Known for her artfully cool interpretations of sport and luxury logos, Ava Nirui aka @avanope on Instagram has come full circle, creating a bootleg embroidered Marc Jacobs hoodie made in collaboration with the actual designer. “Thank you Mark and team! I was making fake Marc Jacobs a year ago…life is crazy!” wrote Nirui (who holds a digital jobby-job at Helmut Lang) on Instagram.
The cotton white hoodie features a co-branded label and reads “Marc Jacobes est. 1985” embroidered with a font that appears to be hand drawn. Rather than a kangaroo pocket, the over-sized hoodie features hidden pockets.
The collaboration is not unlike Gucci’s partnership with artist Gucci Ghost and Dapper Dan, an embrace of not just of the concept of collaboration (Jacobs created the playbook for design partnerships) but also an acknowledgement of the influence and importance of street-fueled ideas.
Marc Jacobs design director Christopher Brumfield shared how the collaboration came about on Instagram. “Marc asked me who was making the bootleg Champion crewnecks and selling them online, not because he wanted to shut it down, but because he genuinely thought it was amazing,” wrote Brumfield. “After I pitched the idea of doing a collab with her to make sure the story made a full 360, Ava went to work, and the result turned out amazing. I love seeing people get put on for going the distance when others are sleeping.”
The hooded sweatshirt launches on December 4, 2017 at Marc Jacobs store in SoHo at 113 Prince Street.
