic ‘The 1984′ and the ‘Antonia’ handbags get updated with new colors and styles. ‘The 1984′ bag comes in mandarin and moss hues with pale god detailing, while the ‘Antonia’ bag is produced in a small size with striped and leopard prints. So, no matter if you want it classic or flashy, if you’re more the non-chalant Parisian lady or the Californian beach hopper girl, Marc Jacobs dropped a line that suits all tastes.

Have a closer look in the gallery on the next page.

When Juergen Teller is involved in a campaign you can be sure that the final product will be more that just a series of pictures. He always takes an artistic approach when it comes to his shoots. For the upcoming Marc Jacobs campaign for Spring 2013 he shot Ruby Jean Wilson. The image above gives you a first impression of what to expect. We’ll keep you posted about the release of the full campaign.

After Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama and Marc Jacobs already collaborated on a special dotted fashion line for both Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton, Louis Vuitton now just released the 2nd wave of the Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama canvas collection. The luxury brand will cover its most iconic monogram canvas with Kusamas famous dots. Check out the entire collection on the next page.

It was revealed yesterday on Jezebel that 17-year old model Haisley Hasbrook worked as a fit and runway model for Marc Jacob’s show for “trade,” in other words she received clothes not dollars for her time. (Jezebel picked up the story from Hasbrook’s Tumblr, where it looks like her original diary on Fashion Week has been removed, replaced by an entry in which she expresses horror over the coverage.) The story was picked on on multiple blogs and Marc Jacobs responded on Twitter (see above) in a way that came across as tone deaf to the extreme given his known wealth:

“Models are paid in trade. If they don’t want to work w us they don’t have to.”

As we speak, the industry–in particular modeling–is once again being slammed for its evil ways. And of course the story is much more complex than young girls being exploited (not that that doesn’t happen!). In the case of Marc Jacobs, trade might actually be a better deal than the minimum wage the girls would be paid. Still, you can’t build a budget on designer bags and dresses and landlords usually don’t accept clothing for payment.

In general, however, there is more intense focus on fashion precisely because it involves young, pretty girls–the ultimate hot button, traffic driver. The truth is, fashion isn’t the only business that swindles its young. Interning, aka working for free, is commonplace in many industries. Even if you accept the conceit of interning, in truth it’s a practice that works just fine for those who have a financial support system but does a great job of keeping the job door shut for young people who come from poor or working class families and can’t work for free.

But as exploitation relates to this particular story, it would be great to see the CFDA which has issued model guidelines do more to protect all its workers.  And given his unwillingness to even pretend to play along, perhaps CFDA board membership isn’t the best fit for Marc Jacobs at this point in time.

Need an Obama tee-shirt refesh? Vogue editor Anna Wintour came up with the clever plan to raise money for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign by asking her designer pals to come up with a lower-than-normally-priced tee-shirt (or tote bag, or scarf) to be sold on a sub-section of Obama’s campaign site, called Runway To Win. And they all come in a full range of sizes….imagine that, a Marc Jacobs tee in XXXL!

Featured designers include Marc Jacobs, Joseph Altuzurra, Tory Burch, Diane Von Furstenberg, Prabal Gurung, Joseph Altuzarra, Prabal Grunung, Tracy Reese (above), and others, with Alexander Wang’s ”coming soon.” 

See designs on the next page.

Coinciding with artist Yayoi Kusama’s retrospective at  Tate Modern Museum in London in February which will then move to the New York’s Whitney Museum in July, a collaboration between the Japanese artist and Louis Vuitton is set to debut with the New York show. While no official images of the collaboration have been made available, the above image of  Marc Jacobs (pre-studliness) holding an LVMH bag customized and signed by Kusama, dating from 2006, perhaps can be seen  as a precursor of what we can expect. Lots of artsy polka dots! More images on the flip.Images via Tokyodandy.

Rihanna’s outfit featuring a waist-tied ”shirt” for a recent performance in London, very much brings to mind Marc Jacob’s notorious Spring ‘93 grunge collection for Perry Ellis, which was so controversial it eventual led to his dismissal (who’s sorry now Perry Ellis??). My guess is that Rihanna’s skirt-shirt wasn’t designed by anyone, rather created by a savvy stylist, with the military lace-up boots Jacob’s favored updated with black, lace-up stilettos.

It’s funny that Jacob’s collection is so celebrated now because at the time it was reviled not just by fashion folks but also the punks who inspired it, including Courtney Love, who has claimed she and her husband, Kurt Cobain, burned it after Jacobs sent it to them. But oh how minds have changed. Back then, the runways and the fashion community were  viewed as the establishment, and now, street and fashion are practically joined at the hip!

After the flip see the Sonic Youth video “Sugar Kane,” which was filmed in the Perry Ellis showroom and shows pieces from the grunge collection, plus features an up and coming Chloe Sevigny.  There’s an also a 2001 excerpt from an Index magazine interview, in which Jacobs discusses the 1993 collection, described by him as his “favorite.”

Here’s a South Park video clip that includes an appearance of a shirtless and muscled Marc Jacobs doll, in an episode called “Ganging Up On The One Percent,” whose theme we’re assuming riffs off of the Occupy Wall Street movement. In this scene, Eric Cartman turns to his toys, including “Muscle Man Marc” for sympathy after being turned on by his friends. Later Jacobs has a speaking roll during a tea party as he and the other toys help Cartman figure out what has become of his favorite toy, Clyde Frog (who looks a lot like the frog tattooed on Jacob’s right arm). Newyorkmagazine has the clip showing Jacobs’ speaking part, which is decidedly less colorful subdued compared to the other characters, who curse out Cartman’s mom. See a screen capture of Muscle Man Marc on the next page.

The nails did phenomenom has gone bonkers with everyone now throwing their take on the trend into the ring. This one is sort of clever actually, coordinating a set of Marc Jacobs cashmere gloves with Nars polish. If nothing else it’s a very cute gift idea for a fashionista currently all over the mani trend. Available at Nars stores. Via Racked.

One more color set on the next page.

Tons of folks got into the spirit of Halloween spirit last night. Here is Beyonce as adorable as she wants to be in a bumble bee costume. On the next page Alber Elbaz, Marc Jacobs, Gwen Stefani, Russell Simmons, Heidi Klum & Seal (whose costumes are starting to freak me out–Heidi’s chimp boobs–look away!), Sasha Obama and many more.

Highlights include Amber Rose as Slash, Al Roker as the Gingerbread Man (so awesome) and model Ajak Den as Princess Leia! Special fashion props to Rashida Jones who sported Isabel Marant Kicks with her blowpop costume. Images via Huffington Post, V Magazine and Wire.