Marc is back! Not that he ever went away – he certainly didn’t – but I’m talking about the old Marc Jacobs we used to know and love, fresh off his Perry Ellis days in the early nineties. The guy with a quirky edge who doesn’t give a damn.

I loved the whimsy of his Fall 2012 show: pilgrims gone wild with a big splash of Dr. Seuss. Literally! Friend, artist, and set designer, Rachel Feinstein said, “We were talking about The Cat in the Hat…American conservatism.” Also inspired by longtime fashion eccentrics like Anna Piaggi, the irreverent new explorers Jacobs set down the runway, which had been fashioned into a “broken castle” were kooky, wacky, and most definitely un-body-conscious.

Slouchy suits Coco herself would have approved of and padded hips that will make you say whoa!; three-dimensional appliqués, chubby knits, and tufts of fur you wanted to reach out and grab; cropped, narrow trousers (about the only slim-fitting element in the collection) and rhinestone-buckled pilgrim shoes, both flat and high: it was about the absurdity of fashion and why we love it. And then there were the hats! Impossibly to ignore and worthy of the Digital Underground in 1990, they didn’t just enhance the sense of humor and caprice. Covering much of the models’ faces they also added elements of anonymity and disguise. I walked away with a smile on my face, deciding I need a big purple hat – because why not?!